If you're the youngest child in your family like I am, then you may remember how boring Christmas became once your were about 10 or 11 years old. No more toys and no more Santa Claus. Just sweaters and socks and fighting with older siblings who are home from college and don't want to watch A Christmas Story with you for 24 hours straight.
But then someone gets married and has a child . . . and then another . . . and then another, and WOO HOO! The magic is back!!
But the fun really began when I had my own.
We loved all the Christmas cartoons and the Santa photo sessions (one with Mimi crying and the other with her running away). Mimi learned how to sing Jingle Bells (which she added several extra "heys" to at the end) and Frosty the Snowman (who, according to Mimi, has a "cerncob pipe"). She knows all about Santa, his "reindeers," and elves. She knows about Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, and the animals in the manger. And she even knows about the presents.
So I set some pretty high expectations for myself with Christmas this year, which I so didn't meet. I started back to work December 1, and things have been completely nuts. My days have been much longer than expected with all this crazy traffic, and I am completely zapped when I get home. Trying to shop for presents on the weekend just didn't happen since every store was completely packed in the city. Although I may have asked some of you for updated addresses, there were no Christmas cards because there was no time.
I'm finally becoming okay with these things. I let it go and decided to set my priorities straight -- what was it that was most important as far as the festivities were concerned? We could order gifts on-line, we could still get a tree, and I could stop by a Toys R Us in a small town during my lunch break. No stress.
And my favorite part of the big, fat tree that took up way too much room in the den was the new Mississippi ornament I bought in my hometown over Thanksgiving.
Although I slacked on the cards this year (I promise it won't happen again!), I LOVED displaying the ones we received.
Even RuRu needed a festive outfit for this chilly time of year. I thought she would hate it and throw all kinds of fits, but I was mistaken. Girlfriend strutted around in this sweater like she was Best in Show. I feel bad that I have neglected her of hand-knit wool all her life.
And of course the entire month leading up to Christmas was beautiful and white.
We never get tired of this.
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