A Wonderful Christmas I Do Not Remember

Christmas 2001 was probably terrific.  I'm sure I received some great gifts and ate lots of incredible holiday treats.  Back then Suzie, Kinley, and I were living in a suburb of Kansas City and I imagine we went to see the lights on the Plaza and saw Santa Claus at Crown Center.  We probably went to Wichita on Christmas Eve to see my parents and had a wonderful time watching A Christmas Story and filling up on cookies.  Looking back now I wish I had been paying more attention to everything but at the time there was no reason to think that it would be any different than future holiday seasons.  Today I was looking at a picture that I walk by in our home everyday but this time I really got to thinking about the significance of the picture.  In early December 2001 we went to go pick out a Christmas tree and took a few pictures of our family including one of Kinley toddling around the tree farm.  The great thing about this picture is that it captured the first and only Christmas that Kinley could walk independently.  We have had some wonderful holidays since then and I am thankful for all the things she can do today and that she has been blessed with overall good health. Sometimes though at Christmas I wish I could go back to the tree farm one more time.