This Christmas presented a challenge I’d never faced before: I’m on deadline. Honestly, I’m so grateful to be under contract – especially during this time when so many are out of work – that I haven’t allow myself to grumble (too loudly). Even so, I did wonder how I was going to get everything done without either the writing suffering or leaving everything to the last minute so that I felt pushed and harried about Christmas. So, it was interesting when early on, I happened to hear someone talking about how easy it is to get so caught up in the doing that we lose sight of the meaning of the season. “If that happens,” he said,  “what’s the point? If you’re not decorating the tree and making the cookies with love in your heart why bother?”

 

The man was a stranger, and I overheard this profound Christmas “message.” But boy, did it hit home. I took those words to heart and decided the best thing I could do when I was tempted to stress was to borrow a page from Julie Andrews and simply remember my favorite things – all the things that make the season The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year. Doing so reminded me of why I love the holidays so much… You know what? It’s turning out to be one of the best Christmases yet.

 

With that fresh in mind, I’d like to share a few of my favorite thing…

 

I love how Christmas starts early in our house (though, never until after Thanksgiving). We always buy our tree the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. When my husband and I were first married, we waited until Christmas week and ended up with the most pitiful, Charlie Brown tree you’ve ever seen. I guess there was a shortage that year? Who knows, but since then, we’ve always gotten our tree early.

 

I love unpacking the ornaments and decorations. After my mom passed away, my dad entrusted the family ornaments to me. I cherish the memories each one holds. When I hang the old glass Santa, even though the paint is chipped and worn, his jolly smile takes me back to when I was a kid and my brother and I used to fight over who got to hang him on the tree (it’s a wonder we weren’t both on the naughty list). The newer ornaments acquired since getting married and having a child are starting to tell a nice story of their own. It’s wonderful to rediscover them each year.

 

I love our nativity scene. My grandmother had it made for my mother, and now I have it. One day I will pass it on to my daughter. I hope the tradition continues for an infinite number of generations.

 

I love Christmas/holiday music. My husband joked the other day about there being only fifteen standard tunes that everybody and his brother have recorded and the mainstream plays over and over and over. I know that’s not true, because I own the CD “25 Best Loved Christmas Songs” (that I play over and over and over):grin:. No matter how much holiday music I play, I don’t grow tired of it. Come on, it’s only a month, if that. I love the music because different songs remind me of people I love and evoke so many good memories: Silver Bells makes me wistful thinking of my mom. I started crying the other day when I heard, I’ll Be Home For Christmas, because it reminded me of my grandma. Feliz Navidad makes me smile every time I hear it because I remember how my brother re-wrote the chorus in a way that only he could (I won’t torture you with his rendition, but I will tell you it included the words, “Fleas in eggnog.” Enough said.) Let It Snow, What Child Is This, Carol of the Bells, and Jesus, Joy Of Man’s Desiring are some of my personal favorites.

          

I love watching Miracle On 34^th Street and It’s a Wonderful Life. I never tire of the stories and look forward to them each year.

 

I love baking. I make so many cookies that often my husband has to take them to work to keep us from lapsing into a sugar-induced coma.

 

I love getting the shopping done early and wrapping the presents so that we can enjoy the anticipation.

 

I love my little nutcracker pin, that lives in my jewelry box until the first of December. I love the old-fashioned poinsettia dish and ceramic Santa boots that used to belong to my great grandma. I love the memory of how we used to go for a Christmas Eve drive looking at Christmas lights in our old Sebring convertible. We’d put the top down and bundle up in blankets in the backseat and freeze our noses off, but it was our “sled” and now it is a memory I wouldn’t trade for anything.

 

I love how this time of year people pause to think about what really matter. It gives me hope that maybe one day there really can be Peace on Earth and good will.

  

I hope that you’ll take a moment to remember some of your favorite things. If you do, please share them with us.

 

Here’s wishing you a very merry Christmas!