why i love christmas

Everyone always gives me a hard time for loving Christmas. I guess it's not really the loving Christmas part as it is the wanting it to be Christmas in May part ;). I was really thinking about this this week and it came to me that I do indeed love Christmas, I do. I love the lights, I love the music, I love the festivities, I love the fact that the general public FINALLY think it's okay to mention Jesus. But it isn't the idea of Christmas that gets me so giddy, it's the memories that have poured out from the holiday season.

Growing up, the day after Thanksgiving, I would ALWAYS wake up to Christmas music being blasted out of speakers in the front yard (did I mention it was 4:30am), while my dad was out on the roof happily whistling along while hanging up our thousands of lights. Whenever dad started decorating, it was a major clue that Christmas was upon us. Can I get an "Amen" from the Wolds & Unruhs? ;)

My family always did advent. Every day of the week in December we did a family event. We played Masterpiece, a game we all grew very fond of. We would layer on our winter coats and play out in the snow. We even drove around in the car for an hour in our little town of Elburn, looking at Christmas lights, voting on who had the best decorations that year. We made cookies, we went caroling, and oh, who can forget our infamous Christmas shows...Jenni was the director and Elli and I were the actors. My parents would sit for two hours and just watch us perform the show we whole-heartedly put on. 

My dad is a big lover of the 12 days of Christmas so starting on December 12th, we'd all go down to the basement and each pick out one of the presents under the "kid tree" in the basement (yes, we had 3 trees in our house). My mom & dad would buy us each $1 presents for the 12 days of Christmas. We'd of course have to sing the song and then we'd each get to open one present! We'd get gum, nail polish, vicks vapor rub, socks, pencils, etc. They were simple presents, but lasting memories.

I am quite embarrassed to say that my LITTLE sister had to inform me that Santa was all a fantasy...but can you blame me when your dad would put mud foot prints all over the living room and kitchen, making a path from our fireplace to our tree? 

Even though gifts & the idea of Santa can be extra fun on Christmas day, my parents always reminded us of the real reason for Christmas. We had a manger that was set up on our mantel. We weren't allowed to put the baby Jesus out until Christmas morning. The three of us girls argued every year about who got to set baby Jesus out. Before we started the morning festivities of eating & gift opening, we always sang "Happy Birthday" to our ultimate gift, Jesus. Another small memory with a huge impact.

I only touched on my Christmas memories I have with my family, but do you see now why I love Christmas? I do love all that Christmas brings, the joy, the weather (well, when I lived in Illinois), and the love that the holiday brings; but even more then all of that, I always want it to be Christmas because I love the memories I have of family. In my heart I have very warm Christmas memories and that is why I love Christmas so much.

Thank you, mom & dad for making Christmas time so special and for the memories Elli, Jenni, & I will always associate with this special time of year!