Living in Garden Valley, we always had several feet of snow. There was a pasture just a few hundred feet up the road from our house, and dad and mom would take us kids up there and we would spend hours sledding down the hill. If there was enough snow, we would sometimes get on our sleds and ride the 4 miles down Alder Creek road to town. When we got home, mom always had hot chocolate waiting for us.
One year, he gave Linda a guitar for Christmas and had to play with it of course...
I never knew until I was an adult, how little money a Game Warden makes. At Christmas, there wouldn't be an empty space under the tree. There were dozens and dozens of presents. It seemed like it took an hour to open them all, and dad spent the morning taking pictures of us with our new toys.
One thing I look back on now, and I find myself really impressed with, is the fact that almost every year, dad was brave enough to actually buy mom clothes for Christmas. He actually had very good taste for a male and most of the time, mom loved what he picked out.
For many years, Christmas was really hard after dad died. His laughter, his excitement, and the look in his eyes as he spent the day with his family (unless he decided in the afternoon that there might be someone out poaching and he needed to go to work for an hour or two).
I wonder every year what he would be like at Christmas now. I think he'd be exactly the same, only enjoying his grandkids and great grandkids as well. Merry Christmas dad!
Bill LOVED Christmas and was a big kid about it. He had to try to guess what was in his packages and always did. Even that guitar I got for him. I just KNEW he would NEVER IN THIS WORLD GUESS THAT ONE . But this big box----he guessed. You know what? I was thinking about that just the other day and after all these years, I finally figured out ----he FOUND those gifts and so knew. Like a little kid, He could NOT let it go and be surprised, oh no, he must have really searched cuz I hid them well, I thought.
ReplyDeleteSo I laughed so hard when I saw that pic of him "singing" with it that Heather just posted. Of course he couldn't play it. big goof !
OK, I forgot that this guitar was for Linda. I gave him one when we lived in Nevada. That's when it was. This old brain !
ReplyDeleteThe one I gave him disappeared after only a few weeks. Someone must have admired it and so he gave it to them. He did that all the time and now his son does it. Don't admire anything Steve has, he'll just give it to you.
Adding those pics really added to the story. thanks, Jodi.
ReplyDeleteOh my god, those pictures are priceless!!!! The one of him sleeping in his chair literally made me laugh out loud.
ReplyDeleteLove love love this post sister. Thank you so much for doing this!