This is my absolute favorite time of year. Fall is my favorite season, and magical things always seem to happen during the time it takes for all the leaves to change and fall...and it ushers in the Christmas season with the music, the decorations, the joy, and -- my favorite -- all of the family time and traditions.
After this semester's conversations with people with very different families than my own, I was struck by just how lucky I am to have an unusually close bond with my family. I mean, I knew it was rare, but I guess I didn't think about how uncommon it is to have cousins who are more like siblings and relatives who double as friends (and drinking buddies!). I mean, I'd far rather go to the bar with my family than a group of friends. Yeah, I'm that weird and that close to my fam. I grew up with my cousins being some of my best friends. How cool is that?!
We also have always had Christmas Eve together with the entire family on my dad's side for my entire life. It's my absolute favorite day out of the entire year. My aunt and I cook together (pierogis are definitely a highlight), we have someone play Santa for the younger kids (although there aren't too many years of that left, sadly...someone needs to start having kids, dang it! lol), and we just hang out and talk a LOT. I'm especially excited for this year's because of how amazing Thanksgiving was for us. Sometimes it gets ruined when it snows because my dad and brother have to go out and plow/salt when it snows, but it's always a family night, and it's always a wonderful feeling to be with everyone. It's fun to see how we've all grown and changed throughout the year. I feel like that's the most "home" that home gets because it's the most comforting, relaxing, and happiest night of the year. I don't even want to think about how it's going to be in 2 years when I'll be...goodness knows where...for teaching because that takes some of the magic away.
It always seems to be snowing on the night I pick to bake and make candy...that's happened for the past few years. It actually really adds to the magic, though, to be all nice and warm while the oven's going and yummy creations are taking over the kitchen space with their presence and smell as my Christmas music is playing and I'm singing along. It's something I've been doing since high school, and it's a solitary activity, but it's one of my Christmas traditions. There is something extraordinarily cozy about being in a warm kitchen with baking smells, music, and snow falling outside.
Since this was actually a short interlude between recipes, I'm going to get back to the kitchen where the magic happens...I've psyched myself up for it. :)
I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas...even those of you who are grinches who don't like Christmas much (you know who you are :P).
~"Gold, Frankenstein, and myrrh." [-one of my preschoolers describing the 3 gifts the wisemen brought to Jesus. How can you not love kids when they say silly things like that?!Oh, malapropism. :)]~
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