Christmas Night

 I found this sentiment in 1995, when Rose was just five.
Soon she will be twenty.
Olivia is nine.
I consider the juxtaposition.

 A Father's Christmas Reflection

by Richard Paul Evans

Christmas Night.

"As the evening falls like a curtain on a long-awaited show,

I hold my daughter, just one last time this season,

in the warm bath of the Christmas tree lights.

And I wonder.

Have the Yuletide parties and gatherings

filled her with a sense of family?

Have the Christmas rituals united her in a shared commonality with her fellow men?

Has the music of Christmas healed her of a cynical world

and inspired her with hopes of something greater?

Have the gifts she shared taught her that the greatest gifts are received in the giving?

Have the once wrapped presents of Christmas reminded

her of a greater gift given many Christmases ago?

And I wonder.

Is there enough awe in my child, enough magic left, to save a world?

For within my heart I lament a great truth:

That the only promise of childhood is that it will end.

And I wonder what I have given her to take its place.

And is it enough?"

I read this every year.  And every year I cry just a little.
And I wonder.

I love the magic in Olivia's eyes.  Whether for her own gifts, or watching someone else open a surprise. 
It's in the eyes, right?

An original Livvylulah painted just for Rose.