Thursday Thirteen! 13 Things I LOVE about ChristmasI!

I finally rememberd the Thursday 13 Meme on an actual Thursday! Ha ha!

Here are my Top 13 things that I LOVE about Christmas:

1. I love making Christmas cookies. My sister, my mom, and I always had great fun making Christmas cookies when I was growing up. We made lots of cookie cutouts. I am from Iowa - a state that gets a lot of snow. And we had a dog when I was growing up. Therefore, my very favorite cookie to make is a snowman cookie with a little bit of yellow at the bottom of the snowman. It is in honor of my childhood dog!

2. I love buying and wrapping presents. It is neat to go shopping for someone else with the purpose of putting a smile on her/his face.

3. I love Christmas songs. I make myself wait until Thanksgiving to turn on the Christmas tunes, and I love them more every year.

4. I love putting up the Christmas tree. It was fun to have help from my kids this year. I think they love it as much as I do!

5. I love seeing family. We usually travel right after Christmas, and I love to see everyone and hang out and catch up.

6. I love going to the kids' Christmas programs. It is neat to see that they understand the true meaning of Christmas.

7. I love that I can use Santa to make my kids behave. It does not always work, but it is nice to have that little gem in my back pocket. I also love how excited they get about Christmas presents!!

8. I love sending Christmas cards. I keep our Christmas letters from year to year and keep them in my stocking. It is really nice to be able to look back on past years and remember when...

9. I love getting Christmas cards! I love to see what people have been up to. I love seeing pictures of kids growing up, family pictures, birth announcements, all Kodak moments!

10. I love the anticipation of Christmas. I grew up Methodist and I love the advent candle ceremony we would have every Sunday before Christmas. We don't do this at our current church so I am getting my own advent wreath for next year with my kids.

11. I love to see Christmas lights through falling snow. I don't get to see this very often anymore, but I love to see the blurred lights through the snow.

12. I love the quiet in an early morning right after it has snowed. There is absolutely nothing as peaceful and quiet as this.

13. I love that DadOf3 takes the week of Christmas off work so we can all be together. Usually we are traveling, but this year we will be home so I am looking forward to some good family bonding time!