It’s Christmas Eve and we hope today and tomorrow produce great memories with your family. I thought it would be fun to share a couple of my most memorable Christmases. Unfortunately, they weren’t memorable for great reasons. Here are 2 Christmas memories I will never forget.
It sounded like a good idea.
In my first year in Tampa coaching the Buccaneers, we didn’t make the playoffs. We were off for the first time in a while. One of my assistant coaches, Clyde Christensen, came up with a brilliant idea. He said, “We ought to go to Disney for Christmas. No one will be there. Who’d go to Disney on Christmas Day? Let’s take our families.”
It couldn’t have been a worse idea. It was so crowded, there were people everywhere, we couldn’t park, and it took us over an hour just to do one ride. Afterward, we read that Christmas Day is the most crowded day of the year at Disney. We never did that again.
And we’re still dreaming of a white Christmas.
Years later, our youngest kids wanted to see snow. They had grown up in Tampa and wanted a white Christmas. So we went to Eugene, Oregon, where my son was going to school. We shipped the whole family out there hoping to see snow. The most we saw was a tiny layer of frost on the ground. The kids ran out, dove in it, and played for a little while. They thought they had seen a snowstorm, but by nine in the morning, it was all gone and it was back to cold, wet grass. So they didn’t quite get the full white Christmas experience, but at least they got some of it.
While each of these experiences was hardly picturesque, they are two memories I will never forget. Again, I hope today and tomorrow are unforgettable for you too, but for good reasons. Thank you for subscribing to the Play of the Day. All of us from All Pro Dad would like to wish you and your family a merry Christmas!
Sound off: What was your most memorable Christmas?
Huddle up with your kids and ask, “What is your favorite Christmas memory?”