Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Top 10 Things That Always Made Christmas Great For Me

Grandpa Bates - Having him around made everything memorable though. Everything about my grandfather was great. From his laugh to his kind and generous nature to his love of and loyalty to his family. I was lucky enough to share a handful of Christmas’s with him. He even started a very key Christmas tradition that my mom still carries on with, of opening a pair of new pajamas on Christmas Eve to wear to bed that night.


Mom - It was her who made Christmas, not that fat guy in the red suit at the mall. Only a woman with a huge untamed inner child would spend so many hours stalking her prey (our toys and other gifts) in the aisles of the local toy and department stores and tirelessly wrap mountains of gifts like she did. She has even been known to brave frigid temperatures in order to stand in a long line at the butt crack of dawn in spite of the potential for hand to hand mom combat to make sure a certain little girl with big glasses had a Cabbage Patch Kid under the tree Christmas morning. For that and so much more, I thank you Mom!


The Billion Light Christmas Tree - This one also goes out to my Mom because it is in fact her Christmas light OCD that we have to thank for the brightest tree ever. Clark Griswold would have been envious of our Christmas trees. Hek, we even had to keep a supply of sunscreen handy for when we turned it on so as not to suffer third degree burns from it’s glow.


Heirloom Ornaments - I absolutely love Christmas ornaments, especially the one’s of the much older than me variety. I was fortunate enough to inherit a load of ornaments that once belonged to my mother, my grandmother and even my great grandmother. I will cherish them forever.


Christmas Cookies - Do I really need to say much?


Snow - I just love the snow in general, although I know many of you reading this in Michigan and Canada at the moment are quite sick of it. A nice dusting or dumping if you are lucky enough, is particularly appreciated on Christmas day.


Christmas Breakfast - This is a tradition that Marshall and I started, it always consists of bacon or sausage and waffles or crepes with a lot of Nutella in our house.


Bulldog Prezzies - Gemma and Shocker seriously love getting presents. We also love to watch them open them. Those nubby tails go at least 90 mph. Besides, giving them a little something first distracts them from being too nosey about what we do.


Eric’s Bed Head - Without fail every Christmas morning (well really every morning) my brother would jump out of bed (crawl in later years) with the most glorious bed head I had ever seen. It was kind of like his version of a Santa hat.


The German Christmas Markets - Living in Germany has opened our eyes to many different new traditions, however I particularly love the Christmas markets. They begin at the end of November or beginning of December and run up until Christmas. There is nothing as charming as visiting one of these markets as the snow gently falls with the scent of Glühwein, and roasted almonds in the air. I know, it's so sweet it gives me a toothache too!


So what are some things that have made Christmas great for you?