Home Movies

On Christmas morning I got up, got ready, and waited by the window for my daughter to show up at 11:00. But 11:00 came and went with no arrival. 11:30, 12:00, 12:30

Finally I got a call from my ex-wife who said I could come pick her up anytime. Apparently they "lost track of time" as my ex told me with a sarcastic tone. No matter. I picked her up, and for the first time, I was the single dad waiting in the car. You see, for years I was the new step dad in the house, sending the step daughter out to see her lonely father. Now I am that guy. I thought it was amusing and I laughed to myself.

At least my ex-wife was not going to come over to my house. That was nice.

Once home, my daughter tore open all the presents and was thrilled with her loot. She wanted to play with them all at the same time. The toys and games were a success. She did ask me, "Dad, isn't it funny that I got clothes in my stocking??"

"Yeah, that's weird," I said, embarrassed that I had forgotten about the stocking until the last minute when all I had left was a few new shirts from Target. Next time I will remember the stocking.


While we played games I put on an old home video from 11 years ago showing her (half) sister at her age opening presents on Christmas and being charming. It was cool seeing the first arrival of Mario 64 and other toys. And there were our two dogs. But there also was the ex-wife wearing non-obscene clothes, light-duty makeup, smiling and being generally nice.

Hmm. Too bad, I thought. Too bad she didn't stay that way. And that thought started to take the fun out of Christmas for me, so we turned it off and played another game.

Important Safety Tip: Don't watch old Christmas videos unless medicated. It makes you wonder if Hitler's baby videos (if he had those) would be cute. It is better to learn from the past and then quickly forget it. Or something like that.