Here it is, December already. Is everyone putting on their Christmas?? Our house has been transforming into the season. Greenery, snow globes, nativities, etc, all began taking their places and reminding us at every turn that the season has begun. I must confess that I don’t need the ghost of Christmas past to show me my tombstone, shove me into the freshly dug grave and have the walls start closing in to get into the Christmas spirit. “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all three shall strive within me.” What a great story. Read it this season if you get the chance or at least watch ‘Mickey’s Christmas Carol’ or ‘Scrooged’.

We got the tree up and trimmed. That’s probably one of my favorite things each year. It’s filled with ornaments the kids have made throughout the years, things we have given each other as gifts, antiques we have received from moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas, and other random, fun, and unique things. Each ornament has a story and it seems, the older and more sentimental I get, the longer it takes to decorate each year.

I was sitting here in my chair tonight, enjoying the soft glow of Christmas, and had one of those memories that makes you happy, sad, nostalgic, grateful and blessed. It’s amazing how a little painted piece of paper can bring out so many emotions. This particular piece is one of my favorite decorations though. William must have been four or five. They made little gingerbread men, painted them brown, glued a picture of themselves in the middle, and decorated the gingerbread man with candy eyes, nose, mouth, gloves and other attire. I can’t remember if it was made in Sunday school or at pre-school, but lots of M&Ms and licorice made a colorful ornament. All these years later, said gingerbread man is missing most of his candy parts and is looking a little worse for wear. I will never part with it or fail to hang it on my Christmas tree though.

Many of you know that Eli had a little wiener dog for years. Red was a true character and faithful member of the family. He did love a good snack, however. It didn’t take long for him to discover there were tasty treats on this fantastic plastic tree his humans put in the living room each winter. Besides the gingerbread man, who wasn’t himself edible, but had sweet and tasty eye, nose, gloves and so on, there were also some reindeer treats. The kids had made the cutest little reindeer out of ‘Milk bones’. We came into the living room/crime scene to find the gingerbread man violated, ravaged, and lying on the floor beside a couple sets of pipe cleaner antlers, googly eyes and a few milk bone crumbs. The guilty party was on the couch, much satisfied with Christmas.

May your Advent and Christmas season bring back fond memories and create many new and wonderful ones.