Why Dads Need To Be There (Late Christmas Commentary)

Yes, though the 12th day of Christmas is well behind us, I need to mention one last thing about that beloved season.  As, I suppose, a large swath of the the American populous does in December, we use our normal Friday Night Movie Night for Christmas movies.  Our #1 Doctor Who fan discovered that David Tennant (Doctor #10?) was in this Christmas movie: Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger and acquired it so we could be further impressed by Mr. Tennant.

BRIEF REVIEW
If you go in for highly improbable, deeply sentimental children's Christmas movies with a large dose of slapstick British humor (or should I say humour?), then this is for you.  Which, what is Christmas if not a story about the highly improbable and deeply sentimental?  Needless to say, our family does fit, given that we are either chronologically or mentally all still in our childhoods.  If you need to be impressed by taut story lines and brilliant acting, though, you will be disappointed.  This dichotomy is obvious when comparing the average reviews by average people (high end) to the average critical reviews (low end).

POINT OF THIS

Along with the fun and music - lots of quite singable music, even for me - Nativity 2 had a secondary theme about the influence of Dad's, highlighted in part by the strained relationship between the main character and his father.  But the real kicker, given my background, was this song plunked into the middle of things:

When I was a boy, I dreamed he'd find me

Fall down from the sky, to come and guide me

Take me by the hand of life and show me all he's learned…

Everybody's got a dad but me

Everybody's got a dad but me

I need a Dad to keep the demons from my door,

I need a Dad to stand beside me, 

Slay the dragons, fight my battles, help me win the war,

Show me what this heart inside me, 

is still beating for.

Now I am a man, I still dream he'll find me

Catch me if you can, the ties still bind me

Lead me down the rocky road, 

Show me who I am...

Everybody's got a dad but me

Everybody's got a dad but me

There are times when I think I have finally 'outgrown' that vague emptiness resulting from an absent father, then along comes a little reminder like this that I can't get out of my mind.  Two things usually result.  First, a sense of regret for that loss of relationship with my Dad.  Second, a renewed determination to do the very big job I have been assigned as father to my girls.  When they are watching Christmas movies years from now, I want them to smile at their memories of Dad.