Member-only story
Parenting
Fathers and Christmas
As I spend the holidays with my daughter’s newly expanded family, I admire how fatherhood has changed.
“‘When you coming home, dad?’ ‘I don’t know when’
You know we’ll have a good time then”
– Harry Chapin
We sat at my daughter’s kitchen table catching up on the first full day of our Christmas visit to Washington. Her son, my first grandchild, Lucas, sat in his high chair as engrossed in the proceedings at a level that you would not expect from a six-month-old. Distracted as he sized up the new additions to his surroundings, he did not hear his father come in the door.
As his dad entered his field of view, Lucas’ reaction was instantaneous; a smile filled his whole face and he shook with excitement. The bond between the two was obvious and I could feel a smile form on my face. Had my nervous system not been fully developed, I might have also shaken like my grandson. Instead, I could feel a tear form in my eye.
