Day 369 Presents

"What's that?" My dad points to a present for my 8-year-old cousin.
"It's a little roller coaster you build yourself." I explain, sitting on the couch with him. "Once you finish, you can plug it in and make it run."
"Wow." My dad chuckles indulgently. "I never had the chance to play with something like that."

...He then tells me of how, as a child, he'd poke holes in sardine tins and add wheels to use as a pull toy, how he'd put sticks into dried fruit to use as spinning tops and how he once joined a neighborhood "gang" that used slingshots against the other people on the other side of the river, who used nails and bolts sometimes as projectiles. 

I think of this as I look at him now, old and frail, with the tuffs of hair around his baldspot raging, smiling as he thinks back. And I think of the presents I have for him and my mother, who had to go through a similar childhood and I think, "This won't be enough for them."

...This is the first year that I'm able to fund Christmas. So, yes I have gotten a little out of control with the shopping and buying presents without even once glancing at the price tags. But the way I see it, if I can bring a little happy in the lives of people who make me happy, then it's not so bad, it's not a loss or a debt; it's me, finally being able to give back even just a piece of joy that everyone else has been able to give me. I'm not quite Santa, but I'd really like to try spreading the cheer at least.