Christmas is here...

And so it begins.  The hiding of the presents already bought.  The lying in bed first thing in the morning thinking about the presents not yet bought.  The planning of the food.  The planning of the activities we'd like to do over the Christmas season, a good old Panto and a sleigh ride hopefully.  The Christmas cards, the christmas music and looking forward to some cheesy Christmas movies.  Christmas has begun in this house, the boxes of decorations are out of the attic and there's a pile of Christmas books for us to enjoy too.  The advent calendar we made has been started and the advent candle is lit each night at the dinner table.

I do like Christmas, more so now that I have a family of my own, these two little girls of mine are so excited about it and it's hard not to be caught up in that too.  Their letters have been sent to Santa and they talk eagerly about his visit and the food we will leave for him and Rudolph on Christmas Eve.  For me I'm looking forward to making some mince pies and the smell of those mince pies baking throughout the house.  I'm looking forward to the Christmas music they play on Classic FM at this time of year and the very peaceful, Christmassy feeling it leaves me with.  I'm also looking forward to the time we will have together, no work, no school, no nursery, the time we will have to enjoy Christmas food, the new toys and games Santa will bring, the lazy mornings we will have in our PJs watching Christmassy TV and reading Christmas books.

Christmas is here, there's so much to do, so much to plan, so many nice times to be had.  I will be teaching a lesson at school next week on the meaning of Christmas, it will be interesting to hear what the children have to say, for me its meaning can be religious or it can be more personal.  I think of it as a family festival, a festival during which we spoil our children and spoil ourselves with treats.  A festival during which we celebrate our family, that we have each other, that we have time for each other once all the craziness and busyness is done.  We sit together, with that peaceful music playing on the radio and the smells of baking coming from the oven, with the advent candle flickering and the lights on the Christmas tree glowing and we just enjoy the magical feeling of Christmas.  This is what I really want for Christmas, this warm and peaceful picture I have painted.