Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!

I hope that everyone had a great Holiday season and a great Christmas.  I have to be the first one to say that our family was extreme blessed this holiday season.  The main reason for that is being able to be together with each other.  To me this is the best gift that I could ever receive.

I am a sucker when it comes to traditions, and it has been interesting developing new traditions with my own family.  I will admit though I miss having my parents here to celebrate those traditions but thanks to technology we get to have time with them.  Our family is very lucky though that we do have my wife's parents just down the street from us and they have been a huge part of our lives and the kids lives.  

We started this Christmas off by going to church with our family.  The kids got all dressed up and were good kids during the service.  I am a sucker for Silent Night by candlelight in the church.  There is something special about this son and singing it on Christmas Eve. We sadly had to break away from our normal tradition of going to Texas Roadhouse for dinner, it was a two hour wait, but we went to dinner and had some good conversation.  We also had a great time tracking Santa, thank you NORAD, and finding where he was going next.  

After a great evening with family the kiddos left out cookies, carrots, and milk out for Santa.  They put on their Christmas Eve pajamas that the elves brought and headed to bed.  After a little while the little elves got around to helping Santa.  I spent three nights earlier in the week building all the gifts so that I didn't have to do it on Christmas Eve, thank goodness I had the time to do that otherwise I am pretty sure I wouldn't have slept, as it happens I got very little sleep as it is.  Jude was so excited he woke up almost ever two hours to ask if we could open presents.  The kids were very excited to see the gifts that were out for them. 

The kids made quick work of all their presents, they are expert unwrappers.  I don't know where they get this talent but they have perfected it.  We opened presents at home then went to grandma and grandpa's opened more presents then had Christmas lunch.  The kiddos did well despite being completely exhausted and over stimulated.  I was a proud dad!  We were able to talk to our family in Amsterdam and Grandma, Grandpa, and Great Grandma in Arizona.  Again thank goodness for technology and Skype!!

Jude challenged me to his Rock em' Sock em' Robots, and I have a ringer in the family.  He was an expert but we had a great time and have played a couple more times since last night already.  We even had a white Christmas!  People think that this happens every Christmas in Colorado but is is not!  

I hope that you had a great Christmas and got everything that you wanted and needed.  I look forward to sharing more and more with everyone in the upcoming year.  Here is to a happy and healthy 2016!!!

The Day John Lennon Died

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

"Imagine" by John Lennon

On this day in 1980 John Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman outside his New York apartment just hours after John Lennon had signed an autograph for him on his Double Fantasy Album.  I wasn't even born yet and had no idea how much his music would mean to me or play a role in my life.  

When I was growing up my parents were pretty strict with music and my father was/is quite into country music.  Now, if you know me you know that I am not a fan of country music at all so we didn't really bond over this, but we did over the Beatles.  On our way to church on Sunday mornings we would often times listen to Breakfast with the Beatles.  I then found the awe that is their music and the poetry within their lyrics.

Now I know that John Lennon was not a perfect person by no means.  I have read a lot about him as I have grown up and taken an interest in him.  So please do not feel like you need to tell me how horrible of a person he was, however his music was amazing and his lyrics still have a special place in my heart and will always resonate with me.

We're playing those mind games together
Pushing the barriers planting seeds
Playing the mind guerrilla
Chanting the Mantra peace on earth
We all been playing those mind games forever
Some kinda druid dudes lifting the veil
Doing the mind guerrilla
Some call it magic the search for the grail

Love is the answer and you know that for sure
Love is a flower you got to let it grow.

"Mind Games" by John Lennon

I have shared my love for the Beatles with my son, Jude.  He knows who they all are and whenever he hears "Hey Jude" he says that is his song.  It is something that we have been able to bond over and I hope he will continue to share with me as he grows older.  We listened to "Imagine" tonight on the record player and I sang along with all the words.  Is it wrong to imagine the world living in peace?  Yes some of his thoughts maybe considered "Radical" but sometimes we need those to make us think about things from a different perspective. 

I think that I will continue my tradition of listening to John Lennon's music on this day and like I said I hope that his music will continue to be part of my life with the kids.  Thank you Mr. Lennon and my your dream live on!