Twelve Christmasy Things About Me!

I read this over at Quilted Hills and Rose tagged everyone reading. So here goes "Twelve Christmasy Things About Me."

1) Every year since I've been a Mother, for the past twenty-six years, I've written a letter to my children, telling them how much they mean to me. I roll the letter up like a scroll and tie it with the same piece of ribbon that is attached to a cream colored Fenton glass angel ornament. Every year I've updated and replaced the letter, and I lay it on top of the Christmas Ornaments in the box. It would be the very first thing to be seen, in case I am no longer here for Christmas with my kids. No one has ever read the letters but me, and sentimental me, cries every year when I read the old letter and write the new letter. (Don't tell)

2) When I was a little girl, Christmas was so much fun. We kids always peeked. We unwrapped our presents and wrapped them back up for years before we got caught. One year Mom was so mad at us, she took all the presents away, and on Christmas morning she went out to the trunk of her car, and gave us everything unwrapped in sacks. I'll never forget that .... it ruined my Christmas, but as I think back on it now ... it ruined Christmas for my Mother too.

3) Because I was so sneaky as a child and a "peeker" I was determined to outwit my children ... and I did. I never put a name on their packages and they never knew which present was theirs or their siblings. I've never told them to this day how I did it. Each package had a string of numbers on the tag. Some were long numbers and some were short. Since I had four kids I would assign a number such as 78547529057537 to a present. This present belonged to Jared. How can you tell? Jared is the fourth born ... and the fourth number is a four! This would be Juli's: 928473745985676. Juli is the second born. The funny thing is how much time they would spend adding and subtracting all those numbers. Smart Momma, huh? It wouldn't work for the triplets though now .... they came as a package deal!

4) I collect Snowmen ornaments. I love them.

5) I procrastinate wrapping presents until the last minute. I hate wrapping presents. You'll find me in the wee hours of the night on Christmas Eve still wrapping presents with my eyes crossed and nodding off! But this year, I'm going to do better! (sure thing)

6) Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love it, and I love to shop.

7) I hate getting or giving gift cards or money for Christmas.

8) We always had a real Christmas tree when I was a little girl. I loved the smell. Now I wouldn't have a real tree if my life depended on it .... well maybe, if my life really depended on it. But only then. I love my artificial tree. It's really tall and skinny ... like I want to be in my next life.

9) When I was a child, I hated always having to leave almost immediately after we opened presents. We always went to my Grandmothers when I was really small. Although I loved her and I loved going there, I wanted to stay home and play with my new treasures. As my kids got older, we stayed home and I cooked Christmas Dinner so they didn't have leave their new toys. Instead we went to Grandparents later in the afternoon. I still do that.

10) I remember the excitement on Christmas morning and how we would wake up long before daylight. I remember that my Mom and Dad would make us go back to bed and wait until daylight. The anticipation almost killed me.

11) On Christmas Eve when we went to bed, there were always presents under the tree, wrapped presents. But when we woke up in the mornings .. everywhere around the tree had unwrapped presents from Santa Claus. That's how I knew he was real. I did that too with my kids as they were growing up. The best part was watching their faces the very first second they walked into the room. It was priceless, and took my breath away. I'm sure you all do that too.

12) I feel like I have been given a chance to start over by having these kiddo's in my later years. It's like stepping back into the memories of my older kids all over again. I am reliving the year they were three and the excitement they had for Christmas. This year Sam, Jay and Meg are so excited, and I know it's true .... I've been there, done that ... twenty some odd years ago, and I'm blessed to get to do it all over again.

So in passing along the Christmas spirit, I am tagging Jaye over at Just a Mom, MaryBeth at Four Silly Sisters, and Vonda at Sisterly Ramblings. Have fun ladies!

Be Blessed Everyone!