Do you remember how exciting the holidays were as a child? I have amazing Christmas memories and, as an adult now, I realize it’s because my parents wanted to make it a magical season for us. I remember decorating the tree every year with my mom, I remember the tons and tons of tangled lights and figurines that would take over our entire house… literally! My parents went all out and won the local Christmas light contest every year. They had over 70 light up figurines, thousands of strings of lights and I’m not sure how many tangled extension cords. When I saw my mom start to take them all out, my mind was instantly flooded with happy memories of the scene from the year prior. In simple terms: I…couldn’t …wait! The anticipation killed me every time!
I always wondered why they stopped pulling out all the stops as I got into my upper high school years, but now I realize why: it was a lot of work with three small kids and when my older siblings went off to college and it was just me at home, they needed a break. I know they did it all for us. We had our very own Winter Wonderland and it was always so special.
Mom and Dad, I want you to know that I’m in my 30s now and I can still close my eyes really tight and imagine the house all lit up! The lights and candles glowing, the snow gently falling, the carols playing in the background… it was our very own personal Bentleyville. We have often talked about taking it all out one last time and setting it up to delight the grandchildren and I really wish we would! Please, Mom and Dad, can we decorate big just one more time?!
People would drive from all over to come and see our holiday house and it was always featured in the local newspapers. One year we even made huge ice candles in buckets and then lit them all up along the pathway. Decorating quickly became a family affair and was so much fun!
It wasn’t just the lights that made our holiday season merry. There was always so much excitement around Christmas with a huge family celebration on Christmas Eve with my dad’s family and another celebration on Christmas Day with my mom’s family. Baking with my grandma and my mom was always one of my favorite activities, too. Oh, and the hot cocoa and sledding parties–who could forget those?
The gifts, oh the thoughtful gifts! I now realize we may have been a bit spoiled, but I will never forget the joy I felt when my dad built me my very own custom playhouse, complete with shutters that swung open so I could pretend I was playing a fast food drive-thru.
Now that I have my own small children, I realize the importance of making these similar kinds of memories for them. I want them to remember the holidays fondly and cherish the memories that we build together as a family. I want to cherish every one of the eighteen Christmas I get them at home (and crossing my fingers that there will be a few more than that). I cringe when I think that someday they may call and say they can’t make it home because of their job, or because their own babies are sick. I want Christmas to always be a special time of year when we can look back at our memories together fondly.
They won’t be little forever, but for the time that they are, I will decorate early and I will leave the decorations up a few weeks past Christmas, too. Why just have one month of beautiful Christmas memories when you can have two?
I’m begging you: if you are feeling a bit grinch-y around this time of year, reconsider and see the holidays through the eyes of your children. These memories matter and they will cherish them someday and will realize, just like I did, that you did all that work for them because of how special they are to you. Merry Christmas everyone, let the decorating begin!
