What Christmas Means To Me...

What does Christmas mean to you?

To me, it means family, sharing and love. It is a time for me for reflecting about all the Christmases past, the present and the future. It is about traditions old and traditions new. It is about Children and Jesus and stockings and cookies!

Since moving to Washington, we have a few new tradtions here that we didn't have in Arizona.
1- We go to a Christmas tree farm and pick the most beautiful tree on the lot according to the three kids and that can take awhile sometimes AND, it has to be rainy and dusk. Don't ask why, it has been that way for 3 Christmases now!
2- We share it with friends and when we were in Arizona, it was shared alone.
3- We have been blessed to have snow each year. Whether it sticks or not all it takes to make my Christmas white is a few flakes to remind me God loves us all.
4- We no longer have an artifical tree.

Christmas is the time I start foaming at the bit to organize the house for the new year. However, hubby won't let me do this until AFTER Christmas. I love to organize and I am usually good at it. Not as good as my friend John, but slowly, he is teaching me some tricks...

1- Put your keys in the same place all the time. So, I am at about 75% with this one and getting better!
2- Keep a calendar where you are going to see it everyday and keep a pen close by. (I am at 50% on this, I use one, I just never look at it) I am working on this for 2010 by having 2 calendars...one for me and one for the kids (my dad always sends them this really amazing National Geographic Calendar with animals and stickers) and I am learning to do more with my computer calendar.
3-Keep things you use on a regular basis close to where you need them.

I will tear the file box apart, set aside all my tax information for our accountant, clean drawers, toss clothes out we no longer wear and decide which ones can go to charity and which ones are trash. Many things will go in the attic and some of the attic things will come down and will be decided if we will keep it or let it go. I will wait until plastic containers go on sale and buy more and find things to fill them up with!

I will go over the list I made last year of things I wanted to get done on the house, cross ones off that were accomplished and add new ones to the ones that haven't been done yet. So badly, I want insulation in my bathroom before next winter arrived! Brrrrrrrrrrrr!

I will once again catch up on all my quilting projects and start new ones that one get done when they need to and that is just the life of a quilter. I will continue to make quilts for those in need whether they be the oft maligned homeless or a police dispatcher in need, God has given me a gift to use according to His will!

Whether I will continue this blog or not, I am still making a decision on that and hope to make a final one sometime before the new year. I really enjoy blogging, but I oft times wonder if it can have a negative affect on my job hunt. Then again, I really am who you have come to know through this blog...wonderfully made and created by God!

Finally, this week, we will set aside a special day for the grands and I to bake pumpkin bread, cookies and fudge and deliver them to neighbors. I hope you have an awesome week!

No matter what traditions old or new you have, let me know your favorite!