Celebrate Christmas

Christmas tree lights seem to make the place quieter. Snow too makes the world a quieter place. This is why I love Christmas. Christmas starts for us December 1 when I allow Christmas carols to be acknowledged. (Halloween is too early for carols. I don't want to be sick of them before we get any snow.) I enjoy daydreaming while Nana Mouskouri sings Petit Papa Noel and Ave Maria. I love the full force of the choirs who back up those who sing O Holy Night.

Garrison Family Decorating Inc.

The first weekend in December is when we bring home a tree. I like a real tree. The cool scent of pine is synonymous with Christmas. That and the fragrance of apples and cinnamon. We decorate the tree, hang the stocking by the fireplace with great care....meaning we have to take them down every time we want a fire, and by the end of the night our house looks like Santa's workshop. Knick knacks and bric-a-brac abound. Cheery little ceramic snowmen hang from our lampshades, wreathes adorn our doors and every card we receive is on display along with the children's artwork and crafts from previous years.

We have a tradition of inviting 'Poppa' over first thing Christmas morning to watch the kids unload their stockings. This year my parents will be sunning themselves on a beach so breakfast will no doubt be with my husbands family.

Dylan and I last Christmas.

While my mother-in-law fries up the blood pudding and tomatoes and eggs the kids will be busy playing with their cousins and their new toys. My husband will be watching Christmas Vacation or Scrooge and he will be munching on his traditional Christmas snack of oysters on crackers while he reminisces with his siblings about Christmases past.I will undoubtedly have a chocolate hangover. The kind that will make me just sick enough by New Years to warrant a solid resolution to eat well and be active. Turkey will be roasting in the oven. My mother-in-law makes amazing mashed potatoes
I am hoping for snow. I want to take the kids tobogganing and skating in the few days I have off from work. I also look forward to the those days in between celebrating when I can curl up in my chair and catch up on my reading. More than anything though, I look forward to creating more quiet memories that will one day be memorialized in the book that I am not writing.



My dad will probably be wearing this hat on the beach this year!