I have always enjoyed the time leading up to Christmas. I like to see all of the decorations and lights of the season. Denver is an especially beautiful city on a winter’s eve which makes us even happier that we decided to move here a decade ago.

As a child I can remember poring over the Spiegel catalog for hours, sometimes with my siblings, but often on my own, looking at the toys and clothes being offered and marking the pages to show my parents exactly what Santa should bring, since the Spiegel catalog was what Santa used to let children and their parents know exactly what was available.

Christmas must have been very stressful for my folks, since they had very little money to spend on the holiday–thus the Spiegel catalog. I found out much later that they could buy things on credit, long before the ubiquity of credit cards we know today, and then make monthly payments.

It takes us days to decorate the apartment and trim the tree–not because we have that much to put up, but because we need to take lots of breaks to finish the task. We especially like the homemade ornaments that Bryn, Erin, and, more recently,Charlie have made as well as those that friends and family have crocheted, sewn, knitted, drawn, carved, and molded and gifted us through the years.

I used to be a snob about having a real tree; and when the children were little I insisted we search out a live tree and lug it home. Then invariably, we kept it up until all of the needles began to fall off, creating a cleaning disaster. Now I am quite content to pull out the artificial tree, complete with its own lights, from its box. This year I discovered that some of the lights weren’t working. Fortunately, a quick run to the Ace Hardware around the block remedied that.

I am also very partial to the nacimientos we have collected over the years.

Of course the best part of any season is the time we get to spend with our family, and especially Charlie, who is growing up all too fast. On most Tuesdays, we pick him up (more often than not with his bestie Dylan). Recently, with the arrival of winter, the city has re-opened the downtown ice rink just a couple of blocks from us.

The boys love the opportunity to race around the rink. Sue and I just enjoy watching them and how much they revel in being with one another. A couple of weeks ago, the rink was open with only a few other skaters, and the weather was so mild that the guys skated in short sleeves.