Arizona Diamondbacks Holiday Preparations

I love the holiday season. Everyone seems to be in a better mood offering to hold open doors and greeting each other with a smile. I swear I even saw a New York Yankees fan complement someone wearing a Boston Red Sox jersey.

The stores all seem to be busy with people running around doing a bit of last minute shopping before friends and family arrive for the festivities.

With all of the depressing news that surrounds us every day, it is these jovial holiday preparations that help you forget all your troubles if only for one day.

Around our house, we are frantically running about. Each person has a list of things that need to be done before the celebration begins. My wife Trina has her grocery list to pick up ingredients for our traditional holiday dinner.

I have secretly slid in a photo of the new Arizona Diamondbacks Batting Practice hat just in case she needed a last-minute gift idea for her favorite Diamondbacks fan. I know, what can I say...I am a subtle kind of guy.

The kids are finding it hard to go to school today. I would love to say that is because they are so excited about the holiday but I think they just don’t want to go to school. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

This time of year is usually depressing, as the evil groundhog has seen his shadow putting a foreboding cloud over the country still trying to dig out from massive snowstorms. That’s what makes the Arizona Diamondbacks FanFest so important.

People need a holiday like this to remind them baseball is just around the corner. With tomorrow being the actual FanFest celebration at Chase Field from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., today has to be referred to as FanFest Eve.

I would imagine the celebration at our house is not a whole lot different than what occurs in every other Arizona Diamondbacks fan’s residence. The house is decorated with any and all Diamondbacks merchandise we’ve accumulated throughout the years.

Rather than a traditional FanFest tree, we choose to decorate a Sticks By Stan baseball bat. I wanted to wrap it in Sedona Red tinsel but when I got to the store last night they were completely sold out. I asked the cashier if they anticipated getting any more tinsel before the holiday.

It was weird; the kid just stared blankly at me as if I had just asked him to describe the infield fly rule. I swear I just don’t understand these kids today. I’m afraid I may have to resort to creating my own decorations.

Instead of tinsel, I’ve decided to create garland out of Cracker Jacks. Well I’ll use the caramel popcorn; it’s too hard to thread the peanuts on a string.

That’s kind of appropriate, I guess, since the song Take Me Out to the Ballgame refers to Cracker Jacks and the Diamondbacks did sign Jon Garland last season.

I’ll wrap the gifts and place them neatly under the bat so the children have something to open tomorrow morning.

It is always so exciting to see their looks of anticipation when they see the bat all decorated. Ok maybe not anticipation but at least they have stopped talking about sending me to a “home.”

Tonight we’ll have our traditional dinner of hot dogs, nachos, and cotton candy. Afterwards, I will gather the kids around the bat and tell them stories about the early days when FanFest was just a quiet holiday that commemorated the availability of single-game tickets going on sale.

We will then whisk the kids to bed. If they are anything like me, they will find it hard to sleep tonight as they dream of inflatable toys, wiffle ball games, autograph stations, and of course the Diamondbacks garage sale.

Ah, there is nothing like the holiday season to brighten up your day. And to top it off I received an email from the Arizona Diamondbacks this morning. It is a FanFest Eve miracle.