Every day til Christmas, we’re sharing a story from your family at FN. Would you rather get them straight to your inbox? Click here and choose “Christmas Stories: (Daily Emails Dec 2015).”
The thing no one really tells you about Christmas is that the feeling you felt as a kid, to wake up that morning with eagerness and expectation, with a heart ful and a head spinning, even with all that…it’s still nothing compared to the delight you receive as a parent on Christmas morning. Those few hours were always my mom’s favorite hours of the year. And as a father now myself, I understand why. The joy of giving really is better than the excitement of receiving.
Last year, while picking up a present for my wife, I also spotted a little toy train set on clearance. I bought it for my oldest son, Abe. And come Christmas Eve, the kids nestled all snug in their beds, visions of sugar plums dancing in their hands, I stayed up a little bit late and set up that train track around the tree. And come morning, I witnessed one of the great moments in my life.
Before you watch the video, you got to know three things:
- Abe was totally into Spider Man at the time. Like…a lot. I think you’ll see that.
- Abe grew up watching a lot of Dick Van Dyke musicals. And while we’d never seen him put all those dance numbers he’d seen to use in real life, we knew the time would eventually come.
- Abe had been such a trooper the previous five months as a big brother to newborn twins. But I think he was ready for a moment to just let loose. This was definitely that.
Enjoy. And maybe do a little dance yourself this Christmas morning. Or better yet, do something that’ll get somebody else to!
The Happy Christmas Dance / December 2013 from Harrison Family on Vimeo.
Today’s story is by Bobby Harrison.
Bobby & his wife Amy, and their kids Abe, Simone, and Samuel, recently relocated to Pasadena while Bobby goes to seminary. They’ll always be part of our family at FN, though. Online, you can find Bobby blogging on Medium.