'Tis The Season

We've entered the holiday season and the hustle and bustle is upon us. We were lucky enough to have 2 days to travel to Roanoke for Thanksgiving. We arrived mid-afternoon on Thursday just in time for turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, my beloved corn pudding, and lots (and LOTS) of other wonderful food. I was so full that I didn't even eat dessert! That's got to be the first time I've ever passed up a piece of chocolate pie. Ever. We spent the rest of the evening just goofing off with family - playing Pictionary, looking through Black Friday ads, and just enjoying each other's company. Oh! and the biggest surprise of the night? My early Christmas gift from Jeremy and kids - a laptop to call my very own. I haven't named her yet but I'm open to suggestions :)

Jeremy and I headed out early Friday morning to fight the shopping masses. We don't really need to go out after Thanksgiving - we don't typically buy the big items that have everyone going nuts but we always have a good time in the early morning, when it's dark and cold, making fun of the frantic shoppers, kid-free, spending some time together. And there is always time in the afternoon for a nap to recover and leftover chocolate pie, of course!!

So, we've been back home for a full week now and we're in the Christmas spirit. We've already bought and decorated our Christmas tree and the lights are up outside. For the first time ever we're actually about 90% done with our shopping with this much time left to spare. Usually we're last minute kind of shoppers (except that one spree post-Thanksgiving). One of my favorite traditions is my homemade advent calendar. It's something we've been doing since Noah was 3. Basically, I make some sort of countdown calendar (a tree with 25 ornaments, a Santa with 25 puffs of white for his beard, etc). This year we have a paper tree and 25 presents to place beneath it. Instead of doing a traditional advent calendar where the kids get candy or gifts, we do one Christmas activity each day until Christmas. No one but me knows what we'll be doing that day. It ranges from simply reading a Christmas book to building a gingerbread house to going to look at Christmas lights around town to baking batch after batch of cookies (everyone gets to help make their favorite - even Jeremy :). It adds a little more busy-ness to our month but I love it. It helps make sure we are taking the time to enjoy every aspect of the season and it requires that we spend extra time with each other.

It might be surprising to a lot of people to know that I'm a sentimental sap when it comes to the holidays. My fondest memories of growing up revolve around being in the kitchen with my family, laughing and talking, and yes, eating! Jeremy and I watch White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life, and Christmas Vacation ever year without fail. We make sure the kids see A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas and several others throughout the month of December. There's holiday music playing in the kitchen whenever I'm cooking and the house is filled with the scent of our Canaan Fir and cookies in the oven. I love sitting in the dark looking at the lights wrapped around the banister or draped over the piano. I love wrapping gifts at night when the house is quiet and everyone is asleep. I know a lot of people complain about the commercialism of it all, but I love the spirit of Christmas, the peace and joy and hope of it all. I love the sparkle in the kids' eyes and the excitement in their voices. And I love that this year the 4 of us will be together for the entire season. That is what I'm most grateful for - our chance to return to our traditions, old and new, together.