Holy cow, it`s almost Christmas!

The snow is softly falling out there - it`s starting to cover the earth in a beautiful blanket of white.

There are Christmas carols playing around me.

There is a feeling of excitement in the air.

 I`m feeling FESTIVE, guys!

I'm trying to post as many of these as I can before Christmas! I've bee busy!

Although Halloween is my favourite holiday (I have 5 huge rubbermaid containers full of Halloween stuff, and half of one for Christmas), Christmas is still a super exciting time of year for me, and especially because I have so many fantastic memories of Christmas. Like when theGuy proposed.

I don't know what it is about Christmas, but it's always been such a magical time of year for me, and totally continues to be, even as I grow older!

There's something special about surprises, pretty paper, sparkling ornaments, Chrismas carols, and pretty trees. Don`t you just feel warm and fuzzy? I'm a kid at heart!

Also - theGuy and I get to have our first Christmas morning alone together, and I'm so excited, that I just can't hide it. Sleeping in on Christmas morning? I don't think I've EVER done that. It's magical!

My Christmas mornings as a kid were pretty exciting, and somewhat orderly, for the first few minutes. We would wake up so excited, and wait until 8am to go and go get my dad, who was a light sleeper. Dad would put the kettle on - we couldn't get started on Christmas morning until mom had a cup of tea. She would come downstairs in her housecoat, and we would try not to rush her. Try, being the key word, here. There were 5 very excited children to contend with.

The Christmas room was always set up in a room in the house that meant we wouldn't see everything when we got up. Dad would have us line up from youngest to oldest, and he'd go into the room with the camera.

While in there, we would wait eagerly at the door, excited with anticipation for what lied beyond it.

"Oh, wow, Patti!" Dad would say, from inside the room, "You're going to love this."

"Oh Turbo!" he would exclaim, "I might have to keep this for myself."

Our excitement would grow as he made these exclamations, and we'd beg for mom to finish her tea.

Finally, the time would arrive to enter the paradise of Christmas. Santa always left one gift unwrapped, so we would immediately see a surprise for each of us. We'd each get our own spot - our stockings would be set up with the unwrapped Santa gift, and usually one wrapped one, as well. We were allowed to dive into our stockings, and I think you could hear us two towns over. There was a lot of screaming with glee. We all would take turns opening, savouring the experience (and with 7 people, that meant it often took hours to open gifts). We would eat candy for breakfast, and it was the time of our lives.

Now, Christmases are a lot more quiet. TheGuy and I are kind of ridiculous, though, and we have our own traditions. After looking at the lights (the Christmas lights) on Christmas Eve, we leave Coca-Cola and cookies out for Santa, and crawl into bed. Something sneaky happens around that time, because every Christmas morning, when I wake up (first), and go downstairs, the cookies have been eaten and the coke has been enjoyed. I stealthily set up theGuy's stocking and make a tea, which I enjoy by myself on our porch bench. There's something about Christmas morning, when the streets are quiet and everything seems to peaceful. I love that moment - it's a moment of calm amongst a whirlwind of activities.

Then I go upstairs and jump on theGuy as he's sleeping and yell "SANTA CAME! SANTA CAME", over and over, and I'm sure he loves it.

What are your Christmas traditions?

I hope your Christmas is Merry and awesome!