Day 292 of 365 ~

292/365 ~ Even as an adult I find it difficult to sleep on Christmas Eve. Yuletide excitement is a potent caffeine, no matter your age. ~Terri Guillemets

I know it might seem early and jumping a couple of holidays but today I started my Christmas List. Admittedly, there are a couple people on the list who are always difficult to buy for and then there are some that I've already finished shopping for. Harmony, Xyla, Justin, and Tyler have brought buying toys back into the mix and I love that! I'm considering American Dolls or Cabbage Patch kids for the girls. Last year, the Brookshire family did a cool thing and had a Christmas where everything had to be from NC. For years, Helen has suggested the Conrads get only gifts from thrift stores. I'm thinking about suggesting that everyone has to make their gifts - of course that means everyone is getting photographs from me, haha! Just kidding. Seriously, the best part of our Christmas is having everyone in the house together. I remember our first Christmas in this apartment 13 years ago on Christmas Eve Eve (that's the holiday created when families divorce) - all six kids piled into one room. The boys were true boys back then, pestering the girls, giggling, and playing Mexican music while Frank and I sat in the living room waiting for all six to fall asleep so we could fill the stockings. They finally dozed off but then I couldn't sleep. I couldn't wait for all of them to come down the next morning in their matching pajamas. Christmas morning pictures are the worst!! Frank refuses to come down until he showers which goes against everything I always believed in; but I have to admit, he is the only one in the photos without bedhead! We bought cream colored gold trimmed stockings and put their names on them that first Christmas and Frank made me little shelves with pop out buttons to hang the stockings on. Thirteen Christmases later and those stockings are still the first thing all six of them go for. Christmas morning breakfast usually begins with an appetizer of candy canes and M&M's. I know the true meaning of Christmas has nothing to do with what goes on my list each year; but that list reminds me to stop and think about everyone in my family and how much they mean to me. As Burton Hollis said, "The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other."