Like, love. Despite having a father who was a bit of a grinch as December headed towards the inevitable, who would rather be outside working on an old Plymouth or Buick than dealing with his antagonistic brothers, my mom always made a big deal over ol' St. Nick. There was always a live tree, and cookies and eggnog, and if you rolled over in your cozy sugarplum bed in the middle of the night you'd hear a faint tinkling that was the bell on your stocking, and then you'd go crazy waiting til morning. Many, many nights my mum stayed up hand-sewing miniature buttons on homemade Barbie clothes, or putting the finishing touches on a Pajama Doll (will I be a dork if I make one for Jelly?! Don't answer that).
I love the magic of Christmas. I love that a child believes in the magic of flying sleighs and reindeer, and the all-seeing, all-knowing fat man in red. I like the lights, and the music, and the cackle of a fireplace, even if it is just a DVD (seriously, I own that). I hang stockings on the mantle with care, hurl LED and glow-in-the-dark snowflakes all over every possible window, and have been considering one of those inflatable monstrosities for the front yard. Maybe an 8-foot high snowglobe. That lights up. And plays music. And can unload the dishwasher for me. I like baking Christmas cookies, and making candy, and even the hours and hours of laboriously curling ribbon on gifts. I wrap in blue and silver, those are my signature Christmas colors.
On December 1st my shopping is done. I do 80%, if not more, online. Amazon ought to spend November sending me chocolates and flowers for what I pour into that site. But I also like to find the little odd-ball places, like dylanscandybar.com and Romp. I order myself a big sampler from The Popcorn Factory, now that I sadly no longer have grandparents that do that, and damnit, I love getting that freaking stupid tin. I like to hang ornaments in a certain order that someday is going to make Jelly insane. I cannot, CANNOT decorate the tree until there are homemade cookies and eggnog, which is why mine is not up yet; this Saturday afternoon will be baking, and Sunday afternoon there shall be mayhem.
Tonight we will officially kick off the season with our first event - the local tree-lighting ceremony in the neighboring town. This weekend will be xmas card pics, and a parade, and a holiday party. Oh, and the baking and the tree, of course. Jelly will have a few more days to open on her Playmobil Advent Calendar (so darn cute), I will find more crap hidden that I bought for her a zillion years ago, and we'll meet up with my mommies group to hand over the clothes and toys we bought for a little girl who otherwise wouldn't get very much this Christmas. Yes, there is a PSA hidden in this post; if you haven't already, please consider sponsoring a child this holiday. Or, a senior citizen; I was shocked and horrified to see the wishlist of a 79-year old woman, who wanted nothing more than warm slippers, paper towels, and a few favorite treats. Yes, I know that Christmas has become overly commercialized and there's plenty of reasons to lose sight of the spirit of the season. But whether you are celebrating a religious event or not, it's still a time for togetherness; family, humanity, peace and goodwill. And that's why I like Christmas.
Although it's REALLY hard to get in the mood when I was doing this one week ago;
Oh yeah, Thanksgiving ROCKED. That right there, my friends, is why living in NC is sometimes really, really awesome.
Except now I want snow.
1 comment:
I love your comments about what Christmas is about. So true!
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