The Grotto

An impromptu family gathering in the sparkling cold to celebrate my Dad's 70th birthday. Cousins, little and big, holding mittened hands, eating candy canes and cupcakes that looked like their Grandpa's head, doing the Christmas limbo under a lighted branch over the pathway. Sharing smiles and knowing looks with my baby brother and sister as they herded their younglings through the crowded pathways. It was cold. But memories were made, and my Dad smiled a lot and held his youngest grandson who was dressed up as a bear.

I hope we have many more birthday parties for my Daddy; here or elsewhere doesn't matter, as long as we're together.