Thanksgiving Day and left overs of ham and turkey are being put away. Dishes are washed and the kitchen is cleaned up. Everything is back in order. It’s time to get ready for Christmas. We get the tree ready and start to decorate.. Forget football and the parade this is much more fun.
In my closet on the top shelf are boxes of Christmas decorations as well as boxes under my bed. I know which ones. I have an old candy tin and a popcorn tin that hold ornaments as well as many of the original ornament containers, and I have boxes and boxes of ornaments, garland, and Christmas lights. They all get pulled out and put in a semi circle on the floor and almost covering the couch. We decorate at will.
The kids have been more involved in this the last few years. As they get older their reasons for liking Christmas mirror mine more. They aren’t in it so much for the presents but for the family, fun, and celebrations. So they enjoy preparing for that.
The tree is up and the lights are lit. All the while Christmas music is BLASTING in the back ground
Surly the neighbors all hear and know what we are doing. The next day the lights on the pourch and in our hall way are put up, with garland of course. The whole slew of ornaments and decorations will be up by the day after Christmas. This is much better than doing the traditional Black Friday march. UGH the thought.
The month of December we listen every night to the Cinnamon Bear. Early December we start making fudge and cookies, to test them out of course
We try new recipes and figure out which we want to keep and which to leave out for the actual holiday. We bake and decorate. We listen to Christmas music and soon it is Christmas Eve.
One present, isn’t that what your parents tell you? One present, you can open only one on Christmas Eve. I don’t know if all families do this or not but in mine, when I was younger I had to open presents Christmas Eve because I would be with only one parent on each day. So now it’s time for my kids and I say ” One Present”. They usually want to open the biggest one but I let them open one all the same.
We wake up and the kids open all of their presents. While they clean up all of the wrapping paper and cardboard boxes I make a big breakfast for everyone. No one gets out of their Pj’s!! It’s tradition…LOL. We hang out through the day and listen to Christmas music or watch Christmas movies while dinner is cooking.
That is what my Christmas looks like. There are plenty of smiles, lots of laughing, and tons of being surrounded by family. That’s my idea of a holiday.