I Love Christmas

I absolutely love this time of year, from Halloween all the way through New Years. The holidays, traditions, change of seasons, time with family and friends – all of it. But my favorite of all is the month of December and everything Christmas. I love Christmas! Here’s why…

Why I Love Christmas

I have always loved Christmas, but the reasons have changed dramatically over the years. As a kid, it was based on anticipation, gifts, Santa Claus, candy, my mom’s chocolate fudge and other goodies, Secret Santa gift exchanges at school, all of the wonder that comes with Christmas and childhood – it was pure magic.

Now, I get to create that magic for my kids and am so fortunate to have had so many years to do so thanks to the huge age gap between my kids. I’ve been Christmasing for them since 2002. I LOVE creating the magic for them and mixing it up a little bit each year.

Christmas Traditions

Every year we look for new ones to add, but our current traditions include:

• Drive though lights at Christmas in Color
• Peeky, our Elf on the Shelf
• Lego advent calendars
• Chocolate advent calendars
• Putting up our tree the day after Thanksgiving
• David spending half a day putting lights on the house
• Gingerbread houses
• Enjoying everyone else’s lights as we drive by
• 12 Days of Love Letters
• Adopting a family to provide gifts for
• Sending a box of yummy treats to my family
• St. Nick’s Day
• Letters to Santa
• Christmas music as much as possible
• Local shows or events, something different each year
• Culling current toys and clothes to make donations, with the idea of finding gratitude for how much we already have
• And I try to mix in questions of reflection on the year and thoughts for the year ahead at age appropriate levels

Some changes this year include:

• Time with Lucas – he is home from college for a month!
• Our oven is broken so we are doing DIY sushi for Christmas dinner
• I didn’t label a single gift because I have a sneaky child (I have no idea where they get that from…) – I’ve left him/her wondering what my system is for knowing who gets what.
• No cookie baking because of the oven issue so I think we’ll make paper snowflakes instead. I have an eager cutter.
• No sledding because we have NO SNOW!

What Is Your Favorite Part About Christmas?

I asked both Willa and David this question last night. Willa said it is unwrapping the presents. I like this because it isn’t about just getting and having the gifts, it is the family together time, the fun, the anticipation, the wonder, and the magic that comes along with it. Similarly, David said his favorite is watching the kids unwrap the gifts. I know he feels so good to be able to provide for all of us in this way, so to witness the magic is the best.

Mason’s favorite is sitting at my desk to play World of Tanks on a computer all day/evening long because it is next to the Christmas tree and he loves the lights, the ornaments, the whole thing. I agree. Sitting next to him to edit photos is at the top of my list, too.

Above all, I love putting the whole month together. Each day has a new piece, a new adventure, a new bit of magic. Like a conductor with a glitter baton, creating this is far better than the magic I felt as a kid. Simply put, I love Christmas!

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