I was in a mommy forum that I frequent and that Christmas survey came up.  One of the questions was to tell about your favorite Christmas memory.  Here is my reply:

the year I got my Christy doll.  My parents had next to no money and there wasnt going to be much of a Christmas.  But I had seen what I thought was the most beautiful doll I had ever seen.  She had dark hair and blue eyes and rosey cheeks.  She rememinded me of my oldest sister.  And she was dressed in this beautiful victorian handmade dress that was as blue as her eyes.  I had seen her at a flea market and she was $40....a lot of money for us...it may as well have been $400!  I just loved her but I really knew there was no way I would get her.  Anyway, Christmas morning I open up this box and there she was!  I actually cried!  I found out years later how my dad managed it.  He went back to the lady and asked if he could barter for the doll and an extra outfit.  My dad painted her living room to pay for the doll and her outfit.  Years later a little girl the daughter of a missionary friend of ours fell in love with her and just before she left for Brazil with her parents, I gave her the doll.  Oh, and I named her Christy after my sister Christine.  That is my story! LOL
I re read my post and thought how precious this memory really is.  My dad has gone on to Heaven now and this time of year I miss him so much.  More then I can even type.

I wonder if I ever told him how much that had meant to me.  Did he know I gave Christy away because she had meant so much to me that I wanted another little girl to feel the same thing?  Did he think I had just disreguarded her as I had done with so many other toys in my childhood?

I don't know if daddy can see me or our family but I would have loved for him to know the granddaughter born just a few weeks after his death.  The granddaughter he had prayed for and helped pick out a name for.

It makes me realize how precious time is.  Before it becomes  bittersweet memory, we should make sure our family and friends know how much they mean to us.

This Christmas I hope we will all take time from our gifts and food and songs and remember what God gave us.  The families we have been blessed with.