About two weeks before Christmas, my husband and I were sitting watching TV.  Up came a new commercial we’d not seen before.  By the end of that commercial, I was fighting back the tears.  Actually, I think we both were.  Trying not too seem too “weepy” we tuned back to our TV show and went about our evening.

Little did I know that a seed had been planted in my husband’s thought…

The majority of my extended family flew off to a warm destination for Christmas.  But with our young and busy family of five, we elected to stay in our cold, mid-western home-town for the Christmas holiday.  We were eager to begin some new family traditions.

We had nothing extravagant planned.  No exciting events or big-ticket shows. But over those next two weeks, we made some great family memories.  We took the kids on their first ferry ride across the Mississippi.  As the ferry slowly made its way across the icy river, large flat sheets of ice splintered and cracked.  The kids jumped out of the car, braved the bitter cold, and on tip-toe, leaned on the railing to listen to the boat pushing its way through the ice.  And with the chilly winter air, came bald eagles by the dozens!  We had fun counting 1, 2, 3…up to 25 eagles that day!

We ate at a family style restaurant.  You would have thought we took them to Disney World.  They had such fun passing all the dishes and feeling mature enough to “pass the dishes” all by themselves.  We witnessed our son learning to skip for the first time.  Not an earth-moving accomplishment – but to him it was, and we were there to celebrate with him!  We played “chess” on a life-sized board.  We took a drive through a wintry, wonderland.  It was breath-taking.

We, as a family (with no agenda or time-frame), were just together, experiencing the simple and yet profound joy and happiness that comes from just being.  Together.  It was, in the most innocent and sweet way, perfect.

Christmas came and went.  That evening, the kids summed up the day perfectly: “This was the best day in my whole life!”  So yes, we had a wonderful day!  A few days after Christmas, my husband was sitting in bed working on his computer.  In a causal voice he asked, “Oh – do you have a min so I can show you what I’ve been working on?”  “Sure thing, sweets,” I responded.  He turned his computer to face me and began to play this video…

Little did I know, for the last two weeks he had been video taping our family memories so as to create this iMovie.  After seeing that, my “Great Christmas” turned into the “Best Christmas of my whole life!”  He captured perfectly the essence of love, of giving, of unselfish thought which permeated our holiday.  It was the best present I could have asked for.  And for that, I thank him!