Happy Christmas Eve!

        I’ve noticed that over the years it has been harder and harder to remember the moment I start to feel like its holiday season. When we were kids, the moment it became “Christmas Time” was the minute we put up the tree, started hearing Christmas carols in stores, and began to see everything wrapped in red and green ribbons, dressed in golden bows. But as I’ve grown up, I’ve realized that with finals, traveling for the holidays, and getting ready for the end of the year, what feels like Christmas begins the minute I walk in the front doors of my family home.

        As I look around my living room this Christmas Eve, I can see the twinkling lights and sparkling ornaments that adorn our Christmas Tree. Ornaments hand sewn, embroidered with symbols of each of us, rest lightly amongst the other decorations. Some are new, a jersey ornament for the youngest of my two little brothers, an ornament decorated with a drone for the elder one, and a dog bone with the words Violet Mae’s first Christmas for myself. Every year my mom pics out a new ornament or two for my brothers and I to place on the tree. We’ve collected so many over the years that we can hardly find places for each of them now. But every year, when decorating the tree together, we unwrap the new year’s ornaments and add them to memories already collecting amongst the branches.

        Its always been my favorite time of year, when the family is wandering around the night before Christmas, my dad usually cooking a Christmas Eve dinner, and the boys either wrapping their final gifts or guessing at what the already wrapped presents under the tree could be. And then there is my mother and me, usually singing Christmas carols at the top of our lungs as we put the final stockings up and tidy the living room for the Christmas morning chaos the next day. Everyone is laughing and humming along as the house smells like sugar cookies and dinner. The tree sparkles and the lights on the mantle glow, creating a beautifully magical moment.

        But who could forget the Santas? Yes, Santas plural. For as long as I can remember, people told me there is one and only one Santa Clause, but that was never enough for my mother. You know those classic Santa Clause dolls, the ones with the red satin pants, trimmed with white fur, who’s cheeks shine a rosy red. My mother has always loved those dolls. And with each holiday season, more and more of them with different coats, sleighs, packs, and hats find their way home with her and into the different corners of our house. We have collected so many over the years that it’s hard to tell which is my favorite. But I think if I had to choose, I’d choose the Santa sitting in the center of an ornate snow globe we’ve had since I can remember. The Santa sits, handing presents to children above a little holiday village. I remember sitting at the table as a child, watching as the inside of the little shop windows rotate along the base of the snow globe, each revealing its own little Christmas story as the Christmas carol plays. Unwrapping the snow globe is one of my favorite parts of Christmas.

        Above all, my favorite part though has to be the reading of The Night Before Christmas. I know it seems so silly and unoriginal, but when we are all sitting in the living room, in our new Christmas Eve PJs that my mom picked out, sipping on hot chocolate, listening to my Dad read that traditional Christmas story, nothing else seems more magical. As he reads I think we all can agree that Santa Clause will always be real. Maybe he isn’t really a man in a sleigh that delivers presents down the chimney, but Santa Clause is in the spirit of Christmas as we choose our gifts for one another. And on Christmas morning, we each get to enjoy the feeling we get when someone opens a gift that we spent so long thinking about for them. That smile is the real fun of Christmas.

Do you have holiday traditions with your family? Share them below in the comments, and have a Happy Holidays!

Love, Me

Ps. Must listen to Christmas Carols

The First Noel – Pentatonix

It Must Be Christmas – Chris Young

Carol of the bells – Lindsey Sterling

Mary Did You Know – Pentatonix

Where Are You Christmas – Faith Hill

Text Me Merry Christmas – Straight No Chaser/Kristen Bell