Christmas Past

My sister in law just informed me that Santa is coming to one of our Christmas'. This got me thinking of Christmas past and all the things that make me love this holiday. I had to share some of my favorite memories. *The year my cousins and I got bean bag chairs. We spent the rest of the night jumping off the top of the steps on to the bean bag chairs. I'm pretty certain the chairs were busted by the end of the night and thrown out. But we had fun. *Because my parents were seperated I often spent christmas eve night traveling from my moms to my dads. I can remember very distinctly getting to my nanas house late. It would be all dark outside and the whole world would be quiet in anticipation of Santas arrival. All the lights were off in the house and I would lay on the couch watching the lights on the christmas tree blink and glow, utterly at peace with life and all it had given me so far. *One of my funniest memories may have been when santa came to my moms house for the first time. This was my first experirence with 'creepy' santa and he spent more time with the 'big girls' sitting on his lab then the little kids. As one of the 'big girls' (I think I was maybe 19) I was still a little terrified. From the looks of my cousins they all were too. *My favorite part, always, of every Christmas is when my Papa reads the Christmas Story from the bible. It makes me cry every time and I love it. Sometimes it's hard for me to remember what this time of year is about. For me its about our Saviour and my family. It's remembering to turn off the lights and sit in the quiet wonder of the christmas tree, if only for a few minutes, to let go of everything that we hold on to way to tightly and embrace all we have been given.