Tis the Season...?

Thomas Kinkade's "A Blessing of Christmas"

There are blog postings and facebook statuses expressing concerns and annoyances of Christmas being talked about so early. I will admit that I find it disturbing that the day after Halloween you can go to Wal-Mart and find skulls and vampire teeth on clearance right next to Christmas cards and nativity scenes. Yeah, now that's just plain weird. And I am a firm believer that you should not decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving.

But.....

I will also admit that when I look past the Halloween goodies and see all the Christmas stuff I melt into a pile holiday happiness!

I'm not the one who complains when Christmas carols start their jingle jangle over the radio. Like a little kid I go running (in a mature adult way of course) to the holiday section and oogle over the ornaments and stockings. I might grab a box of candy canes while grocery shopping.

But it's not just Christmas that I get so excited about. I'm not the one to skip over Thanksgiving and Advent- I think it boils down to that I just LOVE this whole time of year. I am anxious to write a "What I am Thankful For" blog posting and a theological reflection of Advent and Christmas. I want to write a list of my favorite Christmas memories. But I don't want to jump the gun with all this holiday happiness too quickly.

I get excited seeing all the Thanksgiving fixings all bunched together in the grocery store. I get excited for the first snow of the year. I'm jealous of those of you in my hometown and at Benedictine! (Just to let all you know who just rolled your eyes/laughed/scoffed/thought I was crazy for the previous statement I only like the first snow the year, snow at Christmas time, and any snow I don't have to drive in!) Even though most of the time I hate how it gets so dark early, I love the feeling of being safe and snug inside snuggling with my hubby.

I get so happy to see the buzz of excitement for this time of year. Families coming together, delicious food, and lots of laughter. There are people who are less fortunate who don't get to experience all these joys. However, and this may be my Pollyanna view of the world coming out in me, but I'd like to think that people step up and show their generosity towards those in difficult situations.

Maybe all this joy is due to all those "breaks" schools give out- fall break, Thanksgiving break, Christmas break. Any chance to relax after hard work and spending time with family is always great!

Maybe all this joy is due to seeing the excitement in kids' faces when they get to see Grandma and Grandpa and their cousins at Thanksgiving and the optimistic joy in writing letters to Santa and making Christmas present lists (because deep down they think there's a possibility of getting everything on the list!)

Perhaps most of all, I think all my joy regarding this time of year is reflecting on all of God's beauty and all the goodness He has provided for me.

So bring on the jars of gravy, boxes of stuffing, Christmas trees and twinkly lights.

I love it all!