Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Christmas, and I will expand on that LOVE soon enough. But, I also believe that there is an appropiate time for a giant light-up sleigh, complete with 8 reindeer, to be placed in the center of our local mall parking lot.
And that time has come! The day after Thanksgiving is when I give myself permission to go all out for the rest of the season. I've started my constant stream of Christmas music. (I should look into downloading some new tunes, come to think of it...) We will decorate and start wrapping presents. I will take most of my free time for shopping for the perfect gift for those most important in my life. And, most importantly, I will be happy. ALL. THE. TIME.
The thing I love most about Christmas is the warm-fuzzy feeling I get. Christmas music reminds me of all of the wonderful holidays I've spent with my family and friends over the years and all of those great memories just make me smile.
People ask what Christmas means to me. For me, Christmas means dressing up in our best, bundling into our heaviest coats and into the car and going to my church's candlelight Christmas Eve service. If I could only do one thing to celebrate Christmas, this would be it. I'm getting teary just thinking about it.
Christmas Eve is about celebrating the 'reason for the season', as they say, but for me it also brings old friends, who have become family over the years, back together, and I think that is just as good a reason to celebrate.