Bittersweet

I just spent Thanksgiving weekend with my wonderful family:  hubby, daughter, sister and nieces, and Mom.  We had the usual fare, turkey and dressing, ham, sweet potato casserole, an assortment of pies...yum!  There was just one important ingredient missing...Daddy.  This was our first Thanksgiving without my dad, who died earlier this year after a long bout with cancer.

My dad and mom, me(brunette) and sis

It was my turn to host the dinner, which involved lots of cleaning.  As a writer-home-business-owner, organization is not my strongest characteristic, and my desk was...well... trashed.  It was while I was clearing this particular piece of furniture that I ran across a picture of my dad with my daughter, taken at a school field trip.  My dad loved to fish, so my daughter had asked him to go when her first grade class went to a fish farm...sigh.



Dad with my daughter, Sarah


So now, Christmas is coming and part of me feels...empty.  My dad always loved the holidays, and Christmas was his favorite.  He loved shopping (I know, weird for a guy), and he, my sister and I always went together to pick out something for Mom.  (If we didn't go with him, he'd buy some useless something he just knew she needed from some catalogue.)  I'll miss that.  Who am I kidding, everything about this Christmas is going to be different.