Christmas Promises..

I promise to always find joy in the simplicity of riding around my hometown & looking at Christmas lights, even though they seem to diminish each and every year.

I promise to hang on to the moments I spend in the kitchen with my mom, watching her cook, and listening to her tell me about her favorite Christmas memories growing up. 

Along those lines, I promise to remember the stories she tells in order for me to recall them to my children someday. Like how she remembers baking cookies, my MeMaw, and Christmas mornings with her immediate family growing up - like my Nannie stepping on Uncle Jay's guitar & Uncle Jay shooting out a transformer with his new shotgun on Christmas morning. 

I promise to stamp in my memory the face my dad makes when he eats the cake mom makes just like is mamma did - especially the face he made when she baked it nearly exactly like Grandma had. 

I promise to always listen carefully at Matt's jokes and remixes of Christmas songs that he mocks. He has the greatest sense of humor! 

I promise to never forget the mornings that I had to wake Matt up to tell him "Santa has come!" 

I promise to try and wear all 89+ pair of Christmas socks within the days after Thanksgiving and before Christmas without repeating! And share with Mom too! 

I promise to keep the voice of my daddy reading the Christmas story on Christmas Eve to my brother & I embedded in my memory in order to cherish it for the rest of my life.

I promise to tie pretty bows and tape up presents tightly, and I promise to do my best not to give away any surprises. :) 

I promise to take in all the children's laughter around the mall, the squares, and other public places because there's nothing more innocent than a child believing in the magic of Christmastime.

I promise to remember the Christmases when my grandfather was "santa" during our family Christmas, and to always remember the hunting stories told around the dinner table, as well as his laughter that came straight from the pit of his stomach.

And since this is "The Diary of My Fairytale..." 

I promise to always make holidays, especially Christmas, special for David. 

I promise to justify driving an hour out of the way to observe Christmas lights with a cup of hot chocolate and his hand in mine. 

I promise to always want our kids to feel the magic of Christmas without being consumed with RECEIVING but more with GIVING to others. 

I promise to make the most out of the Christmas season, even if it means I would be the crazy "Elf on the Shelf" mom - because the years are short of children believing in Santa and that type of magic. 

I also promise, most importantly, to teach my children the true reason for Christmas. 

I promise to buy sentimental ornaments, paint funky door hangers, and bake tons of David's favorite things just simply because it's Christmas - and that's always a valid excuse. 

I promise to always split time between our families during this season because they both mean so much to us. 

I promise to start new traditions as well as carry out some of our own family ones whenever we are given the opportunity to start a family of our own.

I promise all of these things because I remember the first Christmas Day I spent after knowing about "Santa", feeling that the magic of Christmas just couldn't occur anymore because of the truth I had found out. I felt as if my childhood had been robbed too soon! I also promise these things beaus they are simple, and sometimes we allow the holidays to become stressful & overwhelming. However, every Christmas cantata that's sung in front of me as I have grown older, every time Luke 2 is read aloud, every single time I see a Nativity scene, I am reminded that that magic can never be taken away. It can never be overcome because it is greater than any other on this earth, and while Santa is fun, gifts are fun, and decorating is fun, it's Jesus who really makes this all worth while. It Him that brings the reason not to stress back to reality. It's the story of His childhood. It's the smiles He brought to others faces. It's the life He's given to so, so, so many people and the life He is willing to give to any who will have it. It's knowing that He was born as innocent as a human could ever be, and it was all for Me.

So, get another cup of hot chocolate. 

Eat one more cookie than you normally would. 

Stay up past your bedtime & laugh with your family. 

Wear your red, green, and white as often as you can.

Wrap your presents with an extra loop on the bow. 

Stuff a stocking extra full.

Because Christmas IS only one time of the year, and even though we should be thankful for the Birth of Christ all year long, sometimes it's so much easier to remember WHY places are lit up with strand after strand of Christmas lights and when Nativity scenes are everywhere. Even though that shouldn't be the case, I feel we are all guilty of it. Take time to stop when you're with your family and memorize their voice, their laughter, their smiles - this life is all too short, and we are all to busy to realize that time slips so fast away from our fingertips & before we know it, last Christmas was their last Christmas. That's something I never want to deal with, but it is inevitable. & even though it's sad, those who have come to know that Precious Baby born in Bethlehem will get to see His face on Christmas, and who wouldn't want to spend Christmas like that?