Merry Christmas season

The best part about Christmas is the month leading up to it. My mom has always been the guru of Christmas spirit. There was always Christmas music playing in our home during December - a huge variety. From Mannheim Steamroller to Frank Sinatra to Amy Grant, we heard it all. We read Christmas stories - one each night before bed. The traditional movies never got old. We baked cookies and made fudge. The air was filled with Christmas smells: cinnamon, pine, and citrus. Mom loved to decorate the house with crafts, Santa figurines, nativity scenes, and a miniature winter village. 

My dad was also important during Christmas season. Making gingerbread houses out of actual gingerbread is a tradition he started. He would build cozy fires in the fireplace, plow the snow, cut down the Christmas tree in the forest, set up the train track around the Christmas tree, and take us kids to a movie so Mom could finish the shopping and wrapping.

Now that we have long since left home, the Christmas traditions fall on us. The last couple of Christmas seasons have been a bit underwhelming at our house. Last year we went on a week-long trip in December, so we didn't bother to decorate until we returned. We pulled out our little one-foot fake tree to have some holiday spirit a couple of days before Christmas. The year before that we wanted a fresh tree, but there was a price surge, so we waited until the last minute thinking we would find somewhere with a better deal. Newsflash: No one discounts the ugly trees left on the lot on Christmas Eve. To our credit, we did set up a couple of nativity sets, put a few lights up on the house, and deliver an inexpensive gift to some of our neighbors. We weren't exactly the Scrooges or the Cranks, but everything was a bit of an afterthought.

However, this holiday season has started off with flying colors. We already got a tree! It is not decorated yet, but the biggest hurdle - obtaining it - is over. We planned ahead to accomplish some Christmas shopping on Black Friday. And our lights are on the house! 

I've realized that the feeling of Christmas in our home does not just happen automatically. It is created by planning and executing family traditions, as simple as they might be. As parents, this is our task.

Bring on the Christmas music!

We bought it but haven't decorated yet.