I've said this over and over....Christmas is my favorite holiday and I love the entire holiday spirit that takes over me in December. I love Christmas! I have the best memories of Christmas when I was a kid. And, as I was writing that, I realized that I have the best memories from Christmas as an adult too. I think the great childhood memories have made me love the holiday and want to create those same great traditions and memories for my kids.
My parents still live in the house I grew up in. I was there this week and my mom has her Christmas tree up. It's not decorated yet, but it's in it's traditional spot. It's funny because my mom has forever had the same exacty size and shape of Christmas tree.
When we were kids my parents would load us up in the car on Christmas Eve and we would go to my Grandpa and Grandma's house in Grand Rapids. I don't exactly remember what we did at my Grandparents house, I'm sure we had some food and presents. But what I remember what the drive home. Snow on the ground, the moon and stars in the sky.....Tina and I staring out the window looking for Rudolph's nose. We were so lucky because we saw it every single year.
So we had a half hour drive home and when we got there the house would be all dark. Mom would turn on the Christmas tree lights and put their old Johnny Mathis record on the record player. As an adult, I love the Johnny Mathis "Winter Wonderland" CD. I keep it in my car and can listen to it over and over.
The best part, and the only way I can describe it, was the feeling of Christmas spirit. How can I describe it? I remember it being dark outside and sitting in my parents livingroom looking out the big picture window at the snow. The street light shining on all the snow in the front yard....and if we were lucky it would be falling too...and the neighborhood felt so quiet. It was just a warm feeling in my heart that I cherish each year that I'm lucky enough to feel it.
I shared a room with Tina back then, and I remember laying there in bed and we couldn't sleep. We were so excited about Christmas that we didn't think we could ever possibly fall asleep. It was kinda like the night before we'd leave on vacation to St. Ignace. My parents must have loved seeing that excitement.
This probably sounds silly, but I think that I liked the time leading up to Christmas and Christmas Eve even more than Christmas day. Kids LOVE to open presents, but it just felt like Christmas was great in the morning then it was just sort of a boring day. I definitely loved the holiday spirit that floated around leading up to Christmas. I was just telling Jourdan the same thing the other day. It's different now, as a parent, because I'm cooking and getting ready for our big Christmas dinner.
I still get all these warm and fuzzy feelings during the holidays....most years. There have been some years that I haven't really felt it. Those are sad and very stressful years for me. I remember one year that I didn't even get out my decorations...we decorated the Christmas tree and that was it. How sad is that!
The great memories I have from my childhood make me want to create them for my kids. I look back at those memories with so much happiness that I want my kids to feel that way too. I tend to get a little crazy with decorating for Christmas. I have more to say about all this but I'll save it for another post.
I'm happy to report that I have the Christmas spirit in my heart this year. I feel warm and fuzzy over Christmas and my kids are so happy. We've decorated and we've been baking. It's awesome and everyone is happy.
I've invited our family here on Christmas Eve this year. We've all got families and have our own little family traditions that we are trying to have with our families, but I still want to give my kids a great Christmas Eve tradition that is sorta like the ones I remember. I hope we have snow when Santa comes. Our Reigndeer dust is ready to be sprinkled, we just need a little bit of snow to make it all come together.
Merry Christmas
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