Of course, Jesus is my most favorite thing about Christmas. Without Him we would have no Christmas and in turn, no joy. I am thankful that the following things bring me joy because of His gift to us.
I jump for joy over Christmas cards. If you receive my card, you know this about me! I send out about 115 photo cards with a letter each year. I in turn love receiving them from my friends and family. I have them on my memo board in my kitchen this year and love it. I think this will be my new display place for them. 
The tree. I adore the tree and ornaments that go on the tree. All mine tell a story and I love that. I have worked hard to make it tell a beautiful story. We buy ornaments on all our trips, big events, milestones and we buy one for each other every Christmas. This year Henry had 7 ornaments on our tree and we had 3 new family ornaments on our tree. I love how our story is growing. I in turn buy ornaments for all the kids in our family and my BFF's kids. I want them to have a tree that tells a story about Abby Jo loving them to pieces!
The chocolate advent calendar is a must for December. I can only remember one Christmas without one and it was sad. They can be really hard to find. One year the only one Mama could find had tinker toys in it. She was on Santa's bad list, for sure! Julie and I hated that year. Each year one of us buys them up after Christmas and stocks them in our freezer until it is time and then we give them out. This year Mama, Julie and I failed to buy any for our freezer. We were in a panic trying to find them and Mama found them at Walgreens on Dec 1st. She delivered mine to me at the hospital on Dec 2nd and Julie's kids got to open theirs on Dec 3rd. We heart this tradition, as you can see. (By the way...who is buying them and freezing them this year?)
Homemade goodies make me smile. I love making them, gifting them and eating them. Randall and I started making candy the year we got married. We look forward to it every year. We sing songs, laugh and make a huge mess. Having Henry in the kitchen with us from now on is going to make it so much more fun. (yes, this picture is sideways, but again...I am on low sleep and in a hurry. I am the mother of a fussy but cute infant.)
Cooking with loved ones in the kitchen at Christmas is so fun. Our traditions are centered around food, so the kitchen is a hot spot at Christmas in our family. This year we all made the same food even though we were all in our own places. I love that we all love tradition and want to keep it alive for the next generation.
Stockings are a must at Christmas. I have posted about our stocking tradition before when I posted the stocking my Mama made for Henry. My Granny made mine when I was a baby. She made one for everyone new in the family until she passed away. In keeping with tradition, I made Randall's and my Mama is now making all the stockings for the babies born in our family. Granny beams from heaven when we hang them up each year.
"Christmas Eve Gift" is an odd tradition on my mother's side of the family. We all celebrate it by greeting each other on the 24th with " Christmas Eve Gift" instead of "Hello". We then give each other a small gift at that time. This picture shows the Christmas Eve Gifts I received this year. The plaque is from Henry (aka- Randall) and the rest is from my Mama.
As a child we always gave Santa my Granny's homemade goodies. He loved us for it. I know Santa will love us putting our own homemade goodies on his plate as we start this tradition over in our home with Henry. Granny would be so proud.
Watching the wonder as my baby sees Christmas for the first time will always be one of my most favorite things that I will cherish. Having a child at Christmas will now become one of my most favorite things.
What are some of your favorite things about Christmas?
Abby
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