That's What I Like About Christmas

I have my "12 pains of Christmas" thing going on, so thought I'd post some things I like about Christmas - this one, and Christmas in general.

Christmas music. I love it. Most years, I start at least in October, sometimes September, but when you have close to 100 Christmas CDs, you gotta start early!

Nativity scene. I would part with my tree before I didn't put my Nativity set out. I love mine. I bought them years ago at an Ames store, which doesn't exist anymore, and bought the stable at Kraynax, a Christmas store in Sharon, PA. I've seen nicer ones, but I love mine, and wish I could put it up this year.

Christmas tree. I have an artificial 6 1/2 foot pre-lit. Colored lights. No white lights for me - can have those the rest of the year. I think I have enough ornaments for 2 trees though.

Candle light service. My church has one every year on the Sunday closest to Christmas. It consists of a couple of instrumental numbers, a few songs by a duo, trio, quartet, solo, a story told by the pastor's wife, and a few other things. It ends with everyone holding a lit candle and singing "You light up my life." Just kidding. We sing some Christmas carol, though maybe I should request that song.........

The Christmas Carol (Scrooge). I can't count the times I have seen this play, but it is something I could see yearly. This year, my parents bought tickets to the Salem Community Theater's performance for themselves, my 3 nieces, and myself. We will be going this Friday, and I can't wait.

Walk With Jesus. A church near me used to do this yearly, but skipped a couple of years. They brought it back this year, so last Thursday I took my nieces and met a family from our church there and went through it with them. What is the "walk with Jesus?" I'm glad you asked.......

The church sets up their basement like a market place. They had people dressed up in Bible outfits with tables of Bible time food, candle-making, all sorts of interesting things. I tried some interesting things, and some not so much - such as aloe juice - juice from the aloe plant. Disgusting.

They took groups of people through the walk at certain intervals. After we browsed the market for a while, our group got called. We went outside for the life nativity, complete with the shepherds and wise men's visit. From there, we went inside to view different scenes from Jesus' life acted out: 12-year-old Jesus in the temple, the Last Supper, Jesus with Pilate, the Crucifixion, and more. A truly interesting experience that helps helps remind what Christmas is all about.

Christmas cookies. I love them more than I should. My favorites? "Thumb-print" cookies, hershey's kiss cookies, "skillet cookies", pecan tassies, sugar cut out cookies. Yikes.

I've shared this before, but will share it again. Many years ago, my mom had just made a ton of Christmas cookies and put in their large chest freezer. I was waiting for the opportune moment, and it came - the rest of the family went shopping, and I stayed home. The car had barely left the driveway and I was racing into where the freezer was. I grabbed the lid and lifted. Or tried. It was locked. But I was not so easily turned aside. I examined the lock. It was similar to the type on a pop machine, but instead of spinning out, the small thingy just turned when the key fit over it. A thought occurred to me........ if I could find the right size of socket from a socket wrench set, it just might turn it. I found the socket set, found one that might fit, and voila - I was in!

I wish I could say I was about eight years old when I broke into the freezer, but I can't say that. It was while my parents still lived in Pennsylvania, and I was home for Christmas from Bible college. :-0 I loved the look on Mom's face when I told her I got into the freezer - precious memories!

Family. I love being with my family at Christmas. Fortunately for us, both of my sisters spend Christmas Eve with their in-laws and Christmas Day with us, so we are all here on Christmas Day, and it's great. By the way, that is a good reason to stay single - you only need to worry about making one set of parents happy at holidays!