I love Christmas. I always enjoy it. the memories from childhood standout the most. I am the youngest, and all my siblings are several years older than me. So when I was a kid they lived a long way off. Christmas was always filled with the anticapation of their coming in from around the world, literally, and then being around the house for a few weeks. The Holiday then was a long affair, with a lot of time spent with my family.

One Christmas in particular, in the early '80s, was very special. Not only did the brothers and sister come home, but so did my Mom's sister's family and my uncle. It was great. Half of us had to sleep on pallets and we stayed up all night playing games and talking. We played in the church gym (my Dad was a pastor) and went out to the lookout on Mobile (AL) Bay. It was the only opportunity I had to spent a large amount of time with my Uncle, my Mom's brother.

Adulthood has been different for the holidays. We all have lived in the same town for so long a lot of that specialness seemed to have dissabated. We all hung out, and it has been great to live so close to one another. But it has been different. This year, it is actually me (and Kim) coming back to Cleveland for Christmas. It is a new feeling. Some of that old anticapation can be felt again.

Merry Christmas.