The Best Christmas Ever

This isn't about gardening, but I hope you enjoy it.

People talk sometimes about some year’s Christmas being the best one.  Actually, that phrase comes up a lot in commercials trying to talk us into buying something that will make Christmas great.  I don’t think that’s usually how it works.

When I try to remember my best Christmas ever, my years as a little kid, with lots of toys under the tree, don’t rise to the top.  The years when, as an adult, everyone was there on Christmas morning, were really good.  Since then, my dad has died, and one brother-in-law is no longer around.  I could say that the last Christmas with my dad was the best, but I didn’t know it until he was gone.

Since his death, and my mom’s passing 19 years later, that side of my extended family has fractured a bit, so gathering at Christmas isn’t likely to happen.  Of course, I have my own family with daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren to make the day festive and exciting. 

A person could say that every Christmas is the best Christmas ever, but that’s a cop-out.  You could also say that the first Christmas was the best one ever, but to believers that’s a given.

Upon consideration, I think my best Christmas ever was the year our girls were more excited to see our reactions to what they had given us than they were about opening their own gifts.  I remember their smiles and wide eyes as we pulled open the wrapping paper.  I don’t recall what they gave me that year, other than the wonderful memory of seeing their joy from giving.  As parents, that Christmas was a gift.

Age gives us a sense of perspective we can’t have as children or young adults.  Being around the people we love to celebrate together is a great gift.  I hope you’ll be able to have that experience, or something like it, this year.  As the song says, “We need a little Christmas.”


I am an introvert who seeks recognition, but only a little bit. I live in Southern Wisconsin and yes, I do enjoy cheese and a half-dozen or so beers each year. Somehow I found someone willing to marry me back in 1976, and so far so good. We have children and grandchildren and they are all really something.

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