By Staff
Jason Cannon
Seeing that this will be the last column that I'll be able to write before Christmas, I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and share some of my most fond Christmas memories.
With a three year old daughter, the majority of my Christmas revolves around her; whether that means opening gifts on Christmas morning or shuttling her across the state to our families' homes.
I remember Tiffany and my first Christmas together. It was my first experience with a "real" tree. The closest place you could buy a live tree was about 45 minutes away. When she picked out her perfect tree, we strapped it to the top of my car and drove home in the rain at about 35 miles per hour.
I'm sure we were the toast of the highway that night. It's not every day you see a Christmas tree tied to the top of a Camaro.
I remember our first Christmas with Lizzie. She was only five months old but Tiffany decked her out in holiday gear and we drove across the state to see our parents and grandparents.
Each year that Lizzie has grown, Christmas has grown with her. By her second Christmas, Lizzie was only interested in the empty boxes.
In her third, she wanted to open everyone's gift. She wasn't interest in playing with them, she just liked tearing the paper. I'm sure this year will have a fresh look all its own.
This will be my 28th Christmas. I can't say that I remember my first one, however, I do remember waking up one Christmas morning to find, at that time, the single greatest Christmas present known to man: a Nintendo Entertainment System.
The Nintendo Entertainment System was the mid-80s version of the X-Box and Playstation. To a then six year old boy, it might has well have been a Porche.
By today's standards, the graphics were awful, but in 1986 it was the toy to have; and I had one.
It came with one game cartridge – Super Mario Brothers/Duck Hunt – two controllers and a gun.
I remember my dad and I bunkering down in the living room for most of Christmas Day, trying to help Mario and Luigi save the princess.
When our thumbs started to hurt, we'd try our hand at blasting some ducks out of the sky. Regardless of what your gift exchanging or travel plans are, I hope each of you have a Merry Christmas.