Tis the Season...

I LOVE Christmas! I love everything about it, the music, the shopping,the food, the family, the lights, did I mention the shopping? :) My friends all get a kick out of me telling some of my families Christmas traditions. Thats probably cuz were not the most traditional family! Every year from as early as I can remember my family would start the holidays off right with our annual Christmas tree fight. What is this you ask? Well every year when it would come time for putting up the tree my parents would get into a big fight because my dad would sit in his recliner( probably watching Matlock!) while my mom would wrestle with the lights. You know the kind of lights back in the day where if one bulb was out the whole strand wouldn't work and you would have to spend hours trying each bulb until you finally got the right one. Well after hours of fussing with the tree to no avail inevitably my mom would get frustrated with dear old dad who by that time was snoring away on his "thrown". And then as you can imagine the drama would ensue. This sight was a particularly funny one. You see my mom has been known to be a little bit of a spit fire. Although I rarely remember my parents fighting while I was growing up we could always count on a good one when it came to the Christmas tree. One year in the midst of the annual fight my mom gathered up all the lights, the tinsel, and the ornaments stuffed them in a box and threw them in the dumpster!!! She was just fed up! Our poor naked tree stood lonely for weeks until a few days before Christmas my friend Lisette and I took it upon ourselves to "decorate" the tree. We took utensils, cookie cutters, pencil sharpeners, toilet paper,scissors, basically anything we could find laying around and stuck it on the tree. My older and much cooler brother was out on a date that night and had no idea what the "little elves" had been up to. He brought his date in to meet my parents and what was the first thing you see when you walk into the house? Why our one of a kind, classy, christmas tree of course! He was totally humiliated! Try explaining that to your new girlfriend!  But you see thats not where the christmas tree saga ends. For the next couple years my mom refused to put up a tree if my dad wasn't going to help so we just hung some twinkle lights on one of those plastic house plants and put all the presents around it. By the time I was in high school our lack of a christmas tree was the running joke among all of my friends. One year some of my guy friends actually "borrowed" one of those big street signs that they post in parks and empty lots to keep people from dumping there dead trees. It was a big metal sign with a picture of a christmas tree with a circle and a big red line going thru it.We hung it in the living room with pride! You see i'm telling you this story because no matter how crazy this all may seem to you, to me these are some of my favorite memories. And although my family may not be the most traditional I wouldn't trade them for the world. This is the season for family and I thank God for the one he put me in. I thank him for a mom who really loves people, always put her family first, and inspires me to be  a better woman. I thank him for a dad who is wise and discerning, and that never made decisions out of emotion but always followed God's voice. I thank him for a brother who showed me a great example of serving God, who always held himself to high standards and consistently lived up to those standards. Along the way I've added a few additions to my family that i also thank God for. My sister-in -law, Amber who isn't really a sister-in-law at all. She 's just a sister. She is so creative and someone that you know you can trust. My nieces Brylea and Addie who light up every room and last but definitely not least my husband Shawn. I thank God that he knew exactly what I needed in a mate and that he sent me the only person on earth who could put up with me!!!  Well now that I've written a book I'll leave you with one last thought. In the craziest time of the year don't forget to slow down and take some time to think about the most important things in your life. God and Family.