Ah, Christmas!

I have always loved Christmas. So much excitement as a child. Visits home to spend the holiday with my parents and family during college and the years we were raising our own family. Christmas at our own home many years and getting to experience all the Christmas wonder with our children. Decorating the Christmas tree every year with my granddaughter. Opening a gift on Christmas Eve after lovely Christmas Eve church services, and the Christmas morning gift opening with a mound of discarded wrapping paper and boxes (which my son-in-law very efficiently takes care of), followed by my daughter's breakfast casserole. And, of course, Christmas music through the season (I've got quite a collection).

Christmas has changed as I move through life, but I still love it. There have been Christmases shadowed by sorrow, Christmases when I had a sick child or was ill myself, but it was still Christmas!

I leave the Christmas decorations up until after New Year's Day, and the house looks very dull and plain till my eyes and brain readjust to the everyday look of things. This year I have put up some decorations, but haven't had Megan here to do the tree with me. I'm saving that for when she gets home.

People are so busy these days, and cards and stamps are increasingly expensive, so fewer and fewer people are actually sending Christmas cards. I still enjoy them, but certainly understand why we are all cutting back.

So, here is my contribution to the Christmas Letter tradition for this year: