Christmas

Christmas is the reason for the season, at least to me. Christmas is by far my favorite holiday, over Valentine's Day, over New Years, even over my birthday. I LOVE Christmas! When I was younger, we used to go up to Mammoth each year up to Christmas Eve. As 8 year old I was skiing down black diamond runs, making snowmen and saucer ramps, and playing in the snow. About 6 or 7 years ago, my grandfather split from his third wife, the person I still refer to as a grandma and consider family, so we no longer continue our trips, since it was "their" trip. We've settled for a Christmas Eve party with games like Dominoes, the Christmas Exchange, and now, my grandpa has a Wii. And he actually plays. That's my mom's side. For as long as I can remember we have either slept over at her house or gone over there in the morning after we opened presents at our house, left, and then come back for the "family" dinner.

At our own house, we have the tree, the lights, and Snow Village. My mom's mom, another grandmother, bought the town and city set. These are not cheap and are from Department 56. So that whole display takes a day in itself to get down, get out of the boxes, set up, and plugged in. This past weekend we put up the outdoor lights. I was so happy, my mom was amazed we got them out before December, the past couple of years have gone up a little late because we were busy. Next is the tree. I'm hoping I can convince my dad to get the tree Saturday :D and then we can put the lights on and decorate it with our ornaments. Some were passed down, some my mother made, some are keepsakes, some our memorial ones, some are the quirky ones, and some my brother and I made when we were younger. I think it represents Christmas more than the general red and gold orbs with ribbon around it. And since when did we decide to sell pre-decorated Christmas trees? It's truly pathetic.

Being a Christmas fanatic I'm sure in later years when I have my own home and family I'll be in the newspaper because of all the blow-ups decorations, lights, and other holiday decor assembled on the front of my property. For now, I settle for helping everyone else put theirs up.

Oh and 21 days til Christmas.