Just like that and It's Over!

Last night as we were driving to the gym my son mentioned something about when Christmas was again. My daughter informed him it would be a long time because we just had Christmas. We told them she was right it was about a year away and then my son wanted to know exactly how many days away it was. I'm not sure he really understood how many days 362 was when we said it though, but it seemed to appease him and off they went to the next subject.

His question got me thinking though, especially as I sat here today thinking that I really needed to put my Christmas stuff up but didn't really feel like it. I find it amazing that as soon as Halloween is over the stores start putting out the Christmas decorations. We start shopping shortly after and spend however many weeks finding that perfect gift for someone. I know in our home we get so excited and we spend hours taking out Christmas decorations. We decorate the family room and kitchen and the playroom just a little. Setting up the trees, unwrapping all the fragile ornaments and then hanging them up just right takes a fair amount of time. Then you have all the outside decorations that go up. Getting up on the roof and hanging lights takes a fair amount of time. And that isn't including the time it takes to find everything in the crawl space and then bringing it up!

The other big thing we do around here is baking. Every year we or more like I, make Christmas candy. We give it to friends, co- workers and teachers. This year I got a little crazy and decided to make chocolate suckers for both of my kids to take to school. I spent hours on those suckers trying to get the colors right and of course I wanted them to be perfect. I know I made at least 40 if not more and you know they were all gone within five minutes of the kids receiving them.

Wrapping also takes time. We spend days before wrapping the gifts that we can. Here we had to wait until the kids were in bed so that they didn't see anything they shouldn't. Then the night before Christmas you have to wrap all the Santa gifts and those are usually the big ones! You also have to fill all the stockings and make sure everything is just right for the next morning. We also bake Santa's cookies the night before and that is always fun and the kids really enjoy it. Nothing is more exciting then getting up and seeing that Santa actually ate the cookies you made for him.

Then there is the shopping for Christmas dinner. That usually doesn't take too long as long as you don't wait until the last minute to go. And you pretty much have the same items every year so it's not as if it takes time trying to figure out what you should buy. Then you have to make the meal and set the table and all that fun stuff that goes along with Christmas.

I absolutely love this time of year. I love all the craziness that comes along with the holiday season. I might be stressed to the max during it, but I still take time to enjoy it. I just find it really funny that some of us spend weeks preparing for it and in one day it's done and over with. All those hours of shopping and wrapping and all the gifts are opened in five minutes. We actually get to live it a little longer this year since we decided not to travel. We still have one more Christmas coming this weekend with the grandparents. Sure, it takes a long time to prepare and not much time to be done with it, but I think that warm fuzzy feeling you get during this time of year makes it worth it. I know it does for me anyway!