With the world seemingly on fire endlessly, I'm going to focus on upbeat and happy topics on my blog. I will do reviews and stuff like always, but I want my blogs to be a relief from all the horribleness that is going on in our world. It is even happening in sports. I can't escape when I read about the sports I love. I am still plugged in, I know what is going on and I follow science and doctors. I am doing all I can to stop this never ending pandemic. I implore others to do the same. Okay, got that off my chest.

What I want to talk about today is the joy my kids had on their faces when they opened their presents this morning. My family does two Christmas's each year. We have an early one with the four of us, and we travel to a house with my extended family for the actual day. We do celebrate Xmas, but not in a traditional way. We do not go to church, we do not watch many Xmas movies, my wife loves Xmas music, but the rest of us are kind of blah on it and it is only required of my extended family to be together on Xmas eve and Xmas morning. My extended family is also fully vaxxed, including the youngest kids, and all of us that are eligible have boosters. I feel pretty safe doing that. But when my family, the four of us and our dog, celebrate, we do it the day before the trip, which is today, the 22nd. We get up, I went for a run at seven and was home by nine, and we open presents and do our stockings. For my wife and I it is all about what we deem essential gifts. I got her a bunch of bath stuff. She likes to pamper herself, she likes to do steamy showers and baths. She is all about that spa life, especially if she can do it in our home. She got me a couple of books I wanted, a pair of running shorts and a new hooded sweatshirt. It was perfect.

Then it was the kids turn to open their gifts. This is where we get the most excited. We love seeing them in this first round of gift opening. And I know it sounds like I am being a material asshole, but the gifts are a humongous deal for my kids. They are nine and six. That is the prime age for gifts. My son has been champing at the bit for his first round of gifts. My daughter lit up when I started to bring them out of our bedroom to the living room. It was the first of many happy faces this morning. We let my daughter go first and with every gift she would exclaim, "I love this!" or "I was hoping I would get this!". It was wonderful. She is so polite and says all the right things when she gets a gift. I adore that quality. She is a good little kid. She got super fired up when she opened her new Play Doh set. This was the biggest smile from her. She absolutely lit up. She was as excited as I have seen her in a long time. Seeing that smile made me so happy. It made me realize that this is why we go out and get these things and wrap them. It is totally worth it. My son was so hype to open his gifts. He was the last one to go this morning, by his own choice. We got him a good amount of basketball gear. He is super into basketball right now, and we ran with this. He got new basketball socks. I know, socks for a kid? Well, he was stoked. He also got a new headband, which he has yet to take off. A family friend got him a new, good leather basketball, which he has been dribbling around the house all day. But the big gift for him was his new LeBron James Lakers jersey. My wife and I worked hard to find this jersey. And seeing the smile and joy on his face when he opened it up made it all worth it. It was fantastic. Seeing him grin from ear to ear was so sweet. Seeing him wear the jersey as I type this warms my heart. It makes me think back to when I was a kid and my folks would buy me the jersey that I asked for that year. It brought me back to that time that I find myself missing. I know it is not good to live vicariously through your kids, but I do not think that is what I'm doing. I am just remembering the joy I had as a kid, and now seeing it through my kids eyes. And it is the best. I love seeing them light up and smile all day long. It is one of the best things about being a parent. And it also makes me realize how lucky I am to be able to do these things for my kids.

I struck gold with my family. I highly recommend watching the joy in your kids eyes when they open their gifts this holiday season. I know some of my Jewish friends have already talked about the joy they saw with their kids opening Hanukkah gifts. It is so wholesome and one of the best things in the world. I am forever grateful that I get to see my kids do this.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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