Christmas Vacation

Christmas to me is a celebration, which includes spending time with my family, decorating the entire house, inside and out, and shopping, for the people I love. Doing this with the people I love is what means the most to me.

Spending Christmas with my family is very important to me. We usually gather and celebrate at my parent's house.  My cousins and relatives come from a nearby towns, for our celebration. We spend the day baking cookies, making fudge and preparing a big Christmas dinner, with all the trimmings. My cousins love to see each other. They spend the day playing games and sharing their new gifts and toys that Santa Claus brought for each of them. They get so eager to decorate, that it is hard to restrain them.

Decorating for Christmas is so much fun.  We start with the decorations for the outside of the house and the front yard. Every year, my parents add a little more to the outside decorations. My cousins and me decorate the inside of the house. My mom has so many indoor decorations that they can not all possibly be displayed.

We try to change the decorations, which we put out every year. The men finish up just about the same time as, we women and then it is time to decorate the tree together. The children love this the most. The tree is always real, and is usually six to seven feet tall. Most of the ornaments have been collected over the years and are very old. They have become real family treasures. We all have a favorite one that we each put on the tree. All the children put their First Christmas ornament on the tree, that I brought, as a gift.

I feel so fortunate, to have my family throughout the year, but especially, at Christmas time. When showing, my family just how much I love them and what exactly they mean to me. That is so very important to me. Christmas, for me is about being with family, loving each other and showing each other just exactly how we all feel.