Talk it Out Tuesday: Holiday Goals

I am going to be blogging about my class at JessicaSprague.com for the month of December I guess. To be honest with you, my head is a little foggy and as I read all these directions I am thinking there is no way I have time for this, BUT I am pushing through... I really want my kids to have a great collection of memories from me. And even though in a perfect world, the celebration of the birth of our Savior would be only about His birth, Christmas itself has come to mean different things to different people. Since we tend to be somewhat religious folks, we are not in danger of forgetting Jesus the other 364 days of the year, so I am OK with it. But that's just me. :_

To me it is all about the kids. I am hyper-aware that these years are fleeting. That makes it both sweet and a little stressful for me. One year my husband and I ate Christmas dinner at a restaurant. I always think of that when the stress mounts because you know what? It was NO BIG DEAL. Really. We are both blessed with great families who are both supportive and loving, so the actual celebrating of that Christmas was done somewhere else. It is a fond memory to me because I never felt cheated or left out. We still had a great Christmas. We just celebrated with our families on others days as I recall. And of course, we went to Mass. But now that we have kids who are at that magical age: it is all about the wonder and beauty of it all to me. We keep Easter pretty Religious, so at Christmas, while we do read about Jesus and go to Mass (not to mention Catholic school), we also look forward to visiting Santa and doing other fun things.
Back to the class: So I am supposed to make a list of words about what it all means to me.(not what it means to you or anyone else) I am going to just make a list of stuff I love and hope to not miss each year.

Here goes (randomly and in no order):

MEMORIES
FAMILY
LIVING NATIVITY
DRESSING UP
PICTURES
DECORATING THE TREE/S
PICTURES OF CHRISTMAS PAST (I love picture frame ornaments!!!)
SUGAR COOKIES WITH SPRINKLES
CHRISTMAS CAROLS
WRAPPING PRESENTS
COLD NIGHTS BY THE FIRE WITH THE KIDS...HOT COCOA...POPCORN...MOVIES, GAMES
SNOW!!!!!
MADRIGAL DINNERS
THE READINGS AT MASS
POINSETTIAS
THE GREAT SMELLS
LIGHTS
LEAVING COOKIES FOR SANTA
WATCHING THE KIDS OPEN THEIR PRESENTS
BABIES--ANY BABY AT CHRISTMAS
CHRISTMAS CRAFTS
MAGIC
HOW EXCITED THE KIDS GET



I am probably still forgetting a million things...