Monday, November 4, 2013

Keep Christmas With You All Through The Year

I LOVE this time of year!  For me there's such excitement in the crisp and cold air!  I feel like a kid getting so excited for the upcoming holidays!

It was always the "rule" growing up that we could start celebrating Christmas after Thanksgiving, so I feel this little twinge of guilt when I start celebrating earlier than that.  But mostly, I just throw those thoughts out the window. 
And I'm allowed to; I'm an adult.

But, this year, I told myself to wait until Halloween was over.  So, that's what I did.  November 1st rolled around and the Christmas music came out... and has been here each day since. 
I've listened to a little Mariah, busted out my piano Christmas music, belted with Josh Groban and Michael Buble, reminised while the kids watched Small One (a movie I remember watching as a kid), and put on our Disney Christmas Sing Along dvds. I've decided to buy the piano music to Muppets Christmas Carol, and I can't wait to pull out our life size fake fireplace!
(We make a new one each year... below is the one from our 1st or 2nd year of marriage)

This season livens many emotions and feelings in me.  I feel like the Christmas season speeds by, so I feel very justified celebrating Christmas whenever I want to.  I want to savor the season and I have sooo many movies to watch and goodies to make before the New Year.
It's almost like the feelings I have during this time cannot be controlled.  They take over my body. Ha! And while I dislike many reasons stores bring out decorations so early, I get overjoyed at even a brief glance at them. 
My body knows what this time of year brings.
The friendships, good will toward men, food, family, kindness, service, Christ centered thoughts all around, beautiful music, fun with kids, great movies, seeing excitement in others eyes.

And I'm now realizing I basically combine Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Come November, I listen to Christmas music, but a lot of my thoughts are focused on feeling thankful.  I inturn, have the want to serve. December speedily approaches and I tune a lot of my feelings onto helping others and the joy that can be found around me.  Because of that, I feel very thankful for family and friends.  I think of Christ and think about how thankful I am for his birth, life, and sacrifices.  I feel very thankful at Christmastime.

I always thought it might seem like I'm skipping over Thanksgiving, or in the least taking a break from Christmas by focusing on Thanksgiving traditions for a couple or few days, and jumping back into Christmas.  Of course, I always knew I was thinking about the spirit of Thanksgiving throughout the month, but was confused because I was celebrating Christmas at the same time.  Really, I've come to realize that I like to celebrate the spirit of both holidays together.  So really I'm not only extending Christmas, like I originally thought, I'm extending the spirit of Thanksgiving too.

Seeing my kids enjoy this time of year is better than the joy I remember feeling during this season in years past.  And that's saying a lot :)

Next on the list: Get everyone pumped up and dancing to The Beatmas turned up on high!


Keep Christmas With You
This clip is the reason for the title
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd5PEVKuAro

4 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, I am SO buying The Muppet Christmas Carol sheet music now that you mention it!

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    1. Oh you totally should!! My mom has the book and I totally played it growing up. I'm going to buy it online from Barnes and Noble... it's new and cheap there :)

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  2. I totally agree. Amen and Amen. I really had to hold back this season, but I pretty much made it after Halloween. It's made it more fun. But Pandora Christmas stations have been blasting all day. I need start watching movies - like the lemon drop kid. Sigh. What a great season. I still wish I had California weather and smells during Christmas time, but i'm doing my best to enjoy it here. Thanks for posting!

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    1. Oh, The Lemon Drop Kid.... I'm glad I got Tyler into some of our classic Christmas movies. We watch them every year.
      I'm sure part of the reason I get excited early too, is because when it's not too cold yet and it's still all rainy, rather than snow, it totally reminds me of Christmastime in CA and going Christmas shopping. I've started to get pretty excited about the snow too, but I think there will always be something special, nay magical, about a good rain storm! Haha!

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