Christmas

There is not better time of year than the month of Christmas.  It begins the day after Thanksgiving and ends on Christmas Day (although it is ok to have decorations up until New Year's Day).  This month is filled with festive music, lots of sugary food, and a general feeling of goodwill towards the world around you.  Although it is highly commercialized, there are certainly moments of peace and joy which stand out from the rest.  Small gestures of kindness or service become observably apparent.  The rare gifts of a smile are worth more than any present wrapped under the tree. 

Family traditions bring cousins, siblings, parents and all other members closer together.  Afternoons full of baking cookies or wading through the hordes at shopping malls echo year after years as resounding memories.  The smell of pine, cinnamon and orange seep through the house.  A decorated tree covered in brilliant lights, each ornament a symbol of years gone by.   

But the best traditions are ones you share year after year and grow to include an ever expanding family.  Our family has some very specific traditions.  A feast on Christmas Eve while dressed in our absolute finest, reading the Christmas story from Luke 2 by the most recent or upcoming missionary and a family toast, singing songs with Santa when he comes (and even having to sit on his lap every year, but you get a present) and opening gifts from the extended family.  It is a night like no other, and almost makes the next day feel like a let-down.  So much incredible food and fun with the family makes the Eve of a holiday far more exciting than the actual day itself.

But at the end of the day, nostalgic memories of youth mingled with the promise of next year linger on crisp December air and all await the beginning of the season again.