The "A Keepsake For A Lifetime" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Christmas morning and we have just returned from our oldest son's home in West Hempfield Township, Lancaster County.  Had a great time watching them open their myriad of Christmas gifts and enjoying breakfast with the family.  It is now time to prepare for the entire family to arrive at noon to have a snack and open more holiday gifts.  There will be ten of us to exchange and open gifts before we celebrate Christmas with an evening meal which will be attended by a few additional guests.  My wife and I decided that this year we would enjoy being able to see each person open their gifts instead of everyone opening gifts at the same time and miss the expressions on faces as they view their gift for the first time.  Most agreed, but it was decided that two people, sitting next to each other, would open their gifts at the same time.  Fine with us, so the onslaught began.  After close to an hour of enjoying smiles and laughs as packages were opened, there was one final package left to open.  

The Mountville Angels.  Click to enlarge
My grandson Caden is standing, center with sunglasses.
My son, Derek helped coach and is on the left.
This was another tournament they won in the summer.

Our grandson Caden was the  recipient of that final gift which was about three feet high and four feet long.  His eyes opened wide when he pulled the paper from the one corner of the package to the other side.  He had the biggest smile when he looked at the entire gift and called for his dad to take a look at it.  Caden has played baseball for several years now and this year was part of the 14U (14 years old and under) Mountville Angels.  They won their division in the regular season and qualified for the LNP (Lancaster Newspaper) Tournament at the end of the year.  This is similar to the World Series, only on a much smaller scale.  Well, his team won the tournament with Caden hitting a homer in one of the games and laying down a perfect squeeze bunt in the bottom of the last inning to tie the game in the finals.  Two innings later his team won the game!  I played in the same tournament in the mid-1950s and Caden's dad played in the tournament in the mid-80s and again a couple of years later and Caden's uncle played in the tournament several times as I coached that team.  

The matted and framed Christmas gift to my grandson Caden. Click to enlarge.

It's a big thrill for anyone to win something such as the LNP Tournament, but to have three generations do so is pretty remarkable.  And, Caden will have a chance once again next year.  Well, the framed momento that I made for Caden was admired and appreciated by everyone.  I was thrilled that I had the opportunity to make the momento, which is filled with mostly newspaper stories from the tournament  and a photo I took of Caden and his mom and dad holding the trophy as well as a few photos taken of him during the tournament.  This will be a great keepsake that he will treasure for his lifetime.  And, I think he just loved it!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.