the Christmas Season

Preparing for the holiday season which leads up to my favorite day of the year Christmas is the best time of the year and all occur during that winter season. The day right after Thanksgiving is when I got up and into the "holiday spirit." I woke up at 6:30A.M, which compared to most people who were up at 2:00A.M. is late. I went to two different malls, and roughly 10 other stores. Also on this day, known as 'Black Friday', Christmas music began to play on radio stations.

Exactly one week before Christmas, there was no snow on the ground. However, I could care less about the snow because I absolutely hate the winter weather, and prefer warm, sunny days over a cold, snowy winter one. Next, our Christmas tree went up. I love when our house "transforms" in which the tall, glowing Christmas tree goes up and our stairs going upstairs are decorated. Finally, it’s the Christmas countdown. These were the few days when all of the malls were absolutely insane. People are buying those last minute gifts for Christmas. This is the time where finding a parking spot at a mall such as Twelve Oaks the weekend before Christmas can take up to a half hour. Lines inside stores wrapped all the way around the sales racks and Christmas was coming before I knew it, but for some reason, it just didn’t seem right.

Before I knew it, it was Christmas Eve and the next five evenings would be spent at family Christmas parties and dinners. After 5:00P.M. Christmas Eve mass, we hosted the first family party with my cousins, aunt, uncle, and grandparents. That was the first gift exchange of Christmas. The next morning when I woke up, it was Christmas Day. My mom made a delicious breakfast, and next I opened my stocking and all my presents. A few gifts were surprises which I didn’t know about, but most of them, I had picked out.

Later that day, I went to my aunt and uncle’s house on my dad’s side for dinner and presents and had a good time with family. The next day, that afternoon was shopping time with my aunt. This was the day to spend all those gift cards I had received. The mall was packed with people making returns so we only shopped for a couple hours. After we left the mall, we were trying to get our nails done, but every nail salon seemed to be closed. Once we drove around for about an hour and tried about five different ones, we finally found a good one.

That evening, I was going to my mom’s cousins house with about 40 other relatives who I barely know. I see them all about once a year. Luckily, my cousins on my mom’s side were there who I frequently see so I had someone to talk to. The following day I knew it would be my last “family get-together” which was a dinner for 20 at Bucca di Beppo which is an amazing Italian Restraunt. The Christmas weekend was just about over and I was exhausted. My grandparents left that Monday after we went to P.F. Changs for dinner together. The Christmas parties and dinners were over and now it was time to relax.