Merry Christmas

A few years ago, I was about 10 or so, the craze around here were the Thundercats. Being that these were the times, because it was violent and because there was fighting and because there was a Mummy and Monsters, it was deemed an "adult cartoon" and it aired late at night... at 10pm.
We fought an uphill battle with mom about seeing it, which we won every time of course as mom was never the steel will person.
And I didn't grow up to become a serial killer after watching it ;)

I was a pretty easy going child, albeit at the time, a little spoiled. Nothing bad had happened to my life, I was born in a family that had money, I was sent to a private school, I had horse-riding lessons and did ballet and took piano lessons and I could speak French.
Little did I know that all this would change just two shorts years later...

Back to the story... we were obsessed with Thundercats, my brothers and I... So my dad got us three figures... I of course was Cheetara, Andrew was Panthro and Steven was Tygra... but even though my dad got Panthro and Tygra, they were all out of Cheetara and he got me (gasp) Mumm-Ra...
Oh the disappointment, even though this was an unexpected gift... It wasn't my birthday or anything, it wasn't even Christmas... I remember I was SO mad and I cried...
My Dad tried to reason with me, but I was a total brat and stomped my feet ... and then Dad said, and I will never forget this, "If you don't like a present, the polite thing to do is say thank you and smile... then you can throw it in the trash if you want, but you must say thank you and smile"... So Tina-Brat, thanked her dad, smiled and then walked over to the garbage can and threw the toy, box and all, inside.

Fast forward to today and I am a different person. At age twelve my mom kicked my dad out for no reason (to this day she has admitted she did it out of spite), then lost her mind and stopped even trying to be a mom... and I lost everything. My private school, my horses, my piano lessons. I was lucky if someone else had cooked lunch and I didn't have to do it myself... That Christmas we went carolling and with the money I earned I got my brothers and I small presents because mom had made it clear there would be none for us... I got them one G.I. Joe each and I got a pencil case with a rainbow and a sheep on it (very cute). Don't feel bad though. I had wonderful grandparents and that mega-kick in the rear made me appreciate the things that truly matter in life. I don't know what kind of person I would have grown into had I stayed pampered all my life. I see all this as positive...

Today I would have traded ALL the toys I EVER got in my entire life for just ONE more Christmas with my dad... just one more hour with my dad even.

So if you didn't get that present you wanted, it's ok. These things are not important... It's the people in your lives that are important and the memories you create with them that will last you a life time. I guarantee you that iPad won't last you a year... but your memories will outlast it and every present you will ever get in your life. So make them count...

Merry Christmas to all of you. I hoped you had a wonderful time...

(PS. My dad did get me Cheetara... he should have gotten me a knock on the head though... ;))