Holiday Thoughts

It's Christmas time. My favorite time of year! ( I include Thanksgiving and Christmas together as one big holiday.) I love the cooler weather, the parties, the hustle and bustle at the stores. When I think of this time of year I think of warm hot drinks, crackling fireplaces and enjoying fellowship with other people. This year it is especially exciting because the accountant and I have little Olivia to enjoy it with. It's been fun dreaming of what holiday traditions I want to start with her, what stories to tell her, what presents to buy her. I remember fondly all the memories of family get together's and outings around the holidays. My mom had a tradition of buying us a Christmas ornament every year for Christmas so when we moved out we would have something for our trees. Now when I unpack the ornaments these are my favorite to place on the tree. This is a tradition I plan on continuing with Olivia.

 As a little girl I remember anticipating going to my nannies (my British grandma) she would have the table set with her nice china, I would smell the roast in the oven, scalloped potatoes, perhaps ham, and her fruitcake. The Christmas tree was always so huge and filled with presents, many wrapped in newspaper. I loved going around in a big circle and watching everyone open their gifts. There were so many of us and so many gifts! I always felt so blessed by all the presents. Now being an adult we have scaled back, the tree isn't so full. The seasons of abundance that were so much a part of those Christmas's are not so evident in these harder economic times but even though nanny is gone we still get together and celebrate each other and what Christ has done for us.

This year as I think about little Olivia and the Christmas tree I want her to feel the awe and love that I remember feeling. I want her to feel the abundance of what Christ has done for us, the blessings of what we have and the gift of family. I want her to have that warm happy feeling when she thinks of cold weather, fireplaces, hot drinks and family. I want her to get excited about Christmas caroling, picking out her own ornament and reading Christmas stories. I hope to impart to her the magic I felt around this time of year. The celebration of Christmas Eve and the anticipation of Christmas morning.
Some traditions we plan on incorporating with Olivia are a yearly Christmas ornament, when she is a little older we want to take her to a Christmas play yearly, an advent calender with a nightly story of what Christmas is (see below for the books we plan on reading to her), volunteering to give back out of the abundance of what we have (age appropriate of course, this year we are doing a shoe box for operation Christmas child and donating to a food bank), I want it to be a tradition that we make our own gifts for friend and family, going to Christmas Eve Service at Church, Christmas caroling, and so much more. I am so excited for the holidays! I hope you are to. What ideas do you have for holiday traditions? Thanks so much for reading!
Christmas books we plan on reading to Olivia this year :
Silent night
 How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Tell me the Christmas Story
 The Crippled Lamb