Christmas with Someone Who Loves the Season
Christmas with someone who loves the season is magical. I never realized this until I had my daughter. I am not a “bah humbug” by any means, but at this young age of 40, I think I am experiencing my first real Christmas. And I have my daughter to thank.
My favorite parts of Christmas consist of family, gift-giving, and delicious food. I can tolerate Christmas music on Christmas Eve, and I prefer my TV to be tuned in to A Christmas Story for the entirety of Christmas Day. However, my daughter is filled to the brim with Christmas spirit, and she is forcing the rest of us to take part. I fought it for so long, but this year, I gave in. I have never been so happy about doing so.
The Decorations
My boys were fine with any holiday decor. They could care less about how the house looked leading up to Christmas. Sure, we’d put up the tree and my parents’ hand-me-down decorations, but we never did anything over the expected. All my sons wanted from the season were the snacks and Christmas Eve to come. I can’t say I was any different.
Enter Holiday spirit-filled daughter.
Due to my tiny interior decorator, I have Christmas decorations in every room. Yes, we even have twinkling lights in the kitchen. That’s not all while putting up all of the decorations, she insisted on our Google Home playing the Pandora Christmas station non-stop. On December 1st. I cringed internally at first, but I have to admit, I grew to love it.
The Elf
My husband and I fought the elf for so long. Our good friend, Lynn Kirkle wrote about giving in to the little people in our house in regards to the elf, and I can relate. A few years ago when we finally caved, it was because my husband and I were coming off of a wine-filled night of discussing our children growing too quickly. The very next day, he grabbed the last elf on the shelf in the store. We named him, and hid him, and waited. The experience was better than we could have ever imagined. Our two youngest REJOICED audibly. They wrote cards to our elf, drew him pictures, and smiled and giggled like nobody’s business. My effort to NOT cave to this marketing ploy was over, and a new relationship was built with Jameson, our Elf.
Now that I only have one believer left, my middle gets to move the elf, and that makes his first year of non-believing a little less painful. I’m so glad I gave in to the fun of elf on the shelf. I have a feeling Jameson, the elf, will be with us for a long time.
Christmas Baking
I love to cook for my family and friends, but baking has never been my thing. The need for correct measurements and wait-time to consume never sat well with me. Enter joy-filled, Betty Crocker daughter. This year, she had me researching on Pinterest for the very best holiday treats we could find. I had to filter what I was capable of pulling off on a Sunday at the end of the semester, and after about an hour, we had our list. We happily shopped and got excited about the sugar.
She turned on that Christmas Pandora station and we started baking. The middle kid even felt the magic. My little girl had us melting chocolate, mixing up Oreo balls, and decorating cookies. Before I knew it, we had baked for four hours and set out to deliver them to our friends. Not only did this little thing have me enjoying the baking process, but she got us out to see some of our favorite people on a beautifully snowy Sunday.
Celebrating the Christmas season with a person who is filled to the brim with Christmas joy is really where it’s at! Who knew completing some of these seasonal tasks could be so much fun? I am so thankful I am raising a person like this. I now feel a responsibility to keep this alive in her, and I will always be thankful that she awakened the inner jolly spirit in me.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
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