A snapshot of the things rolling around in my head this past holiday season....

(I wrote this post over Christmas and didn't have the guts to post this until now!)

Perfection! Our hodge podge tree!

 It makes me so sad to see Christmas trees kicked to the curb on the December 26th. It honestly makes me sad to see them on the side of the road at all. But I understand people want to de-clutter their houses and get ready for the new year. I especially understand that young mothers want to do it while their hubby is still off work and can be a second hand in the clean up crew. I had a friend tell me just this yesterday. I was glad for her sake that the red and green tupperware boxes were already out of sight at her house and in the attic. (Our tree didn't come down until MLK weekend, which is just fine by me!)

I love Christmas and am always sad to see Mary and Joseph wrapped in newspaper again and tucked away with the Charlie Brown books and Mickey Mouse ornaments. I don't want the holiday food to be over with. Even though I need to get myself to a gym asap! I still want to make a batch of my Memaw's famous (in our circle of family friends anyway) sugar cookies. I bought the ingredients but didn't have time to make them or devour any of the dough. I have fond memories of eating that dough on a spoon out of her refrigerator and sitting on the arm of Memaw and Da's couch watching Lawrence Welk. 

Besides the food, my other favorite is the decorations.  My favorite kind of Christmas (and anytime) decorations are the ones that are made of memories. Everyone has their preference of decorations and I appreciate that. But I really love our hodgepoge tree. This year my roommate Laura and I decorated for Christmas together. I was fun to look at her ornaments. Her mother sent her home from Thanksgiving with a shoebox full of ornaments. Some of the ornaments weren't even her's they were her older siblings. I thought that was pretty classic! Because the type of trees where everyone is included are the best type of trees. 

Some of the ornaments I contributed are from fun places I have been like the Grand Ole Opry and some are from special friends from elementary school like Hunter that I don't get to see often enough. Some were my Memaw's, some I made in girl scouts, and some were hand- me- downs from home. Even my tree is a hand-me-down. But that is what makes Christmas much like any thing we celebrate in life. We carry into it all of our memories from the past and hopes for the future. I am single so Christmas can be bitter sweet. I have always wanted to be pregnant during the season to get a better understanding of what Mary was feeling carrying baby Jesus. Some of my single friends don't wish to ever be pregnant, but I hope this hope comes true one day! I would love to happily send out Christmas cards with a picture of my big pregnant self with my cute hubs in front of a Christmas tree! (Sending out picture Christmas cards is an odd thing for singles and a story for another day.)

Some of my favorite ornaments on my tree are pressed wood cutouts of charlie brown and Disney characters that my mom painted when my parents were first married. My parents haven't been together for three years now. Three years of Christmases that were different from all the rest. Where I didn't know how to see my dad on Christmas eve without making my mom upset. Wondering how to split up the time and what was the "right thing to do."When all I really wanted was everyone to be together, but knowing that ship had sailed and things would never be the same again. Do those ornaments still get put on the tree? What about those good Christmas memories? What is to be done with them?? Why are things so hard and what if you don't want to have "Four Christmases??"

I want to make the most with the life that God has given me and the people that I love. Even if things are messy now and everyone doesn't live under one roof. I don't have it all figured out, Jesus is still healing many areas of my heart, but I want to enjoy the ride and not be bitter. I want to enjoy the memories.

My personal Christmas favorite treat,,, butterscotch haystacks!!

Christmas is made up of memories because life is made up of memories. Christmas makes me miss family members that are now celebrating their Savior in heaven. I love everything about what the true meaning of Christmas is. Jesus coming to Earth, to our home, out of His comfort to live among us. This God who is 100% holy and pure, being born in a manger to poor parents with rumors of scandle about His "mother." Jesus who would later die on a cross for our sins so we could spend eternity with Him!

I love all of the things that our culture and the cultures of the world have added to it. The movies are my fave! Frosty, Home Alone, The Grinch old school cartoon, all of the cheesy Hallmark movies. But what I really truly love the most (besides Jesus) is people gathering together for fun times, delicious food made just once a year, to sing songs and play silly games. My mom has a plaque at her house that says "As long as we have special friends, Christmas time never truly ends..."

I did end up making Memaw's cookies in January! They were delicious even though they never seem to turn out quite like hers!