Our life

Hi everyone! I owe you some updates, but I wanted to put this out there. This came from “Oz’s” weekly mailings to her “clients”. Of course, I took the liberty of changing names as appropriate. Enjoy!

Life is good.

On my way home from work yesterday I stopped at C and D’s house. It was 6 o’clock and they were in the midst of dinner so they cordially invited me to join them. Spaghetti dinner with family is a thousand times better than leftovers alone. We had a lovely dinner and shared a few laughs.

After dinner DD had a couple things to show us. Soon it was time for me to leave. I was standing near the kitchen table and DD wanted “up” so I held her and continued talking to D and C. DD used her hands to turn my face towards the back door and pushed the back of my head towards the door. I knew she wanted me to walk to the area of the door. So I did.

She pointed to her coat and the door. She turned towards her mom and dad and softly said, “Bye, Mommy.” She wanted to go home with me. It warmed my heart and made me beam from ear to ear.

Her mom tried to hold her. Her dad tried to hold her. She just clung to me and kept saying, “Bye, Mommy” and “Bye, Daddy.”

Well, it didn’t take long to pack her bag and grab her baba (pillow) and blanket. Guess where she was going.

It was nearly 7 o’clock by the time we got home. We slipped into our pajamas and snuggled on the couch to watch the Muppets. DD doesn’t watch tv so it’s a special treat to go to Mama’s (her name for me) and watch “Muppies” as she calls them. We laughed and giggled and had so much fun. Bedtime stretched to a little after 8.

DD will get up soon with a big smile on her face. The smile she put on my face has been there for hours. And I’m sure it will last for hours more.

Yup, life is good.

And no matter what life brings, I’ll remember those little arms around my neck pushing me forward.

I love my little Zippie (DD’s new nickname).

Oz

I couldn’t agree more, Oz, Life is good.

p.s. – I have been trying to keep our Flickr updated, though I’m only a couple months behind there. Add me as a contact to get Zip’s pics.

I first wrote this on Christmas Eve. But then I lost access to the computer I wrote it on for a few days. So rather than post this back in time, I chose to post it tonight. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

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When I was a kid, I recall the highlight of Christmas was always the party Aunt Marrianne and Uncle Gene would throw. The food, the laughter, the stories and advice. Good times. Then, as the night would progress, the adults would start to point out the window in the living room, and direct our attention out there. Like clockwork, Rudolph’s nose would blink out in the distance. Cousin after cousin would start to plop down on the floor near the back door, and watch in amazement as Santa came closer.

Then the commotion would be directed to the front door with a boisterous “Ho Ho Ho” and a jingle of the bells. “SANTA!”, we would all cry, “You’re here!”.

Surrounded by children, he would make his way to the living room and pull up a chair. Like good children do, we would all line up and wait our turn to sit on his lap, tell him what we want, and get something else in return with the promise that he’ll talk it over with mommy & daddy. I’m still waiting on a few things, but I’m sure mom & dad told him not to bring the race car, motorcycle or hippo.

Oh, the memories of Christmas. Mom & Dad put so much into Christmas to make it a magical and wonderful time growing up. As the years progressed, I would remember the times around Christmas. The Grinch, Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, Alvin and the Chipmunks…

I would make a list and mom would get it through her channels to Santa. Then, Christmas morning, I would awake to find all the things that Santa could fit on his sleigh. Oh happy days.

As the years progressed, Christmas started to lose its magic. I grew older¹. The wonder was replaced with “I’m too cool/old for Christmas”. The trees and presents get smaller, and the spirit shrunk.

I regained much of the spirit when c became a permanent part of my life. Some of the magic returned as well. And then we had dd. All of the sudden, the magic returned like a long lost boomerang. The spirit grew into a giant. I started to remember the things that you once found magical about Christmas. Its like Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Morning²: “It’s Christmas…”

With the technology we have today, Christmas has become enhanced. It has become a world of flash and pop. Crafty scripting, mixed with big budgets and world connectivity. For the adults, we have YouTube, where we can relive all of those wonderful movies and shows we grew up with. We can even watch some of them instantly, uninterrupted, if we’reNetFlix subscribers.

If you’re a hack like me, then you’ll find that Ed Skoudis’ Christmas Themed Pen-Testing Challenges are a hoot. And if you’re a geek and love history, be sure to check out Vint Cerf’s 1985 Request For Comments: RFC 968.

And for the kids, there’s the coolest thing ever: NORAD live tracking of Santa. An accidental tradition, started in 1955, continues to this day. You can even call 877-HI-SANTA to find out his location. How cool is that?

In our world of immersion and interactivity; full of holographic imagry, Dolby^(tm) 7.1 audio, and LED lighting; I will never forget the magic of sitting on the floor watching Rudolph’s red nose dancing through the air.

I hope that dd’s memories of Christmas will rival those of our own. I hope that each Christmas will be more magical and wonderful to her than the Christmas before. I promise her now, that we will do everything in our power to make that happen, just as our parents did for us.

And so we end this post with one of my favorite Christmas songs. Every time I hear this song, I tear up.

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you. May your Christmas be full of magic and wonder, and may you never be too “old” to enjoy it!

1. “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing“ [↩]
2. I can’t seem to find this on youtube as a clip [↩]