Hi! all, my name is Nichole and I'm from Schuyler (Sky-ler) Nebraska. Schuyler is a small town about an hour and a half from Omaha. We have about 1,000 people or maybe a little less in our town.

My first thoughts of Christmas is getting very excited on December 1st that Christmas is within reach. You get everything ready, you buy presents, you wrap, you bake. There is sometimes when Christmas isn't so merry, and that is when there is a death in your family. For me that very same thing happened to me this year. June 23rd came a day that would change the rest of my families life forever. On that day my family and I were planning on leaving for our annual vacation and this year we were off to Oklahoma. We left Schuyler and were on our way to Oklahoma when my husband got a phone call, it was a phone call that would change the rest of our lives. That day, my dad had passed away at the age of 59. When we got the news we drove back to Schuyler to be with my mother and brother.

Months went by, then, Halloween, Thanksgiving, December. This December wasn't so merry you try to smile but then you realize you're without someone and then you're smiling turns into a frown. My dad was a very loud presence and now that presence is gone. You wish he was here for the kids' Christmas programs, you wish he was here for the banquets that you attended every year with him. You wish he was here to open the first present and to see his face when he got what he wanted or to see his face when you opened the present he had bought for you. Suddenly Christmas just isn't so merry. I believe that Death is one of the reasons why Christmas just isn't so merry.

Learn more about this author, Nichole Brezina.
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