My Christmas Wish

As the holidays have come upon us once again, I begin to think about my favorite holiday probably in October. I LOVE Christmas and it's my all time favorite holiday. As a kid, I loved Christmas not only for the presents but because it just seemed like such a magical time of the year. I loved watching Christmas movies about families being together, having fun, laughing, sharing in the joys of life and the joys that the holiday season brings. I had these dreams of having that "warm and fuzzy feeling" that comes with spending the holidays with your family and I looked forward to it each year as that's really the only time of the year that we all spent time with members of my extended family. We used to wake up early in the morning on Christmas Eve, get ready, pack up the truck and head to my Grandparents for Christmas where we would stay a night or two there and just have that time together...As the years progressed and my sister's and I grew older, that time for Christmas became less and less and also became more stress-filled with drama and chaos.

Christmas became un-enjoyable and something that was dreaded in our family and still is today. I know that no family is "perfect" and will have disagreements, but for some reason during each holiday that we spend together, drama, arguments, and chaos find their way into our holiday enjoyment no matter how hard we try to have a chaos, drama/argument free holiday with family...

I still believe that there is something magical about Christmas and I strive to enjoy the Christmas season as much as I possibly can. I had an idea for this Christmas, something that we could do that we have never done as a family for this holiday--I wanted to plan for our family to do something "fun" together on Christmas Eve. We no longer spend the night at my Grandparents, but leave on Christmas Eve a bit after gifts are exchanged. Christmas, I feel has very little meaning in our family in what Christmas actually stands for and what it means to spend that time with your family.

When I mentioned my idea of maybe going to see a tree lighting in the town that my Grandparents live in, or do something fun with the kids like build a snowman/castle as a family and just have that fun, I was laughed at and told "Yeah Right, good luck with that." I asked this person "Why not?" and they said that it would be impossible to get the family to want to do anything like that. I said Okay, but secretly I was devastated and crushed. I thought that it would be nice to do something fun and try to bring some of that "magical" meaning back into our family for Christmas.

No matter what, I still LOVE Christmas, it's still my favorite holiday but My Christmas Wish for this year has been the same wish that I have been praying for, for several years and that's to have my family actually ENJOY Christmas and what Christmas means to have a family to spend it with. I still love watching Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music as I tend to do both year-round. Each year I secretly wish that our family was like those families in those holiday movies who enjoy Christmas, enjoy spending time together and LOVE the spirit of Christmas and desire that "Magical, warm, cozy" feeling that the holiday season brings with being with those who you love the most.

I have grown accustomed to our "family version" of Christmas, yet I secretly desire to have that wonderful feeling and "magic" that comes with Christmas and spending the holiday season with your family. I love my family very much and would not trade them for anything; however, each holiday season I pray that this will be the season where our family gets back to the spirit of the holidays and can enjoy Christmas like we did when we were kids. : )

...This is my Christmas Wish for the year and I pray it comes true.