What Does Christmas Mean to My Family?

When I think of Christmas, I immediately think of Christmas Eve. For as long as I can remember we have taken that night to spend quality time together and lock the rest of the world out. Now that I am grown and have my daughter, Courtney, I have found myself even more into Christmas Eve. We start out the night by having cold cut subs and tons of snacks and we sit in the living room and watch our family favorite movie, "It's A Wonderful Life".

While we watch the movie we each pick one small gift under the tree and open it. I have to admit that we have been cheating and letting my daughter, Courtney, open two gifts. It is just so much fun seeing her discover new toys and crafts that she gets. She is definitely the heartbeat of our Christmas.

Christmas Eve is also a night that we pull out the Scrabble board and play for at least an hour. I, of course, usually win, but they try. This is the time where my grandmother usually starts to reminisce about the days when my mother and my aunt were little and how Christmas's were back then. She always comes up with new stories about their Christmases that are funny. Listening to the stories she tells will make you remember that Christmas is not meant to be a materialistic holiday as it has become but one to rejoice in what our savior has given us and the family that we have around us.

My mother passed away in 2004 seven days before Christmas. She is the one that started the Christmas Eve tradition when I was born and I will pass it on to my daughter in hopes she will do the same.

So what does Christmas mean to me? Family togetherness. Although, my family has had it's fair share of changes in the past 5 years with my divorce and my mother passing away, Christmas will always be my families favorite time to stop what we are doing and spend quality time together remembering the past and looking forward to the future Christmases that we will have.