I absolutely love Christmas time. It is my favorite time of the year and it just got better when I had kids. I finally have someone to play Santa with and they get so excited. This, in turn, gets me excited and I am sure that I have just as much trouble getting to sleep on Christmas Eve as they do.

Before they go to bed, they get to hang their stockings on the mantle and leave a plate of cookies out for Santa, and I finally get to fill those stockings and eat the cookies. I have waited a long time for this and I love the look of pure pleasure that they have on their faces when they come downstairs early on Christmas morning.

I probably have that same look of pleasure. Not much has changed for me, I guess, besides that I now get pretty bras and jewelry instead of Barbie dolls and flannel jammies. I am sad when it is time to pack up the tree and put everything away because it means I have so long to wait for this feeling of peace to come back again.