I love seeing the lights on houses start to pop up around the neighborhood and light up the streets when I go running at night. I love trying to find the perfect gifts. I love the craft bazaars, cookie and ornament exchanges, and copious amounts of sweets that I always endeavor to bake. I love watching the same movies this time of year (Miracle on 34th Street (the old one) and White Christmas) and drinking hot chocolate by a warm fire.
This year I am even more excited for all things wrapped in red and green. Having children changes everything - including the holidays. I honestly felt giddy when I saw Santa's "workshop" set up in the mall last month knowing that we would soon be taking G to have his first photo taken. Normally I would walk by and smile at the children waiting in line or maybe not even give it a passing glance. But now? I have begun to appreciate things with a childlike fascination again ever since I was inducted into parenthood.
That being said, I can't wait to start our own Christmas traditions with G. I would have to say my personal favorite tradition is the annual ornament. My mom always gets us each an ornament that is specifically chosen to symbolize us over the years... a soccer ball, a Longhorn, etc. Each of us has a box with all of our ornaments inside - the ones we have received and the ones we made in school. This year she got us our first "family" ornament with all of our names. I know that with all of the ornaments to come in the years ahead, this one will always have special significance to me.
Another important tradition I grew up with was the Christmas stocking. This was always a HUGE part of Christmas morning because the stocking always held the best loot from Santa. We had the usual orange, candy, and mixed nuts, but there were also good finds and part of the fun was seeing what everyone else received. Originally I thought it would be good to wait until the after Christmas sales to get G's stocking, but I decided to check out ebay just to see what they had. Not only did I find a stocking, but it's already monogrammed with his name on it! And I "won" it for $10! I was surprised to see so many stockings on ebay that already have names on them ... not really sure why that is, but I'm happy with my purchase. :)
Reading everyone's blogs about their own holiday decorations has helped put me in the mood to bust out my own décor. Sadly, this year I won't be pulling out all of my tubs from storage because we won't be moving back into our house until mid to late December. I REALLY wanted to go to a tree farm to pick out a tree, but that will have to wait until next year. The bright side... G is too young to care about any of it anyway. Instead I get to watch my mom decorate their house for the holidays - something she is really good at! They are putting up three trees: one fancy, one Longhorn tree, and one with all of the "homey" ornaments. I don't think I'll have three trees anytime soon, but I do love the idea of having different themed trees throughout the house.
P.S. This year's Santa visit was a success! I coached G to tell Santa he wants to be able to sleep through the night. Oh wait, that's my Christmas wish... ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment