Christmas Baby
Here it is…my long-awaited…4th column. I'll be honest with you, the gap between
columns is simply because it took me awhile to come up with another column idea. So I waited until the most obvious column idea presented itself: Christmas. But I think we can broaden the topic out a little bit. Because a couple weeks after we
celebrate the birth of Jesus, my wife and I hope to celebrate the birth of our firstborn child. And that got me thinking - what did Mary and Joseph expect when they found
out Mary was expecting? What did they imagine his future would hold? I know that I personally have tried to visualize our child's potential, using my imagination to try to
envision what this child might look like someday. What kind of disposition will he/she have, will he/she be good-looking like my wife, or a singer like me?
Then sometimes I wonder what my parents might have thought when they found out that they were expecting me (except for that fact that they were "expecting" a girl- I guess I
showed them)? Who knew that this pajama-wearing toddler- 
-would end up like this suit-wearing guy who still has hair?
That's right, probably no one. Nevertheless, maybe my future son or daughter will end
up with the same opportunities as me. Maybe if I shove a microphone in their hands at an early age, I can get them on the right track. Not that I will put any pressure on my
children. Whatever they want to be is fine. Really. As long as their goal is not to be a piano player. Yes, my wife is just a few weeks away from her due date of January 13. I'm already
getting anxious. But I have learned something over the past 6 or 7 months. And this is a very important thing to remember for you men with pregnant wives-never make a
beeping noise if your wife has to back up for anything. Trust me; use my experiences to help yourself out. Because of my wife being "great with child", we will not be able to travel back home to
Iowa for Christmas. However, we were able to go home over Thanksgiving to carry on certain Christmas traditions. Still, it will be a different experience not sharing the season
with my family. Christmas has always been a hilarious time at the Van Wyngarden house. I've got three brothers, and the four of us and our dad like to gang up on my
mom and mock her unmercifully. I think she started missing it when we all started growing up and leaving, so when we get back together we have to make up for lost time.
We also have a tradition of eating breakfast in place of our other meals on Christmas. It kind of started when my dad gave my mom a waffle iron for Christmas. So we had
breakfast for lunch that day, and this strange practice has become a strange, albeit delicious, family institution. So, in closing, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas, and we hope to see down the
road in the New Year. P.S. From what I've been told, I may not get a chance to write another column for the next, oh, 18 years or so. So farewell? Will Return to List |
