"They're Gonna Build A Toyland Town All Around The Christmas Tree."

"Santa Claus had come. Officially. We plunged into the cornucopia quivering with desire and the ecstasy of unbridled avarice."- Ralphie Parker

#2 of 31 Things I Love About Christmas: Christmas Morning.

Aside from the morning of my birthday and the morning of my wedding day, there is no other day that I wake up with the feeling of knowing what the day is. If that makes sense. I don't wake up on June 14 and go "IT'S FLAG DAY...YAHOO!"

I was usually the first one up. Some years it would depend, I would lie in my bed patiently til either our parents were awake or my sister had come by to wake me up or vice versa. We might have sneaked into the living room to make sure he actually came and wouldn't ya know it? He never forgot our house. That first look of the tree, usually lit up, rounding the hallway corner, into the living room...magic. We also made sure that Santa had indeed enjoyed the cookies and egg nog and given the celery and carrots to the reindeer...funny how the thank you note looked more and more like my Dad's handwriting....the gift tags looked a lot like Mom's writing....God bless 'em.

Now that we confirmed Santa had come it was time to get our parents up, if they hadn't heard "the prancing and pawing of each little hoof" already. Mom would sometimes make her and my dad coffee and dad would grab the camera. These pictures, are like time capsules. I can look at it and know exactly what year it was and know why I got what I got in the picture. These pictures are priceless treasures. The custom later evolved, once we were a little older, into us opening our stockings while we were waiting for our parents, but God help us if we touched anything else. Upon examination of our stocking items, which ranged from tissue packets, ties, a CD, Christmas candy (Santa was known for bringing those huge plastic candy canes filled with Reese's peanut butter cups or Hershey's Kisses) these were small tokens but very personalized. If you were to take our unwrapped stocking stuffers, throw them in a pile and sort them accordingly, you would have no problem figuring out to whom they belonged.

Opening presents soon commenced after this. One at a time and in orderly fashion, always making sure we were actually opening a gift meant for us. These gifts again were highly personalized to suit each of us, you could look at the spread of gifts after all was said and done and it all made sense. Opening each gift slowly, so to savor the moment and joy. We would usually be told once we got to the headliner item to save that one for last. We would then haul what we could to our room, making nothing important got thrown out. We would then have the 2nd course of breakfast (Christmas candy was the 1st course), watch the Christmas parade, watch more Christmas specials, call our grandparents, aunt and anyone one else to say merry Christmas. Get dressed and get ready to head to Grandma's around 12:30- 1PM.

For a refresher on the magic of Grandma's house see the "Grandma's House" entry.

When we were younger we would bring over 1 or 2 new toys that we couldn't wait to show them. Soon enough we would sit down to dinner. Pasta of some kind, ham, lamb or roast beef various sides and a parade of deserts and snacks. This would go on for hours. We would usually move onto the living room to watch the 24 hour marathon of "A Christmas Story" on TNT or TBS. I would always find time to play Deuces Wild with Grandpa and Dad. The entire afternoon and evening was a glad time of spending more time with each other, basking in the glory of another Christmas, wishing each year that I could freeze this moment in time and have it never end. Soon night would come and it would be time to go home. One last drive around the neighborhood near my Grandma's, down by the Bay and around our house, looking at all the houses all fancied up with excessive Christmas light displays. More of moving over our new stuff into our room and cleaning up the living room, as people would be coming over soon for my sister's birthday (whatever the weekend of Dec. 27th was). One last good belt of egg nog, one last viewing of A Christmas Story and it would all be over for another year. One last look at the tree it all it's heavenly glory and a smile.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

“Santa Come Down The Chimney. Half past 3. With Lotsa Nice Little Presents For My Baby & Me.”

Merry Christmas baby, ya sure do treat me nice.

#20 of 31 Things I Love About Christmas: Spending it with my girlfriend/fiancé/wife.

Christmas takes on a new meaning, when you have someone special to share it with. 6 Christmases so far, and I hope many many more.

Sara & I have been inseparable since September 13, 2006. After the initial few months passed and whatta beautiful thing we had together became more and more clear, it dawned on me suddenly that I would now have a girl to spend and enjoy Christmas with. I now had someone to buy a card and gifts for and someone to share in the joy of my favorite holiday of the year.

Earliest Christmas memory of us is the first time we went “Truckin’ Up To Buff-a-lo” (ah, that never gets old). We went to Walden Galleria Mall in Buffalo, which was dripping in NY snow and full on Christmas bombast and glory. It was such a huge mall with so much Christmas cheer and so many things to buy. I got a Rolling Stones CD wallet on clearance at FYE…no wonder, the zipper didn’t zip all the way and a Buffalo Sabres hat (sadly I realized after the fact it was one of those new age hats which has a brim that is meant to be kept straight…it wasn’t a total loss because I later had it signed by Scotty Bowman, legendary Hockey Hall of Fame inductee. We later grabbed dinner at Friendly’s (almost certain it was the 2760 Union Road, Cheektowaga, NY location, got the Honey BBQ Chicken SuperMelt Sandwich) I can remember walking hand in hand through the mall, at this, my favorite time of the year, thinking to myself, wow, this feels wonderful.

5 years and a wedding later, I still often think to myself, wow this feels wonderful

OK. I lied. This really isn’t my earliest Christmas related memory. This is a little known fact about our relationship. My first Christmas memory is that of Friday November 10, 2006. The night of our first nice dinner out at Angee’s in Olean, NY. I got the chicken French, might have been chicken Marsala. Anyways we took a stroll around Olean Center Mall and Kmart enjoying all the sights and sounds of Christmas, looking at decorations and taking in all the commercial sentiments that Christmas has to offer. We also went to Family Video and got movies to watch later. I suddenly fell ill. Might have been a headache, might have been nerves from being with such a pretty lady, might have been cheap chicken but within a minute of leaving Sara’s room for the night, I puked violently in a broom closet. Additionally, I dropped the ring upon acceptance of my proposal and had to repeat the vows because the priest didn’t think I was loud enough (it’s a rare event anyone ever asks me to speak louder)

Now then, back to warm Christmas memories and treasured moments.

2006: We spent shared our 1^st Christmas at the mall (logic seems to dictate it was Friday 12/22/06 and that it would have been Greece Ridge or Marketplace…go figure that detail to escape me…my money is on Marketplace) We then made into Webster where after an unsuccessful attempt to get into Applebee’s, we went into Pizza Hut. We gave each other our gifts in the car. She got me an ornament, a handmade blanket and picture snow globe. I got 3 three charms for her watchband. On the back of her Christmas card I wrote the lyrics to, little did I know at the time, but what would become the song we shared our 1^st dance to at our wedding, “I Cross My Heart” by George Strait.

2007: Tue 12/18 – Thurs 12/20: I can still remember the drive up to Niagara Falls. Jammed on Dave Matthews Band (Live Trax 10 and Live At Piedmont). This trip was magic, our first real vacation of sorts together. We rolled into the Marriott Courtside around 3pm. Hotel was amazing, great in house restaurant and the hotel featured free shuttle service to Clifton Hill and the casinos. It was here my impatience bit me in the eye. I need to exchange American money for Canuck money. $100US = $85 CDN. Now I didn’t quite understand the exchange rate and failed to figure in the slice the hotel kept for themselves as a service fee. Imagine my surprise when Sara got $97 back for $100 at Hard Rock Café later that night. Additionally, our hotel vending machine took $2 tokens only, it was $20 for parking for two nights and it cost $5 for 10 minutes of internet access.

Dinner at the Hard Rock Café was grand though for $15 that French Dip should have told me jokes and given the traffic report. We wandered down to the gift shop downstairs, because I had a scratch off ticket that entitled me to “great Hard Rock merchandise.” It was a pen. Then I had a coupon that entitled me to a free collectible with a $15 purchase. The nice man had the decency to tell me that the free collectible was another pen.

Oh Casino Niagara, how I adore thee. I put $5 in a Price Is Right slot machine. I don’t know what I did, but I ended up with $2.50. Onward to video poker, I played the $2.50 and got nothing. I put in another $5; I was down to $1. Hit a Royal Flush. I won $250; I printed my ticket and got out of there fast.

Wednesday saw a nice breakfast at the hotel and chatted with a guy in the lobby who commented on my Sabres hat and gave me a card promoting his book that he wrote about all the hockey legends that came out of Cambridge, ON. Took the shuttle to Clifton Hill, where after some light convincing I went on the Niagara Falls Sky Wheel, which I gotta say was incredible, great view. Spent some time on Clifton Hill, the weather was cold and misty, less than ideal wandering the town weather. Had lunch at a slightly shady Burger King, where one could order poutine. Must be a Canadian thing eh?

Back to the Casino. Threw away $5 in a KISS slot machine and it was back to video poker. I played either $5 or $10. I hit 5 of a kind with four deuces. Won $100 and cashed out. Back to the hotel to get ready for our private tour of the Niagara Falls Festival of Lights (Okay, it wasn’t private on purpose, we were the only two on the bus). We did see the lights…and what lights they were as well as the ungodly beautiful illumination of the Falls, an indoor greenhouse, Souvenir City, a glass blowing studio and the Skylon Tower. All of it was amazing but seeing all of Niagara Falls from atop that Skylon Tower was breathtaking had it not been so cold I could have stayed up there for hours and came back for dinner around 9:30.

Thursday started with breakfast and a pilgrimage to Buffalo’s Memorial Auditorium for pictures. The place looked horrible from up close but I was in complete awe, too bad I never saw the Sabres actually play there. We pressed onward to Walden Galleria Mall for Christmas presents and lunch, after a slight 3 hour detour that saw us wander just shy of the PA border, we headed back for Rochester, and took my sister with us so they could get their nails done and all three of us had dinner at TGI Fridays in Greece Ridge Mall.

2008: Friday December 19. We braved a mini blizzard on the way to Buffalo to watch my beloved Sabres destroy the LA Kings 5-0 thanks to Derek Roy, Drew Stafford, Clarke MacArthur, Adam Mair and Matt Ellis. Kings had to pull their goalie, Jason Labarbera, after the 3rd goal. Ryan Miller, earned his 10th shutout of his career and 3rd of that season, which tied him for 5th all-time among Sabres goalies with the late great Roger Crozier. Miller has since increased that number to 22, second only to Domink Hasek’s 55. Not to mention the pregame dinner at Pearl Street was quite a time as well. Christmas together + a glorious Sabres victory. Merry Christmas to all.

2009 & 2010: Since our move to North Carolina our Christmas usually consists of starting on our journey in the early morning hours of Christmas Eve. Stopping for breakfast at Sheetz in usually in Bealeton VA (though we have been known to stop in Winchester, Warrenton and Fredericksburg on occasion) and we go for an encore at the Sheetz in Lewisburg PA, just outside of Bucknell University. Sara, the great navigator, has our trips and feeding times spaced out sensibly and we can usually make it home in about 10 hours or so. AOnly to visit our families for a little bit and head right back the next day or so. These car rides revolve around a lot Christmas music (on the way back it’s a lot of DMB, OAR, KISS, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney & Springsteen), conversations, memories, laughing, and history lessons (even when she doesn’t ask for them). The car ride, in some odd way, is one of the things I look forward to the most. Just us and the road. I guess you have to be very much in love or very much insane to look forward to these long journeys.

As for what she has gotten me the past 2 years. All I have gotten were 2 lousy pieces of paper each the past 2 years! In 2009 it was 2 tickets to see George Strait, Reba McEntire and Lee Ann Womack in Greensboro NC on January 23. In 2010 it was 2 tickets to see Sir Paul McCartney in Charlotte on July 28. Those shows were like Christmas morning...just a lot louder. Seeing McCartney was like an out of body experience I still can't quite believed it actually happened. I have an 8X10 picture from the concert hanging on the kitchen wall as a reminder it wasn't a dream. She always seems to know what to get me.

I loved Christmas before we met. Loved it even more after we met. To all our Christmases: Past, present and future. I love you Sara. A lot.

“I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus.”

This one chronicles either a time of joy or time or horror. One or the other.

#22 of the 31 Things I Love About Christmas: Seeing Santa Claus.

“Of course, SANTA. The big man. The head honcho. The connection”- Ralphie Parker.

Just yesterday while driving about with my pretty wife I heard an advertisement that brought out my inner Grinch. Now it is probably very clear I love Christmas, but this…this news, it nearly ruined the peppermint Peeps we were nibbling on (a-maz-ing, by the way).

NEVER WAIT IN LINE TO SEE SANTA AGAIN. CALL AHEAD TO RESERVE YOUR TIME WITH SANTA!!!!!!

You heard that right!! No more waiting in line. No more juggling strollers, coats, stray children and heavenly Auntie Anne’s pretzels while waiting to see The Big Guy. YOU CALL AHEAD TO RESERVE A PLACE IN LINE.

This is sad. It is also the picture of where we exist as a nation. Everyone wants everything. No one wants to wait for it. Waiting patiently? Taking turns? Those are all non essential life skills that our children need not to be bothered with. This is almost as bad as the company who now allows you to buy a real Christmas tree ONLINE and have it sent to you.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH.”- Charlie Brown

Are we so busy that time for our children and family have to be scheduled in and prioritized? You wanna go see Santa Vito, Dino, Angelo and Tony? Well I gotta see when my schedule is free. Have your people call my people and we’ll set something up. It’s no wonder most kids are the brainless, soulless zombies with no emotional attachment to much of anything or have any sentimental value of family and tradition. It’s gonna get worse before it gets better.

Jesus. Hey buddy. Feel free to come by anytime and say hello. The world is just about over, anyways.

Some of my most prized memories of Christmas involve those where we went to see Santa Claus. Usually on a Friday or Saturday night (though I am fairly sure Christmas ’91 we went on Sunday. I remember leaving from Grandmas’ house, changing out of my boots into shoes on the staircase on the lower level of the mall and getting the board game Perfection from Kay Bee Toys.) We would usually get picked up from school and head straight to the mall, so to avoid “the crazies.” In later years we started venturing to Greece Ridge Mall and Marketplace Mall, but while it was still worth the trip we went to Irondequoit Mall. (From 1990-98 Irondequoit Mall could have given the other 3 malls a significant run for their money.)

Click here to see a walk through video of the mall in 2008. Kinda heartbreaking if you remember how it was.

Santa’s Mansion would be set up in the middle of the mall. They would turn off the fountains, drain the water, and set up the gaudiest, most bombastic holiday display one had ever seen. And we would wait (I can hear it now, “Wait Grandpa, you WAITED? FOR HOW LONG? Well at least you could have Starbucks while you waited….WAIT? NO STARBUCKS IN 1993? Call in Grandma, I don’t believe you.”) And wait. And people watch. It was always a treat. Seeing the bratty kids being dragged through the line by the wrist or the adorable newborn in a reindeer onesie who had absolutely no idea what was going on. It was all a dose of Christmas cheer to me.

We would finally get up to Santa and have our picture taken. While seeing the differences and odd expressions on the Santa is priceless now, I didn’t pick up on the comical value of these pictures until much later. These pictures are mini time capsules. I would love to see them all now. Put ‘em in a massive frame of some sort. I was never afraid of Santa. Not once. How can you argue with a man who is gonna bring you presents. My brother and sister, on the other hand, were both terrified once each. I usually had a small list or a few pictures for him. In later years, I told him “Bring whatever ya want. I trust ya). Then we would get a small treat and these would vary from a mini cereal box sample, candy cane and coloring book.

Then it was onto the food court for a sensible dinner. Burger King, McDonalds, Arby’s, Tom Wahl’s or Sbarro (where I once found $40 underneath the counter, likely to be Christmas ’97 or ’98, Mom said to keep it and it was meant for me to find). Then it was time for the journey back home.

Then there was Christmas '00. It was a Friday night, that I know for sure. We were headed out to Greece Ridge Mall to see Santa and our Dodge Caravan stopped dead in the road in front of the Marriott. After waiting for what seemed like ages, we went into the Marriott lobby, where we were now asked the infamous question "Are you here for the Christmas party?" We had AAA come take care of the car...might have been a dead battery, but I seem to recall a fluid leaking...anyway, Grandma and grandpa came by to get us and we all had a lovely late night dinner of pizza (probably Amico's or Pontillo's) once we all got home.

I would kill to be 6 years old again. Going to see Santa, truly believing he came in our front door, polished off the cookies and egg nog, dispersed the celery and carrots to his reindeer and built the mountains of boxes I would find in the living room on Christmas.

Furthermore, I would even….WAIT! IN! LINE!

“Not only is Christmas getting too commercial, it’s getting too dangerous.”- Linus Van Pelt.