Christmas in July

A couple days ago I randomly started listening to a few Christmas songs while I was on Skype with my boyfriend. We shared some of our favorites.

Tonight, I was reading and wanted to listen to some music and after browsing for a while decided to play my Christmas list. So, I'm listening to that music thinking about my favorite time of the year. I can almost smell eggnog, tea, cookies and chocolate. I can almost taste butter cookies, gingerbread, marzipan and cinnamon. I can almost see the lights and candles, the Christmas tree standing tall decorated with all the ornaments, my parents and brothers dressed up.

I picture my mother in the kitchen preparing Christmas Eve dinner. I'm setting the table with our nicest dishes, glasses, tableware and napkins. One of my brothers is walking around with the camera taking pictures. Daddy is bringing in wood and lighting a fire in the fireplace. My other brothers are helping Mama in the kitchen, opening the wine bottles, fetching the chilled drinks from the downstairs fridge. Soon everything is ready and we gather around the table, say grace and enjoy dinner. Afterward we clear the dishes, put away the leftovers, and then gather in the living room to hear the Christmas Story. I recite it from memory and then we start opening presents. They are handed out one at a time so everyone can see what each gift is and to make the present opening last longer. After the presents Mama makes tea and we sit around drinking tea, eating cookies and other sweets. We might watch a movie that someone got as a gift then go to bed after midnight. Or we might stay up building legos, playing with toys, reading, etc.

I love Christmas. Some of my happiest memories are during the Christmas season. Mama always makes it special and I want to continue this tradition when I have my own family some day.