Shopping with Dad

Christmas shopping with my Dad has been an annual tradition since I was.....twelve?  I think I've only missed it once, last year when I was so pregnant I could barely get out of my own way, much less waddle around a crowded mall.  :)  But yes, every year, usually the first weekend of December, I go out with my Dad and we shop for my mom.  With a list.  Yes, a list that my Mom has made.  :)  At this point Dad probably could get the things on the list on his own, but I think that he looks forward to the one-on-one time and I know that I do, too.  Plus, in this crazy, hectic life of mine, it's one day that I get to spend child-free and shopping. 

I went to their house to get him, which also happens to be the house I grew up in.  We usually get some lunch someplace, and then we conquer The List.  This year's list was very easy and, as in recent years, included things that could be ordered online.  That is usually accomplished by Dad handing me his credit card because, according to him, "I'm good with the computer."  The shopping that we actually had to go to a store for was close by and we finished in good time. 

When we got back to the house, he was delighted to see that my brother was there, returning Dad's truck that he had borrowed that morning to pick up some furniture for their new house.  For a brief few minutes, it was just the four of us:  Mom, Dad and their two grown kids, chatting in the kitchen.  I've got to tell you, it is a warm feeling, the original inhabitants of said childhood home, together again.  No spouses, no children.  Just the four of us, like it was for so many years.  Nostalgic.  :)  Mom went downstairs to fold some laundry and the three of us, laughing the whole time, spirited through the house, hiding gifts to be later wrapped by Dad while Mom is at work.  Dad even helpfully suggested that he wrap the gifts that I had gotten for some of the kids in the family at the annual Holiday get-together with my Dad's side of the family the day after Christmas.  Awesome, now I don't have to spend days explaining several times "No, boys.  Those gifts are for your cousins, not you!"

Another awesome time, and another thing to check of the old "To-Do" list.