In my Xmas tree post I got sidetracked with the joke gift story and forgot one crucial point.
What Christmas means to me.
I didn't really get into Christmas immediately after I got fired from the WTS. It wasn't until several years later that I was befriended by the family of a coworker at Midas. His kids and I just took to each other. So one year they invited me over for Xmas day and I bought the kids a couple of videos for a collective present and delivered said gift in a paper bag. The looks on their faces when I came in the door with a present was all it took and from then on I've gone all out for those kids.
Not long after leaving the dubs in 92, I tracked down my real father's family. Among them is my [half] brother Joel. Not long ago Joel told me about Chrismas with our father. Every year until our father died, there was always a present under the tree with my name on it. I never got the presents, never met my father, never had a Christmas as a kid for that matter. But in a way I did have Christmas as a kid even though I didn't know it. Because in spite of all those years my mom and stepdad kept me hidden from him and talked trash about him, he never forgot about me. He'd go every year and buy a present, wrap it, put my name on it, and put it under the tree.
It's got me crying as I type this thinking about that. And now knowing that, Christmas is even more special to me.
Mike.