courtney jade’s blog

Christmas is my second favorite holiday.

I love so much about it, the music in the air, the hot drinks, all of the get-togethers with loved ones, the crisp air outside, scarfs and mittens, festivities, stories of giving… the list goes on.

As a child, Santa always went above and beyond for my sisters and I at Christmas. We were always had a huge pile of presents just waiting for us on Christmas morning. We had a couch with 3 cushions, and each of us girls had our own cushion full of gifts.

I remember the “usual” Christmas morning very well. First, my sisters and I would wake up (whoever woke up first would wake the others), then we would sneak down the stairs and take a little peek. The way our house was, the first half of the stairway was exposed to the lower part of the house. There was a railing there, and that is where our stockings hung. We never had a fireplace, so Santa had to use his magic key to get into our house.

We would each take a peek at one thing in our stockings, get really excited, and then run back up the stairs and go to wake up our mom and dad. That would usually take a good 10 minutes, which seemed like FOREVER. Then, my dad would make all of us wait at the top of the stairs until he went down and got his video camera ready…which took a whole ‘nother FOREVER. It was one of the video cameras that weighed about a bajillion pounds and took video straight onto a VHS tape. Oh yea, so cool.

So finally, when he was done with that, we were allowed to go downstairs. First, we always went through our stockings! There was always fun little things in there, pencils, stickers, nail polish, lots of candy, etc. Then once we were all done, we’d venture to the living room downstairs where the “mother load” awaited us.

Santa was always really good at fulfilling my wish lists, I must have been a really good girl
Some of the most memorable gifts I ever got include: a Baby Alive doll ( she sucked her thumb, ate, pooped and peed), roller blades and a street hockey kit, a keyboard, a Tommy Rugrats doll, a Sony Discman, Baby so Beautiful doll, a Nickelodeon Walkman, a Talkboy, a Super Nintendo with like 25 games, boots, and an Adidas jacket.  I’m forgetting a TON of awesome gifts, but it’s 11pm and I’m just about brain dead at this point.

Anyways, after that, my parents would make breakfast, and I would always call my best friend- my cousin, and we would give each other the rundown of the loot we just got! We would eat breakfast and play with all of our new fun stuff, and then we’d get all ready and go to my Grandma’s house for an early dinner. There was always more presents waiting there for us too! Although, those presents were a bit more interesting.

I think my grandma ordered just about everything from a SkyMall catalog, except she never flew anywhere, so it must have been something else. Once in a while she’d surprise us and get us something really awesome, but the things I remember most were the ones that I had no idea why she would even think go get them for me. The Looney Tunes blanket, the rain cap/bonnet thing, porcelain dolls, a pillow (that was actually nice), a black crew sweatshirt (i liked that one too), and I can’t remember any of the other ones right now. But I always appreciated them, and it was fun just to watch her face when we opened them. After all, Christmas isn’t about presents. I have more memories about the actual gatherings than I do about the presents, and I am thankful for that.

Since I have entered the adult world, Christmas has changed a lot. I have realized that I don’t look as forward to the presents anymore. Sure, I LOVE presents (gifts is one of my 5 love languages after all), but what I really love about Christmas time are all of the fun things there are to do, and doing them with friends and family. It’s more about making memories, and sharing laughter, smiles and joy with each other.

Last year was the first Christmas that I didn’t have to worry about working! Since I have been full time in my marketing position, I have loved the advantages the 9-5 brings around the holidays- paid time off!

This year, I have even more to be thankful for. There is something really big going on in my life that I haven’t been able to share online (trust me, it’s killing me!!!) yet, and it will be the best Christmas present ever (except for that Baby Alive, of course).

I have all that I could want now- health, happiness, family and friends, a loving boyfriend, the best dog in the world, a great job, a growing and successful photography business, amazing clients, and all of the opportunity in the world. I can’t wait to share with you the big secret soon, it’s only a matter of days at this point until I can shout it to the rooftops

Until then, Merry Christmas everyone. <3