Holiday Humor

It's that time of year again. The sound of Christmas in the air, the cold winter air that takes your breath away, the joyous spirit that everyone carries this season, and the holiday hero to all the children of the world ~ you guessed it ~ Santa Claus.


My little one has been talking non-stop about Christmas and Santa Claus these past few weeks. Her latest famous question is "What do you want for Christmas?" She asks everyone this question ~ me, her sister, all her family members, all her friends, strangers in every store we go in, even the cat! Granny took her to Wal-Mart the other day and had quite the experience. My precious daughter asked everyone in the store what they wanted for Christmas. Most of the people who took the time to respond told her they didn't know what they wanted or hadn't taken the time to think about it. Imagine shopping in the store and a small child asks what you wanted for Christmas - you might not know what to say at first! This famous question has become part of the daily ritual around our house ~ or should I say an hourly ritual! She must ask me this 20-30 times a day ~ and there is no exaggeration there!


So what does everyone want for Christmas? Well my little one wants an oven and a "Dora thing" and a Dora horse. Not quite sure what the "Dora thing" is but I'll have it figured out before Christmas! Older sister wants an ipod, not just any ipod, a PURPLE ipod. And Mommy wants a new blanket for her new bed. Hey, I had to think of something to tell her or the question would not halt! It's not like I can tell her I would love to have that winning lottery ticket, or a brand new big house ready to move in to, or for the world to be in perfect harmony. So a new blanket on my new big comfy bed will work for now! What I REALLY want won't fit under my Christmas tree anyway...


So what is the next famous question? 3 words ~ "Where is Santa?" This has become the other famous question around our house lately. So the obvious answer is "the North Pole." Then comes all the lovely follow up questions - "Where is the North Pole?" "Can we go to the North Pole?" "What is Santa doing?" So after hearing "Where is Santa?" for the millionth time ten thousandth time and giving her the North Pole answer, I decided to attempt another approach. So while driving home one evening and after hearing this question every minute I looked at her and said "Santa is on your lap." She looked at me like the crazy mama that I am I was from another planet! I asked what was wrong and didn't she see Santa on her lap???? She said NO! So I asked her the famous question then "where is Santa?" She responded with the North Pole! So FINALLY she got it - Santa lives at the North Pole. I was so relieved she finally understood and wouldn't ask me where Santa was (at least until the next day). So 2 minutes later she asked me where Santa was...

This time of year is so fun with little ones around the house. I love to have help decorating the tree and making out Christmas lifts and shopping for others. We have an annual tradition of baking cookies each year too. We make sugar cookies with homemade icing and they are DELICIOUS! Oh and we always "custom decorate" them each year too. We write names on cookies, draw pictures on some, decorate with multiple colors and make little snowmen, candy canes, bells, Christmas trees, whatever the kids decide to create - ALL this fun with icing of course!

Do you have any family Christmas traditions you do year after year? Holiday traditions are a wonderful thing to look forward to each year. My girls know we will put up the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving each year. We will also visit Santa Claus while he is visiting from the North Pole LOL. We will go to Granny's Christmas Eve and have a nice holiday dinner and celebrate with family. I will usually get to see my two best friends I've had my whole life around Christmas Eve. I will send out the annual Christmas cards that I make each year. We will laugh at the cats that turn our Christmas tree skirt into a nice comfy bed each year. We will each pick out a new ornament each year to hang on the tree year after year. My new ornament is usually a Breyer horse carousel and Breyer horse stirrup ornament. They are so pretty each year ~ Thanks Mom!

While this time of year is fun and full of traditions and supposed to be a jolly time, there are often times people want to fast forward through the holiday and move on to the new year. If you fall in this category, just remember this time of year is only here once a year and then it's over. One time a year people will be nice and jolly and enemies will shake hands and get along for the sake of the season. So remember while presents and Santa and all that are fun, it's not what Christmas is truly about. As always, Jesus is the reason for the season! I thank the Lord for our Christ savior and look forward to celebrating his birthday this year. Please remember CHRISTmas is the best time of year. Take time to kick back and celebrate with family and friends and enjoy the moment while it lasts. Because once it's gone, it's gone and you can never relive Christmas in 2008.