Chapter One

While reading my sister-in-law's latest post on her blog, I decided to start my own. There are times when thoughts run through my head and there is nothing to do with them...but now there is.

The initial thought that inspired me to start this blog was about Christmas... Christmas seems so different as an adult than as a child. It still seems to be a magical time, but now that I have to deal with traffic, mall crowds & tight finances, it almost seems more hassle than fun. The only thing that makes all the hassle worthwhile is the look on the faces of the people I battled those crowds for in order to get them that "perfect" gift. As a child, all I had to worry about was being "good" so Santa would visit on Christmas Eve. But even that wasn't much of a stressor...even on my "bad" years, Santa still came. I think my mode of thought was Santa was kinda like God...yeah, he wants you to be good, but if you're bad, he still loves you and will quickly forgive and forget.

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of Christmas. We had traditions, as all families do. Here are a few:

• Decorating the Christmas tree (of course). Our Christmas tree was fake and old and small, but we overloaded it with homemade ornaments--many from our childhood. Some years we made popcorn garland.
• Pinning our stockings (long athletic socks) on our "designated spot" on the living room couch or chair on Christmas Eve.
• Leaving homemade cookies & egg nog for Santa. When pouring Santa's glass of eggnog, we would pour a small glass for each person in our family as well (except Mom--she doesn't like egg nog) & drink it before going to bed.
• Writing a note to Santa to put with the cookies & egg nog. Many times, these notes were colored with crayon or markers for decoration, even when we were teenagers.
• Gathering around Dad as he read "Twas The Night Before Christmas."
• Closing the glass doors that blocked off the living room & hanging a sheet over the doors so no one could steal a quick peek in the middle of the night.
• Inviting both of my sisters to sleep in my room on Christmas Eve. Usually, I had decorated my room with lights around the inside door frame, etc. & we would sleep with the lights on & Christmas music playing.
• Having difficulty sleeping because the excitement of getting lots of gifts in the morning kept my mind racing.
• Waking up at the crack of dawn & all us four kids going to wake Mom & Dad up. It always seemed like forever for them to get up & get to the living room.
• Reading the note Santa left us before we ventured into the living room.
• Taking down the sheet that shielded the living room from view & getting a small peek at our gifts through the glass before Dad opened the doors.
• Seeing what Santa brought...our gifts from him were unwrapped & displayed near our stockings (a.k.a. athletic socks). The stockings were full of fruit & nuts & a couple of small gifts.
• Opening gifts around the Christmas tree...Dad always played "Santa," and he always had his big thick glasses on cuz we never allowed him the time to put his contacts in before seeing what Santa brought us.
• Seeing the happiness on Mom & Dad's face while we opened our gifts...and when they opened their own.
• Helping Mom make Christmas breakfast...usually eggs, lil' smokies, biscuits and gravy, and orange juice. Sometimes Dad would add "secret ingredients" to the eggs, and other times he would put the orange juice in the blender and "whip" it. It was his "special oj."
• Playing with our new toys after breakfast, and all day. I think it was the only day we were given a rest from our chores.
• Eating Christmas lunch on Mom's "good china." Each of us kids got to pick a dish we wanted for Christmas lunch. Mine was usually mashed potatoes & gravy. Mom makes the best homemade taters & gravy.
• Falling asleep the night of Christmas Day thinking, "I have to wait another whole year for this to happen again!"

Since I have left home, I have not created any sort of traditions surrounding Christmas, other than the fact that I drink tons of egg nog. While visiting my Mom & sister shortly before Thanksgiving this year, my sister & I got our first taste of egg nog for the season and she said, "Ahhh...tastes like Christmas." My thoughts exactly. I am sure when/if I am blessed with children, I will create some traditions...a mixture of old & new. But until then, I will just enjoy the time off from work and the extra little bit of cheer around me.