#791 Sleigh bells

Is there a person on earth that doesn’t love holidays? In addition to days off from work and school it is a time filled with festivity, warmth and the holiday spirit. I remember when I was a little kid, I used to be super excited when the holiday season came along, with the days off from school and presents and not to mention the snow. It was and still is my favorite part of the year. Not to mention that beautiful sound of sleigh bells. (The kind of bells on a sleigh, not that awesome band from New York though they rock too. Check Sleigh Bells out here.)

As I have mentioned in previous posts, here and here, my friend Jimmy is in town. I asked him how his father was doing. Jimmy told me this story…

“I was a little boy back then, around 6 or 7 years of age, when I remember I used to wake up to the sound of sleigh bells on Christmas morning. My father would play that on the sound system and it was my alarm for that particular day, it reminded me of Santa Claus and the sleigh bells implied that Santa was leaving after making his delivery. That also signaled that it was time to open presents, which as you may imagine I really liked. Throughout my childhood and even in my teen years, the sound of sleigh bells was a greeting to me, it was a sign that the time of happiness was here and sadness was gone. Year after year my father would play that sound over the sound system, every Christmas morning and I was always up and about in a matter of seconds. Years later when I was in my twenties, my father met with a terrible car accident. He slipped into a coma for many months, it was a difficult time for our family but we stayed strong. I visited my dad from time to time and I would share what was going in my life then, I thought he was listening and it got the load of my chest. It was winter and Christmas was approaching, I had been together with my girlfriend then for about a year. She helped me get through the difficult time, I was close to breaking many times and had it not been for her, I would have.

“It was Christmas Eve and I insisted on spending the night at the hospital with my dad, my girlfriend accompanied me for support along with the rest of my family, and I was grateful for that. Eventually we all fell asleep at some point during the night, with me sleeping beside my father’s bed. It was morning and I was till sleeping besides my father’s bed, when I woke up and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, the sound of sleigh bells. I jerked up immediately fully awake, my girlfriend was playing that sound on her phone, I was grateful but I was also sad because my father was not awake. I held his hand, and rested my head on it; I was almost crying at that point when I felt that hand tighten around me. I looked up and there I saw my father waking up on Christmas morning, to the sound of sleigh bells. It was the best present I could ever wish for.”

What was the best present you ever got? Leave a comment and share your opinion and experience. Would love to hear from you.