This day marks the beginning of my favorite time of year: holidays, family, traditions....I get butterflies just thinking of it all!
I have long argued that November 1st is the marker for holiday celebrations. It is now officially not crazy to listen to Christmas music, light my candle that smells like a Christmas tree, and buy egg nog.
Other things that are on my "must list":
- treat myself to a Starbucks holiday drink at least once a week until Christmas (last year I was pregnant and couldn't partake; that makes this year's drinks even more rewarding!)
- make a sad face every time Matt mentions that he really doesn't want to hang up the Christmas lights this year
- begin my annual viewing spree of Christmas movies: every year it seems that there are more to get through so I always have to start earlier
- begin planning Finn's first birthday party
- be on the lookout for these bad boys:
Seriously the best candy ever
- make Matt dinner for breaking our Christmas tree out of the back corner of our storage room. Err, actually, it would probably be nicer to let him make dinner.
- teach Finn not to touch or climb on said Christmas tree
- begin teaching Finn the reason that we celebrate Christmas
- I suppose I need to fit in studying for my final and writing my self-assessment paper. Bah humbug.
- spend this season in gratitude for the amazing blessings in my life
Holiday to-do lists are something that Kiki and I started when I was in college as a way of making sure that we fit our hoard of family traditions into the week or two that we were together each season. I tracked down our first one (our best one, really):
- Drink egg nog and sit by the fire
- Visit family at the farm
- Get into our pajamas at 6 p.m. and don't get back out until 4 p.m. the next day
- Play Catchphrase (until someone gets mad)
- Drive around and look at Christmas lights
- Shop 'til we drop
- Sing Christmas carols while holding hands
- Go to a cheap movie and eat popcorn
- Head stand contest
- Listen to mom play the piano
- Go to Target and see who can buy the most with $5
- Swim suit contest
- Make snow angels for two hours
- Sledding at Tuthill
- Drive by each old house and reminisce on old Christmas memories
- Color Christmas pictures and hang them on the fridge
- Take as long as possible to open our stockings
- Dress Kody in a Santa costume
- Eat lots of junk food and have a pregnant belly contest
- Sleep in Christmas outfits and see whose is most wrinkle-resistant come morning
Mom later added many more sane ideas to our to-do list, including bringing others food, spending time one-on-one with each other, taking turns making dinner, taking walks in the snow underneath the stars, and loving each other by practicing tolerance and patience. She is such a mom :).
Going back over these lists and memories in my head makes me appreciate my family and our traditions so very much. Maybe that is why I love the Christmas season so much: it is the one time of year when my family comes back together, at least for a little while. Being the youngest, a good chunk of my childhood was lived with my siblings having moved from home and living other places.
But once a year, they almost certainly come home. Once a year, we are a physical family.
This song is my new favorite Christmas song by my one of my favorite artists, Dave Barnes. It makes me cry almost every time and long for my family to just be here already.
And wow, I am tearing up as I write and this post just got a whole lot more emotional than I thought it would. Signing off with my good pal DB singing me away.
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