[bc-chris]

when i saw this thread the first thing that popped into my head was lego and omega supreme that i got when i was a kid. as i scrolled down i hit post 16... and that's when i realized this thread is a bump from 8 years ago. ha! obviously lego and omega supreme were a big part of my childhood!!


as i reflect now... 8 years later... life has changed a bunch and thrown a couple of gut-punches. lots of you that have been on cp for a while know my dad passed away a few years ago. one of the absolute best gifts i received while growing up was a "big day with dad" every year. my dad put a card in the christmas tree - one for each kid - and the card would say something like "let's go for a big day! love dad!" a 'big day' was a day that i got to hang out with my dad for the entire day and i got to pick what we did. this was HUGE!! we lived in southern ontario until i was 13 and my dad owned a paint and wall paper store. his store was 45 minutes to an hour away from home. he worked 6 days a week and was gone early in the morning and a lot of nights he'd get home well after we were in bed. we really only saw him on sundays. for me to get to spend the entire day with just my dad was such a treat.
i mentioned we lived in southern ontario until i was 13 - so big days usually involved a jays game or a leafs game. in addition to a game, over the years we'd also hit up the cne, the ex, the toronto science center and planetarium. a big day also included lunch and dinner and sometimes a movie too. we moved to kelowna in 1986 and in '89 my dad didn't let me choose what we did for my big day that year becuz he somehow had a connection (remember... 1989... we didn't have internet/the googles/etc) and surprised me with tickets to game 2 of the stanley cup final - that was amazing.
doing this fun and cool stuff was awesome - but what makes these memories so precious now is that i got to do them with my dad. i still cherish these memories to this day.

last christmas was the first year i placed cards in the tree for my kids. at the time, our son was 4 and our daughter was 6. my mom was over christmas morning and matthew went to the tree and found his card. he took it to my mom and asked 'grammy' to read him his card. my mom broke down trying to read matthew his card. the fact that i'm carrying on a tradition my dad started over 40 years ago moved her to tears (but in an oh so good way). unfortunately, covid put an abrupt end to our big day plans last year - my daughter wanted to go to a farm in vernon to visit the animals and have a picnic, then watch a movie and have popcorn. my son was soooo excited to see the flames play in penticton at the young stars tourney. not much you can do about a pandemic! ha! so i'm looking forward to hopefully having better results in 2021!


i guess for all the dads here on cp - i'd encourage you to do something like a 'big day' with your kids. the bonding time and memories i have of my dad on big days are still so huge to me - even over 40 years later. i look so forward to making new memories with my kids in the years ahead.