"Merry Christmas Ya'll.."

“Christmas is a necessity....There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we're here for something else besides ourselves...."




I realize..as I start this blog off that I have not been writing as much as I normally do...I apologize greatly but I promise there is a good reason...a very good reason...I have been writing, just not on my blog...Time is of the essence and its just not time for some of what I have written to be put on here....yet.... =)

Today is the first day of December...as many of you guys are doing, I am getting ready for the greatest season of all...Christmas...As I was putting together my Christmas tree a couple days ago...getting all the ornaments out and putting them on my tree is my favorite thing to do. I have 2 seperate boxes...the first box is filled with all the balls, glass ornaments, candy canes, and so on...that is the first set of oranments to go up...the second box is the most special...it is all of Khristian's homemade ornaments he has made over the last 10 years. I love taking them out..one by one...and placing them on the tree myself...of all the fancy oranments on my tree..these are my absolute favorite...it brings back so many Christmas memories that I can't help but to smile at each one..from the ones from when he was a baby and he just scribbled all over the paper..to the ones where he had learned to write his name on the back of each one and colored inside the lines...to the intricate paper snowflake he made last year...each one is a treasure...

I laugh as I think back on Travis and I's first Christmas together as a married couple...I had never lived away from my parents before..so not only was this my first christmas as a married adult but it was my first christmas away from home. At my parents house, we always had a huge Christmas tree and it was always carefully decorated with beautiful ornaments with I don't know how many strands of lights on it...the whole house was decorated and smelled so good. It just felt magical....

As a newly married couple, Travis and I were broke..still adjusting to married life...no Christmas tree..no oraments...not one single decoration....Luckily, Travis' mom caught a christmas tree on sale and bought it for us...I was so excited...so I immediatly went home and put it together...I even went by walmart and picked up some colored balls to go on it with several stands of lights...When I put that thing together I almost sat down in the middle of the floor and cryed....it was the smallest Christmas tree I had ever had...I tryed everything to make it bigger..taller...something other than just the little dinky tree it looked like...I put boxes up underneath it...I made Travis help me as I wrapped christmas lights around every single branch of that tree...nothing worked...so we just finished decorating it with the little oranments we had and made do...Travis tryed everything up under the sun to cheer me up...but I just couldnt get into the Christmas spirit...We ended up going and getting a couple small yard decorations to jazz things up a bit...It helped me cheer up some...Khristian was about 4 at the time and all I could remember thinking is I wanted him to have great memories of Christmas...I wanted him to be able to say that Christmas time was magical at his house...

Christmas day came and I have to tell on myself and say that I acted like a spoiled brat...You know those things that while shopping you say "Oh I like that"..it's more of a generic comment than a geniune comment and you would never actually buy it for yourself or want someone to get it for you...well, Travis had not learned that valuable lesson yet...so while shopping he took a mental note of everything I said I "liked" and bought it for me...On Christmas morning I recieved a reversable cake plate...a small rock garden fountain...and a candle...and a shelf I wanted...I was so dissapointed...Bless his heart, he was so proud of himself because he had thought he had done so good...but again, I was being a brat..and I pouted all day (Because thats what I do..and still do)...but regardless of how bratty I was acting I was genuinly excited to see Khristian fall in love with all his gifts from santa...Santa had managed to get him almost everything on his list...his face just lite up...

Later that night, as we had made all our rounds and we were finally getting ready to head home from my parents...Khristian hugged my neck and said "This Christmas has just been like magic mommy...I was scared Santa wouldnt be able to find me this year because we moved houses but he did...he brought me everything I wanted and our whole family is together celebrating Jesus' Birthday!"

Talk about being brought back down to earth by a 4 year old...I had to take a step back and re-evauate my attitude...

We as a family are what makes Christmas a magical time...not the tree, the presents, the decorations, or even the food....its whats in our hearts...it is our ability to believe in the magic of Christmas..we bring about new traditions as well as keep up with the old ones...and lastly but certainly most important...it is the time of year that we celebrate openly the birth of our Lord and Savior...because without him..none of this would be possible...Let us all remember that...

Merry Christmas ya'll... =)