A Christmas to Remember Essay

When I was younger, there were two things that I looked forward to each year Christmas, and the thoughts of get the most popular toy topped the list spending time with my grandfather was a closely second. When I was six, in December of 1990, I found off that I was tone ending to spend Christmas at my grandparents house. It was everything I could possibly hope for. Little did I know at the time, it was handout to be a Christmas I would never forget, and that would change me forever.Christmas, for me, meant the pretty presents, wrapped in shiny paper with huge bows on them, which sat under the tree. It meant the Christmas tree, so beautifully decorated. It meant the splendid Christmas meal made of turkey, ham, vegetables and my moms apple pie. But most of all, the holidays meant the shiny new presents that I would be receiving I would sit around for weeks, attempt to come up with a Christmas list good enough to rival what I knew my friends would be acquiring as well. That year I had to vex a Gameboy, and the Super Mario World game that went along with it. I realize, now, that I was very spoiled, simply I didnt care. The holidays were a time about me, and only me. And this Christmas was going to be the beaver one of all, spent with my grandpa.A lot of young kids are intimidated by their grandparents, whether it be the typical old person smell, the inability to relate to young people, or bonnie the item that they are boring. Not me though, I had the coolest grandfather in the world. He used to dress up give care in different costumes just because he felt like it. The two of us al focuss went out hunting or fishing or sometimes just to sit out on their consortium and talk. Some girls are Daddys girls, but I was a Granddaddys girl. I had never spent Christmas with my grandparents before and could only imagine just how wonderful it could be there. Early in December, my mom told me that we were going to be spending my entire holiday break in Arkansas with my grandparents. In hindsight, I should have known that something was wrong for both my parents to take a month off of fetch but I wasnt thinking about that. I wasnt thinking about anything but my grandpaThe end of school came and went, and in no time we were in the car drivingfrom Dallas, Texas to Magnolia, Arkansas. I watched out the window as we left the flat lands of Texas and entered the small hills of Arkansas. There was even snow on the ground Upon arriving to the house, I could sense something was different. The atmosphere of the house wasnt quite as joyful and ungovernable as usual. My grandfather wasnt his usual self he was trying to be the energetic homophile we all knew, but it just wasnt the same. Even when my aunts, uncles and cousins got to town, things were still very hushed. My cousins and I all knew something was wrong, we just couldnt quite figure out what it was. I eternally heard the hushed whispers of my mom with my naan and my two uncles.Within a couple days everything came to light. In the middle of the night a a few(prenominal) weeks before Christmas, the lights were turned on and my grandfather was taken to the hospital. Even in my groggy state, I knew that things were going to change a lot in the next few days. At the hospital I was inform that my grandfather was not expected to live much longer. He had been diagnosed with colon cancer before I was born and had been in remission, but it was back and it was spreading uncontrollably. The next few days were hard on all of us. We were in and out of the hospital. I forgot that it was even Christmas time. I think my whole family did. My grandpa was constantly in surgery to try to re shine the infected cancerous parts. All of this taking a damage on his body, he was put into ICU. Christmas was now only a couple days away, and universe in ICU meant that there was no hope to spend the holiday with him.Christmas day was the most disheartening work through of it all. On Christmas mor ning, we didnt even want to open presents. It didnt seem right to have something so joyous while he was hanging on for life in a cold raw hospital bed, but we did anyways. I got the Gameboy that I had wanted so badly, only I could have cared less(prenominal) about getting the toy that I had been so excited about only weeks earlier. Rather than formulation at home we went to the hospital and ate in the cafeteria. Reflecting back, I think it was hardest on my grandmother. They had spent intimately 50 Christmases together and for the first time, she was getting a glimpse of what it would be like to spend the tarry without him.The next morning, my grandfather passed away. The complications of his cancer, along with his age, had been too much on him and his body just gave out. I am thankful that I got to spend the last Christmas with the man that I loved so much. There isnt a Christmas that goes by that I dont think about my grandfather, and all of the experiences I have shared with him. Christmas in Arkansas has become a tradition in our family. That year Christmas stopped being about pretty bows and wrapping paper, and started being about memory. I learned that memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, and the things you wish to never lose. In a world changes way too fast, the best we can do is wish each other Merry Christmas and learn that life does, in fact, move on.