"My Favorite Things About Christmas"

Molly and Ryan leaving food for the reindeer last year.  They left carrots and celery and of course,

water in case they were thirsty from the long flight. 

This is just a personal post about Christmas... my random thoughts. No particular point...just sharing.

I just love Christmas! It's the most wonderful time of the year!!! I love giving gifts, spending time with family, seeing the excitement on my kid's faces when Santa has been here and most importantly, celebrating the birth of our Savior!
This Sunday we're singing a song in our church choir called "Rose of Bethlehem". The chorus is "Born to glorify the Father, Born to wear the thorns for me!" How beautiful. We've sung this song before and I've always liked it but this year, for some reason or another, I've become particularly fond of it. I actually think it's becoming one of my favorite Christmas songs. Jesus was born to glorify God and to die for me...and you. He was born to die. Absolutely the most wonderful gift we could receive.

Besides the birth of Jesus, I must admit, I love Santa Clause....obviously, not the same was as I love Jesus, but I love the "magic" Santa brings. I just love his red suit, his rosy cheeks and the fun he brings. Before I go on, let me be clear: Jesus is real, Santa is not....yes, I know that and I am not comparing them. Some Christians despise the thought of Santa, thinking that he takes away from the true meaning of Christmas. I must tell you that I can understand your point. Absolutely. People get carried away with Santa, give their kids thousands of dollars in gifts that they don't need (they must not be frugal like us) and don't even bother to remember what Christmas is about!

With that said, please remember that my priorities are straight :)

I want to share with you the other things I love about Christmas!!! First of all, my favorite Christmas movie is "White Christmas"! Please tell me you've seen it. It's soooo good. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and...that other lady who's name I do not know! They dance and sing and perform all these wonderful songs and dances at an Inn in Vermont. I don't think there's anything better than that movie! I just love the time setting, the actors, the characters they play, the setting, the story...and the list goes on. My other favorite holiday movie is "Home Alone" because I always watched it with my dad and I don't ever remember my dad laughing so much as when we would watch that movie. Luckily for my dad, I think my son may be the next "KEVIN!!!" and he'll get to experience more of those laughs in person in the next few years!

I love, love, love Christmas caroling and music. Last year we got to carol with our community group on a wagon and ride around town singing to shut ins, elderly and just about anyone who would listen. Tonight, the group went caroling and I have a baby who isn't feeling so well so we stayed home. I was bummed but luckily for us, the group came to our house and sang to us! THAT was fun! Molly was running around the house in excitement and Ryan was blowing them kisses!As a child, we would go for our GA's group (Girls in Action missions group for girls) and our children's programs at church would go carol at the nursing homes. It just makes people smile when you show up at their door and sing them Christmas songs.

When I was little, we'd all go to my Aunt Irene and Uncle Wendall's house on Christmas Eve. This was the big tradition. We would eat and sing, eat and sing, visit, eat and sing...until we couldn't eat or sing anymore! I love to eat and sing and this is probably where I got this...although my dad says his side of the family can eat and sing too! I think I just got a double dose so I was bound to love both! My favorite part of those Christmas Eve get togethers was all of my family, gathered around Aunt Irene's piano, singing Silver Bells and White Christmas, Silent Night and so many others. My Aunt Colleen playing the piano (she's the best) and hearing all the harmony in my family's voices! Oh my goodness, there is nothing like it. I could literally cry just thinking of those memories! How blessed I was as a child to get to experience such a wonderful Christmas tradition!

Now that I'm a grown up with three kids of my own, I can see how excited they get. I wrapped presents this afternoon and put them under the tree. When they came downstairs to see the presents their eyes gleamed with excitement! Molly could hardly contain herself and she, of course, told me which packages were hers and which paper and ribbons she liked best! Tomorrow I get to go to her class party. This is her first year in school and she's having a class party and I get to go enjoy it with her. She's so excited and so am I!\

Ooohhh....and I love Christmas trees! We have 5...well 6 if you count the little grapevine one in our kitchen (thanks Ashley) and I guess you could say 7 if you count the lighted grapevine one on our front porch! I love Christmas lights and sitting with a cup of cocao and a blanket with the lights off and just relaxing by the light of the tree!

Another thing I'd like to say is "THANK YOU" to my dad who always let me open one present early! That was so nice! AND, a big thanks to my mom for not using much tape so I could always open my presents and re-wrap them just to see what I got a few days early!

Okay, enough rambling about Christmas past and all that I love about Christmas! I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas. I hope that you enjoy your families, make traditions of your own and most importantly, remember the birth of Jesus and teach it to your children! Remember that HE was "Born to glorify the Father, Born to wear the thorns for me".