The holidays are upon us! That time of year that we both love and hate. We love it because it is a time of celebration and family and we hate it because it is a time of too much to do and not enough time to do it. The holidays in my life have always been a time of family. First it was a time of Dad and Mom and brothers and sisters. All my Dad’s sisters and brothers and their families lived n Colorado when I was growing up and we got together every year for Thanksgiving at somebody's house to share good food and football and friends. One of the highlights was when wrote names down on small scraps of paper and put them in 2 bowls. One for the adults and one for the kids and drew them out one at a time to find out who we would buy a gift for and who would buy a gift for us, gifts we would open when we all got together again on
Christmas eve for tasting all the home made goodies. We were of course typical kids and each of us hoped that cousin Steve would draw our names as he always gave the best presents. Then I married and it was a time of my Wife and I. When we had to decide whether we would spend time with her family or mine or by ourselves. When I would
listen to every word she said for weeks on end trying to get a clue as to what special present she was hoping for this year. When I would be overjoyed at the effort she had expended to find a wonderful present for the toughest person in the world to buy for, me.
Then came the kids and it became a time of establishing our own traditions, like going out on Thanksgiving so we didn’t have to clean up the kitchen. Like deciding how to walk that fine line between giving
the kids everything we could afford and holding back so that they would appreciate what they received more. The wonderful satisfaction of buying 100 items of food for the school Christmas drive, 50 for each kid. Now in addition to all of this I have added my extended
family of Elks to the mix. The wonderful Lodge Thanksgiving buffet. The decorating of the lodge for the holidays. The appreciation of helping those less fortunate then ourselves to have a brighter holiday. The drug poster contest judging. The daily arrival at the lodge of scholarship applications. Finally ,I lost my dad just a week ago and I appreciate all of the heartfelt support I have received from my fellow elks, I have looked at my life because of this and now appreciate more than ever what I have. All is good.