Day 5 of the 3rd Annual Stogie Review 12 Days of Christmas has arrived, and this string of days are one of my favorite. In these days we ask for people to tell us a cigar related Christmas story. Each year we get a good mix of funny, heart warming, and everything in between.

The prize for Day 5 is a box of Joya de Nicaragua Dark Antano Drew Estate.

TJ’s Story:

On Oct 2nd, 2008, I looked into the eyes of my first child. Nothing during the prior 37 years of my life prepared me for the feelings that instantly welled up inside me the moment I held my minute-old son. Just over 2 months later, on his first Christmas Eve, after he was fast asleep, I enjoyed an Oliva Serie V. Not being able to afford uber-expensive cigars, this stick was in my range for a one-time purchase. However, that night, it was the most expensive stick on the planet. It was during the hour-long smoke that Dec. 24th that I was able to reflect on how suddenly my life had changed. Little did I know what was I was starting that night.

Like the smoke, and the sweet aroma of the cigar, the months, and seasons rolled by.

A year later the holiday season seemed to sneak up on me. Keeping busy with a one-year old, work and the seemingly endless diaper changes, it was suddenly two days before Christmas Eve that I recalled what I had done one year prior. I frantically tried to see if I had a stick worthy of establishing a “tradition”, eventually deciding on a Padilla Miami. Again, I had to enjoy a cigar that fell into my budget, which falls short of those sticks commanding $15 or more. So, that night, I held my son until he fell asleep in my arms, laid him in his crib, kissed his forehead and headed to the porch. Mind you, I live in CT and on any December night, one must be bundled up to spend time outside. I sat back, toasted the Padilla and enjoy the cold air in my face and the warm rum in my throat. I tossed a quick “thanks” to the big guy upstairs, asked him to peek in on my son from time to time and enjoyed my second Christmas Eve Cigar night.

As I recall this story for you now, I face my third annual (after 3, you can call it annual, right?) Christmas Eve Cigar night. The humidors have increased in number and the quantity of cigars in the collection has grown exponentially, much to mom’s chagrin. I find myself just over a week away and having to pick a special stick. Alec Bradley Tempus? Camacho Triple Maduro? Maybe another Padilla such as a 1932. Is Man O’ War Ruination too “aggressive” for Christmas Eve? I’m not really sure where my tastes will go, but I do know that for this one hour, I will reflect back on another year I was blessed with family, with health and with the freedom to enjoy a cigar.