When I think about christmas being an extra long day I do it not only from a nostalgic-childhood view, but also from a practical-adult-with-four-families view. The day goes by so fast and it seems that we spend very little time with each family. Mostly because I'm not sure whether our parents would prefer three hours christmas day, or the entire saturday after. It seems like a no brainer, more time is better right? So saturday it is... Ahh, but then we underestimate the extreme value of one Christmas hour.
This is my Christmas dilema. However, I must say that for some reason it was kind of fun to family hop to three different families on Christmas. (We would have done four if it hadn't started snowing like crazy.) Perhaps I have taken so long uncovering the riddle of Christmas day with four families that trying to squeeze them all in feels like a tradition I can quite enjoy.
Either way, Nate and I enjoyed a delightful Christmas together. I remember the first one we shared was pretty crunched for time as well. That was seven Christmases ago and Nate and I wanted to get together Christmas day to exchange gifts as boyfriend and girlfriend. Both having two families we weren't free to see each other until about 10 o'clock at night. But Nate came to pick me up all the same and we drove to a spot in bountiful with a view (I think somewhere up in the glades) and did our christmas in the car. (We couldn't be alone at either of our houses and a car with a view just seemed more romantic than Denny's.) So there we were in Nate's Ford Tempo exchanging gifts. Sadly I havn't the foggiest idea what I gave him. It was totally drowned out by the amazing gift he had given me. I opened my box to find a silver heart-shaped jewelry box with sparkling "diamonds" (I say diamonds because cubic zirconia sounds very unromantic) along the edges. Engraved on the lid was "With all my heart, love Nate." Being in the puppy stage of love, I immediatly saw this as a life committment and started crying. Inside the box where "diamond" earrings with real gold posts! I'd never recieved anything more beautiful. I remember coming home and showing my sisters my gift and they were as impressed as I was. It was love!! And no one on earth could have convinced me otherwise!
So I like Christmas for a lot of reasons... For me it's all about the people I love. Gifts are great and all but it's the love shown through a gift that makes it so special. Anyway, Nate did pretty well for himself this year too. Of course my list was helpful :) But he went to extremes to make it all a surprise and somehow that meant more than the actual gift. I'm still worth "going to extremes" for.
As for our four Christmases, each one was unique and wonderful. My mom went out of her way doing what she does best, building an atmosphere of love and memories, for Christmas Eve and Morning. Sharon and Brad went out of their way making sure the boys, Julie, and I had more than we could ask for with a little pictionary thrown in on the side to remind us how much we like competing... I meant being with each other :) Then it was off to Tom and Rayma's where they went out of their way to make us feel like we're the guests of honor (as usual). I also love hanging with the Ross/Towne family because they tease as much as Nate and I do! We saw my dad on Christmas Eve and I got to sit through one of my most cherished Christmas traditions: my dad's reading of Luke 2 and Mary's reading of The Littlest Angel. They went out of their way purchasing and wrapping twelve gifts for the twelve days of Christmas for all eleven children. That's why I love Christmas: People go out of their way for other people with love as the key motivation.
Thank you to everyone who made Christmas a little merrier for Nate and I. We love you!!
2 comments:
We love having you guys over. It's nice to have a girl around. I don't feel so overwhelmed or outnumbered. Thanks for making sure the house was picked up-when I got home from work, it was such a pleasant surprise. We love you both more than you will ever know.
You are the only person who might have it worse than me! We've had a Christmas party every night til last night since 2 days before Christmas...and like 5 were at my house! SOOOOO fun though, I always joke around and say that Heavenly Father must've known how much love and support I would've needed here on earth. So thats why he gave me so many wonderful families and friends! Sounds like your Christmas was great. I loved the dating story! Love you!!!!
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