Merry Christmas

Can it really be over? After all the shopping and planning and scheming... the presents have all been opened, the food has been eaten, and it was a really good day. My mom and dad finally got out of Portland, that in itself was a minor miracle that totally made my Christmas. Jeff's dad and sister are here, we have a house full of family, 3 little children that are full of excitement, and I love the way it feels. This is how Christmas should feel, like coming home to a memory I have lived time and time again. A nice warm memory with the smell of pine and cinnamon floating in the air, the sound of Bing Crosby and Burl Ives on the radio, the anticipation of Christmas that seems to live on even days after the presents have all been opened. I just love it! The anticipation has changed a bit over the years. Now it is centered around my own children instead of my childhood self, but the nostalgia of Christmases past becomes a sort of tradition and I am fully immersed in the season. Reliving the traditions of my past through the eyes of my little children brings an added sweetness to the holiday, one I will look back on when they are grown and treasure. But for now I will enjoy them as they are, I will remember this Christmas and I will add it to the stores of holiday nostalgia I have gathered throughout my life, and I will be glad.