By Staff
Jonathan Willis
As a little boy growing up I always looked forward to Christmas so much.
There was nothing like waking up early on Christmas morning. I would always wake my brother up and we would run into the living room to see what presents were waiting there for us.
We never seemed to be disappointed. I remember one Christmas when we both got our own bb guns.
It was like the movie, a Christmas Story, when mom kept telling us to be careful because we would shoot our eyes. Thankfully, we did not.
I guess it was the year after that when we got our first VCR for Christmas. Back then that was a big deal. Not cheap either.
I still have tapes from all of the college football bowl games that I recorded that year just because I could. Of course I am not going to pop in the Auburn-Syracuse Sugar Bowl game or the Miami-Oklahoma Orange Bowl for that year, but the Alabama vs. Michigan Hall of Fame Bowl might be worth watching again sometime.
Although I don't watch those tapes anymore, it is funny how those Christmas memories are still with me.
Some 20 years later, the memories I hope to make are much different.
This is our little boy Ty's second Christmas, but it's really his first where he is noticing everything.
At first he wasn't quite so sure about those little Santa Clauses and snowmen sitting over in the corner, but he loves them now.
So it's been kind of fun this year making sure his presents are hid where he can't find them and looking on as he watches those same old Christmas cartoons we watched as kids.
I can already tell that Christmas is much different, much better, as a parent than as a child.
With each thing he does he is making a memory that we will always have.
I will never forget the Sunday night after Thanksgiving when we decorated the Christmas tree.
As Mandi and I were sorting through ornaments and putting them on the tree, we hear Ty's little voice yell out, "ball."
Before either of us could turn around we heard that "ball" shatter against the wall.
That is one Christmas ornament we will never have again, but it's a Christmas memory that I will never forget.