Tis The Season to Be Jolly

As most of you know, it is almost Christmas. (For those of you that celebrate Christmas) This time of year is all about giving and being kind to others, the Christmas spirit also brings joy to all and especially the ones who now will have a nice long break. The little kids go to visit Santa and tell him what they are wishing for Christmas, while others bake with friends and scream Christmas Carols at the top of their lungs. We also send friends and family Christmas cards! Many have different traditions that make the holiday that much more special. Some buy countdown calendars that are filled with chocolate, or little presents. The holiday is also a time to see family and spend time with others that aren't going to be around much longer. Christmas is a time of joy and happiness I am going to show some of my favorite things about christmas.

Photo: Red Bow

Photo: Christmas Candles

Photo: Santa Picture

Photo: Christmas Stockings

Photo: Christmas Tree

In my family we start out by decorating the house with lights and bows, then we wait till a couple weeks before Christmas to buy a tree. We then decorate our whole house with decorations from when we were tiny to the present day. Decorating the Christmas tree is a huge thing in my family and we all get together and spend time together for a hour to listen to Christmas Carols and hang up the decorations along the slim branches filled with small green pine needles. We put all the old decorations and the ones that we have collected for years on the inside of the tree and the new ones on the outside we hang the newest ornaments. We then start the adventure, of buying christmas presents for one another, for me it is nearly impossible for my siblings but my sisters always know exactly what to get me. I honestly don't see how they do it. When we finally reach the night of Christmas eve, we have our close friends come over for a huge dinner and then once they have left we read a story out of the bible, after we read the night before christmas in a pop up book form. After, we have done that we each choose a small gift to open and then head up to bed. 

Christmas Day

As usual my youngest sister is up at the crack of dawn to  see what Santa brought her then once she has made sure her stocking is equal with everyone else's she races up to each of our rooms and gives us a full explanation on our stocking before I can even peel myself out of bed. My sister drags us down the stairs and throws us into the living room to open our surprise. We usually have the same things in our stockings, but this doesn't discourage her. She hovers over our shoulders why we carefully pick out piece by piece, then when she is satisfied she glides upstairs with my parents stockings slung over her shoulder. She tips them out anxiously onto their chests and yells at them to " look!" You can imagine being the youngest and when Christmas rolls around being overjoyed with every minute of it. The only time she wasn't was when Santa brought her the wrong American girl doll and she cried, but at age three I would imagine that would be upsetting. Now it is her favorite and she brings is along with her, she says that her hair will be just as long as her doll when she's "so big." When my parents have come to their censes and we have woken up we all gather around the tree and separate the gifts into piles so they don't get confused, this takes quite a while, sometimes we mix up tags and cards so there is a bit of a quibble over that.