It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We put up our Christmas tree and decorated the inside of the house this weekend. Normally we try and wait to put up decorations until after AJ's birthday which is on the 11th, but it takes so much time and effort to put up the decorations I decided to do it a little earlier. It was fun to get out all the ornaments. We have the colored balls that my husband & I bought when we first got married which are jewel tones of purple, teal, gold and white. Then there is the box with all the ornaments the girls have made through the years - the ones with their fingerprints, handprints, pictures, drawings, etc. Those are the ornaments that seem to take a while to put up as we look at each one and remember when they were made.

We also have a memory wreath. My parents gave it to us after AJ was born. It is just a green wreath with lights on it, but the ornaments go on it are memories from our lives. We have an ornament for each girls' birth, our marriage, special times in our lives and vacations. We have the Green Bay Packers ornament from our trip back to Wisconsin to Mr. A's extended family. We have the Hawaiian surf board from when we spent Christmas in Hawaii with my parents, sister and brother-in-law. We have the silver ball with the Mickey Mouse heads to remember our times at Disneyland when we had annual passes. The Veggie Tale ornaments are reminders of when the girls could not get enough of Veggie Tales. Those videos seemed to play non stop in our house for about 4 years.

I realized as I was putting these up why I love Christmas so much. It isn't the colors, decorations, parties and craziness that I love. It is the memories we stop and savor. The times we slow down and remember those crazy vacations, the family who aren't with us anymore, the joys of times in the past and times to come. I cherish each and every one of those memories.

That is why I love this time of year so much!