Christmas as a Dad

The new journey for this middle aged man!

Every year in my life, I have built Christmas up to be something like what I remembered as a kid. Every year, afterwards, I say that I “never got in the Christmas spirit.” I think we always compare Christmas to what we remember as a kid, when school got out, Santa was spinning up for his big night, and all the great movies were popping up on TV (A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, Charlie Brown).

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not scrooge. I still love the season, and this year living in the south I’ve actually ENJOYED no snow on Christmas. Going outside in the nice weather rivals a beautiful snowfall that you dare not walk into, although I do miss snow on occasion. One thing I have noticed however, is that having a kid begins to return that old “Christmas spirit” again. Now, I know many of you parents and grandparents understand, but this is a new journey for me.

Christian (my son) still has no clue what’s happening even if he does sometimes cry until we plug in the tree. Next year he will, and I’m pretty stoked about that.

Last year, was pretty rough personally. It was the end of the committee hearings and the feeling of Isolation was very real. I was hesitant to go out in public still especially on those rare occasions when I didn’t have security.

We had just moved to Texas (due to the death threats) and it didn’t quite feel like home. We requested security from the local sheriff (as was usual, and reimbursed by the Federal Government) but were denied by the Fort Bend County Sheriff …not fully sure why, but It worked out anyway, we’re alive! On top of this, the Air Force just announced they were accelerating the divestment of the plane I had flown for years. The RC26 had done great work taking drugs off the street, protecting our border, and most importantly taking out bad guys overseas. But the Biden administration did not consider the first two missions important enough to national security, and so I was advised that my last flight in this plane would be at the end of the month.

Regardless, we still gave Christian a nice celebration!

This year is very different. We have finally settled in a new house that feels like home, I’m a year out from the hearings, and Christian is getting even cuter. I know next year he will be excited for Santa, and we will begin explaining to him the true meaning of Christmas, peace, joy, love and the birth of our savior. Although the world is swimming in conspiracy and anger, division is on the rise, and social media has turned kind people in spoon fed rage-a-holics, I still generally believe in the goodness of humanity and believe this too shall pass. That doesn’t mean we don’t see more of this garbage, but if history is our guide we will snap back.

So while enter this last week and a half of the year, let’s take some time to unplug from the rage and regroup our thoughts. We have a big mission ahead of us in 2024, and we need the energy and the emotional stability to make it though. Together we will overcome this moment, and get back to life where our biggest Christmas drama is whether or not we can find the right presents. Oh, and whether or not the boy will freak out on Santa (he did)

Merry Christmas everyone!