The Christmas Rush

Christmastime is a favorite time of the year for me! Sometimes I get carried away with baking goodies, shopping, decorating and wrapping gifts. This year I actually got all my work done before December 1st so that we'd be able to enjoy the whole month of December in peace!

I'd like to mention that this year is our first Christmas at home. We've waited all year for this, planning out our visits to the mainland so that we'd be able to start our own family traditions. Aside from the numerous hors d'oeuvres that I've planned out in excitement, we've also set up our tree with full trimmings this year. Last year we didn't bother putting the tree up as we were out of town. The year before, we had a newborn and we were much too exhausted to fully decorate it. Also, our home actually has more lights on it than ever before. We were so excited to start the Christmas celebrations that we were the first house on the block to light up our lights!  I am so looking forward to cuddling in bed with our little girl on Christmas morning (and seeing her open presents!).

A bit blurry, but a beautiful sight!

More importantly, we've set up our Nativity scene on our mantle. Now that our little girl is old enough to understand the meaning of Christmas (we've just told her it's Jesus' birthday), it makes this year's Christmas even more special! I'm definitely looking forward to starting up our tradition of singing Happy Birthday Jesus (I promised her we could do that).

The Christmas rush as the media puts it is focused on consumerism, I believe. There's nothing wrong with wanting to buy things for your loved ones, but in our case for our daughter, we plan to spend time with her. She'll get a few gifts from us, mostly books, but my hope is that she remembers this Christmas as a time when mommy and daddy took real time out to focus on family, faith and love. For the last few weeks, I've tried singing as many Christmas songs to her that I know of. Fortunately my off-key voice (don't blame my voice! I blame my hearing loss for that one!) hasn't put her off... yet. The Hard of Hearing Mommy Wishes you all a Blessed Early Christmas!

What are your priorities this year for Christmas?