Christmas: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!
What Makes this Season so Wonderful?
I love the Christmas season! Here are just a few of the reasons (in no particular order) why it really is the most wonderful time of the year!
Also, feel free to leave me a comment at the end and let me know what your most favorite part of the Christmas season is!
Holiday Lights
Holiday lights on the Christmas tree, and on houses, and on light poles and at businesses, and everywhere else... just fill me with such joy at this time of year! I have fond memories of being a kid and popping popcorn, and driving around with my parents and brothers, looking at Christmas lights together. Seeing the tree all lit up with lights, with all the presents below it, just gives me so much joy. It's one of the best parts of the holiday season. The lights in some neighborhoods can get VERY elaborate, with certain neighborhoods becoming famous for their light displays. Other houses are decorated simply, with a few lights up and maybe a nativity scene, and that gives one a very joyful, yet peaceful feeling to behold.
Being with Family and Friends
Being together at Christmas is so wonderful. It's such a joy to share a candlelight Christmas Eve service together, or to simply sit on the couch by the fireplace together, warm cup of cocoa in hand. Playing games together, Christmas shopping together, or anything else you do with others during the holidays is somehow extra special!
Christmas Movies
Sharing all the Christmas classic movies together is so much fun! Whether you're watching "It's a Wonderful Life", "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", "Elf", "The Santa Clause", or another Christmas favorite, it is the absolute best to snuggle up on the couch and enjoy a Christmas flick. Even if you're watching a Hallmark Christmas movie by yourself with a cup of coffee, it's so much fun. There's a reason Hallmark movies have increased in popularity lately... they're wholesome, sweet, and they make the holidays more magical! If you're wrapping Christmas presents at the same time, it's even better! Which brings me to my next point...
What's Your Favorite Christmas Movie?
Matching Christmas Pajamas
Now that I'm a parent, it's so fun to do things like get matching PJ's or a matching Christmas outfit for my kids. I've noticed more and more people doing this as I've gotten older. I think people like it because it's a tradition that just makes the holidays that much more fun! Do you wear Christmas PJ's or getting matching pajamas for the little kids in your life?
The Gifts
Finding that special gift for a loved one is so meaningful and exciting. It's a joy to watch that person open their present, knowing the thought and time you put into it. Homemade gifts are sometimes even more meaningful, because the person knows you spent time on it and put a lot of ingenuity and creativity into it. Wrapping presents is so much fun for me! I love picking out the wrapping paper and bows, sitting down with some Christmas music or a special movie in the background, and getting started with my wrapping. It's also part of the fun to sneak away to wrap presents, when the rest of the family is asleep or in the other room, so the surprise doesn't get spoiled. I thought it was so cute when my husband went into our son's bedroom with our son and some wrapping paper and a box from Amazon.com, and they both told me not to come in! Not so subtle, but adorable none-the-less! Sometimes the beautiful wrapping, ribbons and bows can be so pretty and elaborate, one feels like it's part of the gift (and I guess it is!)
Special Holiday Beverages
Who doesn't enjoy a tall, cold glass of eggnog during the Christmas season? I know I certainly do! (My husband, however, cannot stand the stuff! Ha!) Lots of people also look forward to the specialty holiday drinks that come out at coffee shops like Starbucks and The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf during Christmastime. Most people know what it means when those "red cups" come back at Starbucks during the month of December! Holiday beverages are such a treat because they only come around during this very jolly and wonderful time of year. I simply cannot let a Christmas go by without purchasing some eggnog from the grocery store and having a glass while wrapping presents at our kitchen table. Maybe this upcoming Christmas, my oldest son will try some eggnog with me! What about you? Are holiday beverages a big deal to you and your family?
Remembering Our Savior
The most important, and best part about the Christmas season is Jesus Himself, the true "Reason for the Season". Remembering how Jesus chose to come to earth as a baby, live as a man and identify with us as humans, and how he performed miracles and healed many, and then how he was crucified for our sins, so that we can be with him in eternity someday... is the true reason we celebrate. So while all the other trappings of the season are so much fun, and such a joy to take part in with family and friends, and especially children, the biggest blessing of all is knowing Christ and taking time to be thankful for all He has done and continues to do in each of our lives.