Christmases Past

I love this time of year. I love the feeling that I get when the holidays start rolling around and I never thought growing up and being an adult would be as much fun as it is, but to see Christmas through the eyes of a child is amazing. Hayden doesn't really know what Christmas is, but her eyes light up every morning when she catches that first glimpse of the tree twinkling and she is already drawn to the presents under the tree. She loves her Christmas books and the Christmas songs we listen to every morning while eating breakfast. I can hardly wait for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning!!

I can only hope that her Christmases are half as amazing as the ones I had while growing up. I LOVED Christmas. I remember very fondly all the special things my parents did for us while we were children. On Christmas Eve we would all gather and Dad would read the Christmas story from the Bible and we would read together, as a family, "Twas the Night Before Christmas". I remember sleeping in their bed with my sisters on Christmas Eve waiting on Santa, we would stay up all night talking and waiting and listening for Santa - well I say "we", but I mean me and Lesley. I suppose Lori "needed" her beauty sleep. Lesley and I would wake up every few hours and try and sneak in to the living room to see if Santa had come yet or if he had eaten the cookies that Mom and I baked for him. We would listen closely by the window in my parents room for the jingle bells of Santa's sleigh, and would you believe we actually HEARD them! After we heard the bells we would lie very still and wait paitently to hear the reindeer hooves on the roof. And amazingly enough we heard those too - then of course we would immediately go to sleep. Oh, those were the days, it still makes my heart skip a beat.

I can remember waking up super early and Mom and Dad bringing us our stockings in bed and then we would tear down the hall to see what Santa had left for us. The den was always overflowing. I never wanted to grow up. I never wanted to NOT get toys for Christmas, because how fun could that possibly be? But I was wrong, Christmas just keeps getting better. As I got older and my sisters got married and moved away, Christmas morning was just me and Mom and Dad and our traditions changed a little, but they never dimmed. We would eat dinner out on Christmas Eve, then drive around and look at Christmas lights, then we would come home and watch Christmas movies. Christmas morning was still the same, I had a stocking and we opened presents. We always had a wonderful breakfast! I looked forward to these moments. I guess I still do.

I hope that I can provide the same magical moments for my kids! We will definately have our own traditions, but I am going to incorporate some of the ones I had while growing up too, because as an adult they still make me smile and they make me want to go home for Christmas once again. Thanks Mom and Dad for being the most amazing parents. We are so blessed.