I’m sure by now we’ve all seen that quote floating around that talks about how the “Christmas magic” we remember from childhood was all thanks to our amazing moms who loved us more than anything in the world.
Seriously, how true is that? As a kid, I remember our house being filled to the brim with decorations by December 1; I remember decorating the tree with Christmas music blasting in the background, watching holiday movies every single night, and opening the absolute most perfect gifts on Christmas morning.
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Do you know who was responsible for all that? I’ll give you a hint: it definitely wasn’t my dad.
I’m not trying to say my dad was a modern day Scrooge or anything, but he couldn’t even come close to my mom at Christmas time.
She was the one baking holiday treats with us on the weekend, and making us thermoses full of hot chocolate to sip while we watched the Christmas parade.
And even though he begrudgingly joined her on her shopping trips, I’m pretty sure it was my mom picking our Christmas gifts out, not dad.
Why? Well he always seemed genuinely surprised at what we got, even though it was supposed to have come from *him*.
It’s not that my dad didn’t care about us, or love us as much as my mom. It’s just that Christmas wasn’t his thing . That belonged solely to my mom, who made it her mission every year to make sure we had the most memorable Christmas possible.
Dad was kind of more like her sidekick — he pushed the cart at Walmart, he carried bags in from the car, and he helped her place all the beautifully wrapped gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve.
Now that I’m older and have a partner of my own, I’ve realized this wasn’t just specific to my dad — a lot of men are like that.
For instance, I personally decorated our house this year, I’ve been baking up a holly jolly Christmas storm, and when we give our joint gifts to our loved ones, I’m sure he’ll be equally surprised to see what they got because I was the one picking them out and wrapping them.
So what’s my big gift to him this year? The ability to simply be there on Christmas day without having to agonize over all the little details. You’re welcome, darling.
