Tis the Season to be Jolly!! :o)

Ahhhhhhh....the holidays are HERE at last!!! Christmas Tree lighting at The Domain, store fronts decorated in red, green, silver and gold, Christmas music jingling in my ear, Egg Nog and Gingerbread creamers, oh this is MY SEASON!!! I feel most alive this time of year. I am truly full of joy when I reflect on holidays and what they bring to me. Christmas time brings such warmth and such a sense of healing to a part of my soul that's untouchable. The random acts of kindness, the baking, the cooking, the holiday cards from family members and friends that I don't get to see or speak with on a regular basis, Charlie Brown Christmas, A Christmas Story, all the laughter and joy around me, hanging ornaments on the tree and remembering the special meaning of almost all of them . . . these things just FILL ME UP!

Planning menus, reviewing sale adds, writing letters to Santa, working on Christmas crafts --- oh how I just love this!! It's exciting and invigorating, how can it NOT bring life to me?!?! Watching the kids hang candy canes on the tree, begging to just have "one more", laughing as they check their stockings to see if there was anything left from last year, asking 100 times for the baby to STOP touching the tree (LOL). . . THIS is what I "live" for!

Sure I let my "Holiday Gina" come out the day of Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve when I'm preparing the meal and well, she's not so nice BUT quickly changes once everything is set and ready to go! I LOVE serving my family and my friends, it truly brings me the most joy. From here on out, it gets a little more hectic, some days are more stressful than others, but there's just something about catching a glimpse of the sparkly decorations around making everything just a little bit prettier that makes that stress not seem like such a big deal!

So here's to The Holidays 2010!!

Thanks Heather for photographing my family once again!
You capture these moments of joy for me and I'll always be thankful!