Christmas to me...

This is gonna be long so if you need to come back another time, I understand--now's your chance! lol

I grew up with my Mom absolutely LOVING Christmas music!!! But she didn't really care for the traditional Christmas hymns or even the familiar secular songs. She liked originals. Some of her favorite Christmas albums were Loretta Lynn's Country Christas, Kenny Rogers' Christmas (and yes, my dad looked like a clone of him back in the day!), The OakRidge Boys, Red Sovine (who actually never sang but talked and told some really really SAD stories with music in the background!) but I think her favorite...and eventually came to be mine as well was The Statler Brothers Christmas Card.

The Statlers aren't very familiar to most people today but they were a traditional quartet that sang a lot of country and gospel. But their Christmas album is just lovely. She would always play them when we were putting up the tree, wrapping presents and especially on Christmas Eve when everyone came over for dinner.

There are SO many songs that I love on that album. One is "I'll Never Spend a Christmas I Won't be Loving You". I really loved that as a heartsick teenager. Jeff and I dated off and on through high school but I knew then as much as I know now that he was my soul mate (if there is such a thing) and the song talked about all the Christmases this couple shared and how each one was special in it's on way, whether things went right or not. I think back on all the Christmases Jeff and I have shared and the song fits perfectly. The Christmas my uncle Danny through a big fit, walked out and stopped talking to my mom--Jeff was there. The Christmas we became parents for the first time, the Christmas I came home from my mom's to find him passed out on the kitchen floor and half dead from what we would later discover was Crohn's disease. The Christmas we had our little girl. The first Christmas after my Maw Maw passed away and we were SO worried my mom was going to try and join her. The Christmas Maw Maw sent us another little girl. The last Christmas in our old house and the first one in our new one. The Christmas I wanted to wring his freakin' neck! lol And so many in between all those and since...

But I think the song from that album I love the most is "Christmas to Me". Each of the four sings a different verse about what Christmas means to them. Here are the lyrics:

Christmas to me is wherever she might be
Singing carols with the choir, hanging stockings by the fire
Making Christmas bows, hanging mistletoe
Cause where she is I wanna be, that's what Christmas is to me

Christmas to me is as far as I can see
Pasture fields covered with snow, white Christmas on the radio
Children and sleds and mom's gingerbread
At home with just the family, that's what Christmas is to me

Christmas to me is a tall cedar tree
Decorated and adorned with Christmas balls and strings of popcorn
Tinsel wrapped with care and webs of angel hair
A final star atop the tree, that's what Christmas is to me

Christmas to me is the newborn baby
Lying quietly in the hay, when all the angels came to say
Peace on Earth to men and I pray for peace again
Scenes of the nativity, that's what Christmas is to me

Christmas to you, may it never be blue
And may all your dreams come true
Merry Christmas to you.

I absolutely love it because it's true. Yes, Christmas is primarily the celebration of Christ's birth. But I dont think there's anything inherently wrong with other things reminding us of that special time. It's such a special time of year and everyone has their own memories and ideas of what makes the time special for them. Even those that are not deeply spiritual find Christmas to be a special time and I think that's the magic of it, the miracle of it and yes, I believe it's by design. ;)

So what is Christmas to me? Well, mine's not gonna rhyme so muddle through it anyway, k? lol

Christmas is as much about the preparation as it is the day. Putting up the decorations, each ornament that the kids made at some point and the memory that belongs to it. It's going all out to make sure the entire home feels cozy and warm and special. It's about arguing with my husband about putting the outdoor lights up!

It's about deciding which stockings to use--the big ones or the little ones! It's about hearing what the kids want for their three gifts and remembering how we came up with that idea/limit one year--Jesus only got three gifts, we do not need more than what He got. And remembering how blessed I felt that they LOVED the idea of being "like Jesus" instead of worrying about how much they could "get".

It's about seeing my kids get even more excited about doing their own Christmas shopping for others and how thrilled they are when they pick something out for someone. It's the pride I feel when they dont behave like little brats over what they DONT get that someone else did.

It's about looking at pictures of Christmases past and remembering the magic of it all and thinking about how much my own parents put into making it all so special even though we usually didn't have two dimes to rub together. And then realizing that many Christmases, Maw Maw came through as Santa and did so humbly and graciously.

It's about the Christmases when we were little and loved to make up plays for our parents or play Christmas carols on the piano, trumpet or whatever instrument we happened to be interested in at the time and seeing our family patiently watching, slightly annoyed but mostly proud!

It's about the Christmases SOMEBODY (usually my dad, but not always) dressed as Santa and paid a surprise visit to our house on Christmas Eve BEFORE he went to deliver gifts!

It's all the special Christmas outfits that my Aunt Margie sewed for us--all matching of course and then later when we were too "cool" for sewn clothes, my mom taking us shopping for our special "Christmas Eve" outfit.

It's about Christmas Eve dinner at my mom's--the best cook in the world.

It's about not being able to sleep Christmas Eve trying to hear Santa sneak in and then later, not being able to sleep because as parents, we were waiting for the kids to fall asleep!

Christmas is about making cookies and candy that you don't make any other time of the year. It's about lots and lots of good food and then next month lots and lots of exercise!

It's about parties and seeing friends, sending Christmas cards, getting a little sloshed and everybody being in a good mood, not worrying about what bills were due but just living in the moment.

It's about Christmas Day naps and leaving all the mess on the floor for a change!

It's about passing all this down to your own children, watching sisters, nieces and nephews play on the floor with their kids and remembering when they were the kids playing on the floor!

It's about missing those who are no longer with us but knowing they are having the best Christmas ever in Heaven and praying that God lets them peek down here at us during our happy moments.

It's about hope...that one day things WILL be the way you dream they should be but being content with the way things are for now.

It's about the DREAM of peace on Earth and that one day things really WILL be perfect.

That's what Christmas is to me.