Twelve Things I Love About Christmas

or some similar named mem....

1. Family - I have a large one and we have several "get-togethers" with lots of:

2. Food - There is always lots of good food. We have dressing and fruit salad at Christmas as well as all kinds of different sweet foods. Fudge is important, too.

3. Christmas music. My absolute favorite Christmas album is December by George Winston. It is so relaxing to play this album with only the Christmas lights on and a good cup of warm drink.
My favorite Christmas song is "Please Come Home for Christmas" by the Eagles.

4. Christmas lights - all over the yard, all over the house.

5. Christmas smells- vanilla candles and cinnamon potpurri. Hot apple cider cooking on the stove. Rolls browning in the oven. Fresh pine boughs.

6. Christmas Cards - from people you see every year and those you haven't seen in years. I love seeing those pictures to see how much the kids have grown.

7. Snow. No, really, I like snow at Christmas it's just that we don't actually see snow on Christmas. Maybe 2 of my 30+ odd Christmases have been white.

8. Presents - shopping for them, wrapping them, exchanging them!

9. Bob's Old Fashioned Candy Canes and Creme Drops. I know this is part of the food category but these are special candies that you only have at Christmas.

10. Stockings. We open our Christmas presents on Christmas Eve but our stockings are still saved for Christmas morning and it is still exciting to see what's inside.

11. Christmas ornaments. I have lots and lots of Christmas ornaments. More, really than I can put on 3 trees. This year we decorated the one large tree plus two 3 foot trees for the kids rooms. I think we put about half the ornaments up.

12. Gingerbread House. Ever year the kids and I decorate a Gingerbread House. Unlike the previous two years this year the house kit did not come readily assembled. There was a little panic while I tried to assemble the pieces but we got through it and the house turned out great. I think we have about 5 houses on top of my kitchen counters now.