What to get Dad for Christmas!

The day after Christmas and every one is trying to recover from their family gatherings. Things are no different here. It is a rare occasion when most of my kids and their spouses all gather together at the same time in the same place. We call it a clan gathering around here. I have to admit my kids know their old man pretty well. There is a running joke in my family that when you don't know what to get Dad, me, or you want to put something extra in his stocking get a couple of rolls of "Damn Pennies". This whole thing all started a number yours back when I would get a couple of rolls of coins in my stocking. Money was real tight and for a few bucks I could sit for hours looking through the rolls. Inevitably, come Christmas afternoon, I would disappear into a quiet hole somewhere in the house and start looking thought the coins. It was my downtime from the chaos of the morning. One of the kids would start looking for me to play a game, help them put something together or just explain how to use something and they wouldn't find me right away. Of course, one of the other kids would find me upstairs hiding, looking through my coins, usually pennies, and then they would holler downstairs, "Dad's upstairs with his Damn Pennies!" So, there you have the start of a family tradition. So every Christmas, some one always makes sure that I get some Damn Pennies in my stocking or as a small gift under the tree. Of course, I still love to get rolls of pennies and spend the time to go through them. This year my kids out did themselves! I got 30 rolls of pennies, one of them all wheats. Just to spice things up my oldest daughter got me an 1891 Indian Head Penny and an 1934 Buffalo nickel. Needless to say, when everyone realized how many roles of pennies I got this year, it just added to the fun and laughter of the day.

I hope your Christmas was as wonderful and filled with good times and laughter like ours was this year. Of course this entry wouldn't be complete without a picture of the "Damn Pennies".

Dennis

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