Holiday Fever

For the first time in my 24 years of life, I am looking forward to Christmas.

Growing up holidays were not a big deal in my family. The only thing I celebrated during the holidays were school breaks and bloated tummies.

I remember the first year my parents bought me Christmas presents. I believe it was 4th grade. They didn't ask us to create christmas lists, or buy us secret gifts based on their instinctual knowledge of their children. Instead my parents took us over to the local Bible book store and let us pick out some items that would be dubbed our "christmas gifts". We didn't even have a Christmas tree until I was in the 9th grade and even then it was a fake tree that my sister and I decorated with lacklustre ornaments from the local dollar store.

The only tradition we had was the food that we ate.

Thus I never developed any heartwarming attachments to the holiday known as Christmas to me it was the same as Thanksgiving only it commemorating a different historical event.

When I got married, Mike made it mission critical that he change my lack of enthusiasm for the holiday. And as my opening statement shows, it has worked. It is quite strange for me to feel this excitement, but I can't say that I mind. We started putting away money from every paycheck for Christmas gifts, so it should be a little easier on the pocket this year, which is always nice. I'm excited to start creating traditions now that we will do with our children in the years to come. And hopefully my children will understand the meaning of the holiday as well as enjoy the excitement at this time of the year.