Christmas cards - I love both receiving and sending Christmas cards. And yes, I am one of those people who write the proverbial yearly Christmas letter. I enjoy being creative (some years more so than others) catching people up on my family's activities from the past year. I appreciate the notes, letters and pictures my friends and relatives take the time to write and send. Most importantly, I love the opportunity cards, letters, and pictures give me to catch up with all those I don’t get to see very often. It gives me a feeling of connection – which is why I continue to send cards and letters – even when I don’t always get one in return.
Christmas cookies – There is nothing better than discovering a new cookie recipe that really clicks. I love almost everything about baking cookies...gathering up the unique ingredients I don't usually stock in my pantry, the lovely smells of cookies wafting throughout the house, the warmth of having the oven going all day, the taste-testing of dough and broken cookies (oops, how did that happen?), all accompanied by holiday music or an old Christmas movie. Baking crazy amounts of Christmas cookies brings back fond memories of my mother and her holiday spirit. I find I actually enjoy baking and giving cookies away more that I do eating them (weird, huh?). It brings me immeasurable joy to see an empty cookie platter that was earlier filled to the brim, knowing my baked goods were savored by all.
Christmas songs - Yes, I am one of those people who listen to continuous Christmas music on the local radio station from Thanksgiving through Christmas day. I don't really have a particular genre I have to listen to - it all makes me smile. You will find me singing or humming along to "Baby It's Cold Outside", Bing Crosby & David Bowies' "Little Drummer Boy", "Mary Did you Know", "Santa Baby", "It Came upon a Midnight Clear", "Sleigh Bells" and pretty much any Christmas song you can think of. It doesn't matter if it is on the radio, the muzak playing in a department store, or in a holiday commercial - I'll be joining along. My office mates kindly put up with my obsession (although last year they did limit me to one day a week of Christmas music on the radio). When I was all alone in my office this week my boss would occasionally pop in his head to see if I was lonely. Nope, I was just jamming to my Christmas tunes...
Christmas movies – I love watching old Christmas movies. You just can’t go wrong with “White Christmas”, "Miracle on 34th Street" or "It's a Wonderful Life". I am not all old school, I enjoyed "Elf", "The Santa Clause", "A Christmas Story", and find myself getting sucked in by the sappy Hallmark Channel shows. But, I have a special fondness for the old movies. They bring back a simpler time when all life's problems could be solved with a song and dance. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye had such chemistry - they truly looked like they were having fun singing "Sisters" (and if you don't know what I am talking about - you HAVE to rent "White Christmas").
Christmas morning traditions - It all begins with our extended family slowly waking up, drinking a leisurely cup of coffee, nibbling on a cookie, and then settling in around the Christmas tree. After picking a Santa (usually Kaitlyn although this year Lance volunteered), we begin a marathon gift opening session, broken up by our traditional Christmas morning brunch featuring egg bake, fruit salad, some sort of bread and mimosas (a recent tasty addition to the festivities). Gift opening is a grand affair, as each individual takes turns opening one present at a time while we share laughter and love over the stories behind the gifts. Even our dog Ellie gets in on the fun - she has gotten very good at untying bows and tearing off the wrapping paper! I have found it is not the quantity of gifts we receive, but rather the quality of the company we keep that makes the morning so special.
So, as they say in the song, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"!
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