What’s your favorite holiday and why?
Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. I love Christmas movies, music, and decorations. Christmas has always been a big deal in our family. My mom loves Christmas and has for as long as I can remember. As I mentioned in another post, we used to travel to Illinois every other Christmas so we could spend Christmas with my mom's family and would spend the Christmas time here in Kansas with small family celebrations in the morning and, frequently on Christmas day, with the extended family in the afternoon. When we got older, my mom's parents would come to Kansas to spend Christmas with us on their way to Florida for the winter. Sometimes my Aunt Sally would come too. We always had a Christmas tree when we were home for Christmas and I loved the smell of a live tree. I really rebelled when we moved to an artificial tree, but have come to see the value in having one. We decorated the tree with garlands, lights, popcorn and cranberries, and ornaments that had some meaning tied to them. As the years have passed, we have more garlands and ornaments, though we have done away with the popcorn and cranberries. Our tree is so full of holiday goodness and I love the way it looks. You will get to be a part of decorating Nana and Grandpa's tree and will see what I'm talking about. We started the tradition of having Christmas breakfast together every year with waffles and bacon as a family. As my brother and I got older, we would eat before presents. Presents have always been a part of our celebration too. Presents which were always opened on Christmas. Most of the time we would open in the morning, but when I was in elementary school and a little into junior high, if I remember correctly, my mom would have to work every other Christmas day and we would only open one gift in the morning and would open the others when she got home. Those were some tough years! Christmas has been so important to me that when I was in Connecticut working as a nanny, I still made sure that I was going to be able to be home for Christmas with the family. It was also one of the first things your dad and I talked about when we talked about traditions for our family: how were we going to split Christmases. As you know, we do one Christmas here in Kansas and the next one is in California, though we do always celebrate with my parents even if we aren't here on Christmas day. I love the time in California as well. Just as it is here, Christmas is about family. We get together with family and enjoy spending time together. It's different, but wonderful! We have also started celebrating with my best friend and godchildren every Christmas. We get together on either Christmas eve or New Year's Eve to celebrate with them, which is another part of the holiday season that I love.
Christmas has always been important to me because it has always been about family and tradition. Having Christmas without having family has never seemed right. I love the feelings of happiness that Christmas brings to me. The music and the bright colors and lights make me happy. There are things we always do for Christmas that bring a smile to my face and make me feel so joyous. Family has always been at the heart of Christmas for me and family is the most important thing for me. It's been interesting talking to your dad about what traditions we are going to start with you for Christmas. Neither of us is a fan of giving up the holidays with our parents, so that will probably be how your Christmas traditions start, but as my parents did with me, we will probably start having some celebration in our house too. Just not right away.
Now here is my one disclaimer: Christmas does not start until after Thanksgiving. We don't decorate the tree or house before then. We don't listen to Christmas music before then. I am very serious about this one. It drives me nuts that Christmas stuff starts after Halloween. I think that kills some of the specialness of Christmas. December is for Christmas and that is enough if you do it right. So now I'm off my soap box. :)
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