Nostalgia

This time of year has a way of making us all nostalgic.  I have been itching to crack the Christmas decor out for a couple of weeks now, but I have resisted. It is not that I want to "skip" Thanksgiving, but more that I just love Christmas.  I love the celebration of our savior coming to earth.  I love how we can give to others and just get together and have a great time.  I love the music and the festivities and corny Christmas displays on the people's lawns.  I love that my kids get so excited as Jamie and I work behind the scenes trying to give them a few things that they'd like to have.  I think Christmas brings about a lot of warm memories of special simpler times in my life. 

It is also around this time of year, that my Daddy starts to come into my mind even more.  I see hunters on facebook with their "prize" photos and know that my Dad would have been in the woods every day.  He loved it so much.  It is Thanksgiving and his chair will be filled by another and I catch myself looking over there and trying to imagine what he would look like sitting there.  We sit elbow to elbow at my mom's table and then still have people sitting all over the place.  It is cramped, but full of laughter and fun.  Last year was very hard and this year should be easier.  Somehow I'm still catching a lump in my throat as time passes on.  Everybody says to hang onto the memories, which I do.  I look at pictures daily almost and think of things that make me smile, but in the back of my head I think, 'no more memories will be made' and in our humans minds we know that they've missed out on a lot as this is all we know.  I suppose, when we get to heaven, we will see God in his glory and realize that our earthly life is where were were "missing out" and our perceptions will change.