It's Not All About Aptitude

My last post was rather mopey sounding coming from me. I was just having one of those kinds of days I guess. Unfortunately it has extended somewhat through my weekend but I will try for a more upbeat tone today.

I love Christmas time. For as long as I can remember Christmas has always been my favorite time of year. My first really clear memory of Christmas was probably when I was 4 or 5. My parents had closed my door that night when I went to bed, but I was so excited that Santa was coming that I couldn't sleep (this became a habit that lasted until recently). I got up out of bed to see if He had come, but it was pitch black in my room (not a good thing) and I fell over the toy fire truck I had on the floor. Who even knows why I had a fire truck. I got to the door but suddenly I couldn't open it. I thought my parents had locked me in my room and started panicking and crying. I admit not a great story, but marked the beginning of one of my nasty Christmas habits of getting up in the middle of the night repeatedly to see if Santa had brought our gifts yet so that I could get a sneak peak in the dark.

Since then I have grown up somewhat, mostly only because Santa doesn't deliver my presents in the middle of the night any longer which has caused me to be less inclined to get up in the middle of the night... Other bad habits that I had were looking for presents all over the house (luckily I never found any), and shaking all of my presents that were under the tree in an effort to figure them out ahead of time. That particular habit drove my mom crazy so much so that many years ago she started simply numbering all of the presents rather than put a name on them, and come Christmas morning she would pull out her master list and let us know whose was whose. Yep, I'm one of those people.

Past memories aside, I love Christmas and am even more excited this year to celebrate Christmas. My first "big-girl" Christmas! I have my very own tree and decorations, my own home, and the opportunity to start new traditions with Andrew. Very exciting! I have almost all of the gifts bought on my list, and am ready to get all of the decorations set up. It's going to be a GREAT Christmas! If only this move of ours would hurry up so that I might get to all of the decorating. =) Other reasons I love Christmas? The memories of helping my mom bake every Christmas, the cookie decorating, the Christmas carols sung at church on Christmas eve, the gift exchanges with friends, the ability to help others, the reading of the Christmas story and just the ability to thank the Lord for what he has done for me and those around me. Life is good, God is good, and I hope that everyone's Christmas is a bright one spent with family and friends.