Another Christmas gone

Another Christmas has passed and it was no different from any other day. The only good thing about Christmas was that I got a visit from my mom. Other than that, I still had to go to work in the kitchen and listen to people telling me what to do and what not to do. It really was the same as every other day in prison.

Sometimes throughout Christmas Day, I forget it’s even a holiday. If I didn’t know that it was the 25th of December, I wouldn’t even know it was Christmas. There are no Christmas lights, nobody singing, no gifts or Christmas cards, and most of all – nobody has the Christmas spirit.

Unfortunately people get used to it after awhile. Sure it’s depressing, but there’s nothing I or anybody else here can do about it. All we can do is go about our day and make the best of it, no matter what.

Unlike a lot of people in here though, at least I can say I’ll be out of here next year for Christmas. There will be no more Christmases, Thanksgivings, New Years, 4th of Julys, etc. for me behind razor wire fences. I’ve missed too many already. More than I can count it seems like. It hurts me to even think about it.

The pain is almost over though. Just seven more months to go.

Christmas 1993

New blog entries from Ted will be posted starting tomorrow.

This Christmas video is a year later when Teddy was 4½. His great-grandmother had just died two and a half weeks earlier on December 8th. He had been very close to her. Consequently, that particular Christmas was not a very happy one.

Teddy and his Daddy

I visited Ted on Friday (Christmas Day), Saturday and Sunday. Because none of the motels in the Trenton area have Internet access, there was a delay posting blog entries.

This is a video clip of Teddy at age 3 with his Daddy on Christmas Day, 1992.

When I returned home, I found several blog posts from Ted had come in the mail.

Teddy at age 3 on Christmas Day 1992

Nothing gets Ted to send blog entries quicker than posting videos of him when he was little!

Here’s a video of him on Christmas Day, 1992 when he was 3½ years old. In a couple of places, the camera is shaking – that’s due to me laughing while filming it off of the VCR!

If you can't view the video, you can see it on YouTube here.

The Holidays

I’ve got to say – holidays are the worst when you’re incarcerated. It’s not just the day that sucks. It’s the whole week or two leading up to the holiday.

I can’t help but think about how I’m missing being able to be with my family. I wonder what everybody ate on Thanksgiving or if they set off fireworks and had a barbeque on the 4th of July.

Christmas is always the worst for me. All the COs start getting in the Christmas spirit. I see ads in the newspaper for Christmas bargains, and worst of all, I have to spend Christmas and every other holiday with a bunch of people I don’t really care about.

I’ve spent too many holidays locked up and I can’t take it anymore. From now on, I’m going to be out to spend holidays with my family.

The best Thanksgiving ever

OK, so I’m in prison and that sucks, but still under these circumstances, I still had the best Thanksgiving I ever had.

Today I saw my mom for the first time in person in 13 months. She just sent in the visitation forms [to Lancaster] not even two weeks ago and yesterday, the day before Thanksgiving, she was approved over the phone.

I was positive that she couldn’t come today. I was just hoping she’d be approved before Christmas. I was so surprised, I just couldn’t believe it!

We sat there in visitation for almost six hours and I had a blast. I almost forgot what it was like to hug my mom. It felt so good.

This Thanksgiving meant more to me than any other one I’ve had or probably will have. This is just one of many examples of how God can do anything.