Christmas time!

It is Christmas time at our house!  I love this time of year.  Actually, Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day are my favorite holidays, but Christmas is up there, too.  I love the whole season.  We have a few traditions, but at our house we like to try to keep things relaxed.  First, I spend the month or two before Christmas working on projects.  Hand making gifts for family and close friends is what makes the season special to me.  I love thinking about, and then finding, a gift to make that would be personal and show that I cared enough to spend my time making something especially for them.

We also find an evening during December and we get together as a family and make gingerbread houses.  These are not fancy, expensive gingerbread houses, these are houses made from graham crackers, frosting and way too much candy.  We'll do them this year just a few days before Christmas and I'll try to post pictures.  We laugh.  We tease each other.   We make artistic sculptures with sugar.  We eat.  We play.  We show friendship and love to family and a friend or two and we enjoy being together.

We also play music.  One of my favorite things is having my kids play Christmas music together.  This year they are practicing a familar song and will play in Cali's ward just two days before Christmas.  I LOVE hearing them.  I love Christmas music and how it reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas....Christ!  The bells that celebrate and ring out the joy that we all feel because we have hope in Christ.  The story of the silent night when Angels were heard as Shepherds watched their flocks.  I love the Christmas music and I feel so grateful that we can make music as a family to celebrate.

Of course, we also shop and purchase special gifts, wrap them and place them under the tree and eagerly await watching the faces of loved ones as they receive.  Sometimes we go caroling, sometimes we don't.  But we always try to make time together.

Since I work in a hospital, sometimes I have to work on Christmas or Christmas eve.  We have learned that it isn't the day that makes the holiday.  It is the effort, the time and the love that is shared and we enjoy it every year!

Merry Christmas to all!