Christmas is not my favorite holiday because of the presents. It has never been about that for me. Except that one year I acted like a complete drama queen over the Glitterator. Remember those?
And oh how I loved my light bright!
It’s my favorite holiday because of the feel of it. You can feel the love in the air from the scent of fresh baked cookies to snuggling up under covers with your siblings as you watched cartoons. It’s waking up Christmas morning to a warm house sitting by the stove as your aunt made peach tea. And the anticipation that occurs the day before as you patiently wait for your Grandparents to come because you knew that was the only gift you were allowed to open early.
My favorite part was trimming the tree with my aunt. Each year, we would pull out the huge Christmas tree box, (yeah we did the fake one) and the tote filled with ornaments. We would mull over whether we should do all white, red, or colorful decorations.
We’d strategically place each candy candy on the tree. I’d hide a couple just to make sure my older siblings didn’t eat them all from me, but that never seemed to matter because I would always find a couple hidden when we were taking the tree down.
Each year we would have to do the tree at least twice because the cat liked to climb in it and sometimes her balance got the best of her.
We had a small train that would go around the base of the tree and it always went off the track and even though we knew we would have to fix it in 30 minutes, we willingly fixed it. It was the small things.
I don’t remember trying to wait up for Santa, but the night before Christmas, I would sit at the top of the steps and watch the light dance around the tree, the railing and the windows. I’d try to figure out what pattern the lights would go in next as I thought about Christmas.
Oh how I miss those days.
From me to you, have a very Merry Christmas!
