Lyrics from a favored Christmas song,  “It’s the most wonderful time of the year” has a verse I am particularly fond of and it goes like this. “And tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago” I write this while thinking of a glorious Christmas I had that was twenty seven years ago.

It was this very day twenty seven years ago that my daughter Sierra was born. Truly a glorious Christmas. Much has been written about the heartfelt feelings a father has when he looks his newborn child for the first time. Truly a miracle and the supreme honor that God chose you to be a father. My most precious memory is having this little angel take her tiny hand and wrap it around my finger she held so incredibly tight and just stared at me. I guess we stared at each other with equal wonderment, what will our futures be? Mine as a father and hers as a daughter who will grow up someday and be blessed with her own child, perhaps a Christmas baby and she can tell her precious one of the glories of Christmases long, long ago.

If you think my eyes were tearing up as I wrote this you would be 100% correct. Heartfelt memories are perhaps one of the best characteristics of us being human. Memories resonate from deep within some are joyful and triumphant like the Christmas season and some are also like another phrase from the song, “There’ll be scary ghost stories” which for me means life’s hauntings the times we question everything.

A few weeks after my daughter was born a visiting friend was watching the reactions between the baby and me. My friend commented,  “look how your daughter stares up at you, I believe she is thinking… so this is my father, the one who will be responsible for guiding me through childhood all the way to becoming an adult? I hope he knows what the heck he is doing”.  But of course no one really ever does. All in all, I must of have done a fairly decent job, my 27 year old daughter is a remarkable loving, nurturing, kind and generous human being. OK, OK… yes her mom had much to do with her remarkably wonderful traits, but I was there for Sierra celebrating her joys and nurturing her through the many challenges of growing up and life.

I am the one who is truly blessed, and for me,  It’s the most wonderful time of the year.