Christmas Time

I love this time and season. Everything it Stands for! Everything about it! Everyone Seems to be a little Happier and somewhat more friendly (except last night when I accidently left the car key turned and the battery died... but those were stupid ungratful teenagers who are obsessed with bikes... I wouldn;t have expected them to help anywayHA HA, anyway back to my NON grinch mood) I love the Music Everywhere! The Good Smells EVERYWHERE, how everyday there is another reason to celebrate and do something fun! The Christmas/Twinkly lights decorating everything, and the Cute little decorations everywhere and how EVERYONE has so many different memories! And how you can RELIVE memories as you are decorating, baking, watching Frosty the Snowman... speaking of, I love the Old Christmas Classics! Along with the new ones. I love all the little craft things people make from Sock Snowmen, and Wood peices glued together to shape a Santa Clause (both of those were really cute and in my BHG magazine this month) :) Those are so fun! I can't wait until I can do that more! I love the memories of Christmas ALL TOGETHER, Every Christmas Eve we would open a Christmas present, which just so happened to be Christmas Jammies that we got to wear the night that Santa came. And then waking up in the Wee hours of the morning (ya know the 1-3 am slot) and going and peeking and seeing the Beautiful Tree and how the Tree managed to put such a wonderful glow on the entire room. And the feeling you get when you see all the presents under the tree, beautifully wrapped and decorated. How I would ALWAYS run and get Mom and we would sneak back out and walk around and look how pretty everything was. This one year when I was little (I think I was 4 or 5) my mom and I had Christmas with My Grandma and Grandpa Beyer, and Santa Didn't fill Grandma's Stocking yet and it only had an orange sitting next to it. I was So concerned. But MOm reassured me that Santa must have forgotten something and had to run back up the roof to get it, so we RAN back to our beds and went to sleep and sure enough, when I woke up again (of course only a few hours later probably 6 ish) I went out and peeked and there it was! Grandmas FULL stocking. I loved that feeling. Especially when you realized all the cookies and milk are gone.
I know that everyone has the typical stresses of the year, wanting to make sure there is enough presents getting passed around and everyone you love knows they are loved. However one thing I am SOO gratful for was my mom taught me a good thing that she learned from her mom, and Grandma learned from her dad. Christmas isn't about Santa Claus, presents, or any of that other stuff. It is about Our Lord Jesus Christ coming into this world, and ways we can be more like him. He gave us the greatest gift of all. How we celebrated this Every Christmas is prior to opening any presents we would sit down have breakfast (Cocoa and Toast always Christmas tradition) and then Read the Christmas Story from the bible. I love that tradition more than anything. And I will have it be a part of m family. I loved how I could shar emy excitment with my mom Christmas mornings walking around looking and presents and when I was having Christmas at my Daddy's I loved walking around with Rich, Rosie, and Steven looking around at what Santa Did. But It would have never been as special if I ran in and just tore in to the presents. The Funny thing is Rarely do we remember what we were given in the past Christmas', but we usually remember all the other odds and ends.
And I think that Charlie Brown Christmas has got to be one of the BEST Christmas movies ever. It really hits the nail on the head about Christmas.
We need to not allow Commercialism to affect our Christmas. So what if someone gets more presents than you do. It should be about helping others, loving, giving, and showing our appreciation for what is in life.

I love you all, I hope we can all remember what this holiday season is truly about, and Embrace it. Still enjoy all the good things, Santa, decorations, food, and gifts, but don't forget to remember where it all started and why we have them as part of our celebration in the first place.