Single Digits!!!

So, for the first time in a few weeks, I'm writing a non-house entry! And, it's for good reason: it's only 9 days until Christmas!!!

Christmas truly is one of my favorite times of the year. Even though some people "grow out of it", I still get almost as excited as I did as a child. I remember how excitement simply permeated our house growing up. As soon as Thanksgiving was over, we officially started making our lists for St. Nick. SO MUCH thought went into these lists, though, trust me, it was not the first we'd been thinking of them. It was simply the first opportunity to actually write it all down. And write we did, because our lists had to be ready by December 5th!

In case you aren't familiar with it, December 6th is also known as St. Nicholas Day, and tradition is that you leave your shoes and your Christmas wish list out on the eve of the 5th for St. Nick. That night, he comes to the house, takes your list, and - if you've been good - leaves you gifts in your shoes such as an apple and orange, some nuts, and maybe some small chocolate pieces. If you've been bad, you'll get a lump of coal. And trust me, NOBODY wants a lump of coal!

So, December 5th was a pretty big day for us. We had to make sure our lists were ready and that our biggest pair of shoes were by the door before we went to bed (not going to deny it - I'd definitely search for my shoes that could hold the most). And then, December 6th! Well! It was almost as exciting as Christmas Day itself! Almost. =)

For the next few weeks, we would hardly sleep. Or at least I hardly slept. Maybe my siblings did, but I certainly didn’t. I would stay up late thinking about the perfect present for each of my family members, making lists, and reading passages in the Bible about Jesus' birth over and over (yes, I was a nerd even as a child).

Now, I don’t want you to think that Christmas was all about getting gifts – because it definitely wasn’t. I used to spend hours in front of our nativity set, reenacting the Christmas story... from Mary and Joseph’s perspective, from the shepherds’ perspective, from the angels’ perspective, from the Wise Men’s perspective, and yes, even from the animals’ perspective. And to be honest, while I was really excited to receive presents (in our family, your birthday and Christmas were really the only times you got new toys, books, clothes... new anything), I was just as excited – if not more – to GIVE presents.

To this day, giving presents to my family at Christmas remains one of my most favorite things to do. I absolutely LOVE spending months, and yes, I DO mean months, brainstorming and looking for things each person will like. And in my family, it’s not at all about “going big”. These presents are pretty much always on a budget, but also always intentionally for that person.

This year, I started brainstorming and shopping early – as always. I get SO EXCITED about Christmas! Really, I do! Just ask anyone in my family... it’s a pretty major thing. I managed to hold off on buying presents until about... October. After that, I hit the ground running! And trust me, I’ve had a number of pretty good finds this year. Unfortunately, my family reads this, so I can’t share any of them! But oh, some of them are goooood.

This year my love of Christmas and my inability to be patient and wait until at least November to buy gifts actually turned out to be a very good thing. Since every waking moment Josh and I have is spent working on the house, neither of us have had any time to do... well... anything else. That includes Christmas shopping. So, even though everything else is CRAZY!, I can at least feel semi-prepared in regards to giving gifts! And for the few gifts I haven't already purchased, I've got them on my list. And does it say I'm way too much of an organizational freak if I have lists of what I need to purchase, what I need to take with me to Seattle, and what I need to wrap when I get to Seattle already ready?

We fly back to Seattle on the 22nd, and I plan on sleeping the entire way back. And maybe the entire rest of the day once we get there. We are so exhausted from all this house work, we could probably just sleep for a week straight. But! When Christmas is only 9 days away, you can't give up a full week! So, come December 23rd, I plan on grabbing Josh and any of my siblings that are available, and getting that last bit of shopping down! Because, quite honestly, I have to admit it, I do love at least one trip to the mall when it's all crazy and there are no parking spots and you can totally buy a chai and maybe even some fudge because you know you'll walk off all the extra calories, and it's so much fun to see what deals stores have, and to maybe pick up just one or two extra things. Of course, I think part of the reason I don't get very stressed in that environment is because of the aforementioned obsessive list-making. Since I already know what I need, I can enjoy just wandering around a bit, finding even more ideas (which yes, I actually put down on a list for the next year's ideas), and doing lots of people-watching. It really is a wonderful time.

Oh! And then there's Christmas Eve. Aside from going to church (I absolutely love the candlelight services), I also really love being one of St. Nick's helpers on Christmas Eve. And by that, I mean I get to spend hours wrapping presents from St. Nick that haven't yet been wrapped. Or helping my mom wrap presents for everyone else. It's been something that's been done for as long as I can remember, and I truly cherish that time.

When I was much younger, the locked door of my parents' bedroom was the sign that someone was wrapping presents. And you could knock, they'd ask who was there, you'd tell them, and see if they'd let you come in. If they didn't, you'd wait 10 minutes, then try to pass off as someone else ("Mom" was usually the best bet, though I rarely got the voice right). But, oh! The suspense! If you weren't allowed in, then your curiosity as to why just went through the roof! Because you knew that right then, they were either wrapping something for you, or had something in the room you couldn't see. And TRUST ME, I am a VERY curious person! So it was purely blissful torture. =)

So, as we enter into the single digits of the days left until Christmas, I hope you take some time to think about what you really enjoy about this time. While many celebrations and traditions might seem fairly disconnected to Christ (and the whole purpose of "Christmas"), I hope that you can still find joy in being able to pass on gifts because of the greatest gift we've been given, to treasure the time you have with family and friends, and to look around for the many blessings you've received this year, this month, this week, and this day. And you better be good, too! You don't want to find a lump of coal in your stocking come Christmas morning!