What does Christmas mean to you?

Hello again everyone :)

Reading this you may all be wondering am I going crazy writing so many of these blogs compared to what I used to :) Well, someday I hope to make a career out of this or something similar, so I'm going to keep doing it, good practice ;)

I came across the heading of this blog on a list of blog ideas on Pinterest (my new obsession!)

and thought it was a lovely idea :) 

You might think I'm going to write something like a Leaving Cert essay but no, I'll try to keep it simple as I always do. Because we are finally in December I am going to be doing plenty of Christmas related blogs :) I hope you enjoy!X 

So what does Christmas actually mean to me? 

I can remember being really small, getting up at the crack of dawn to head to Galway, the seven of us in  the car, to get the Christmas food shopping done. We would let mam and dad go around the shops, more than likely with my older sister, as she was the one who could remind them what to get. God Forbid they should forget anything, especially the bars of Toblerone! We would wander off and get the rest of our Christmas presents, should we have forgotten them on our annual trip to Limerick (another family tradition) We would come home and unpack, load the fridge with food and do whatever needed to be done before mass :)

I can remember coming home from Christmas Eve mass, running inside to change in to my pj's, watching the news and seeing Santa in the north pole head off. Sitting in front of the TV, with a can of coke and a packet of cheese and onion tayto's in my hand, I was so excited!

We would wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning and come down to see our presents all stacked up with our names on them and eagerly wait until mam and dad got up so we could show them what we got. We'd spend Christmas day playing with them and after head to our Grandparents houses to see the massive family that we have :)

Unfortunately Christmas means something way different when you grow up, when Santa stops calling at Christmas, except to my little sister. I used to get so excited thinking about what doll I would get, would I finally get Ken or that doll house or makeup set? That along with the kids disco at school would be the most exciting thing about Christmas for me, of course the never ending sweets and biscuits too!

So what does it mean for me now?

The most exciting thing about Christmas for me now, isn't the Dinner (although Alice makes a fairly unreal turkey) or the little gifts we exchange, or the thought of seeing Santa.

It's actually the fact that for a few days my whole family are together in our house. Just messing around, laughing at gifts, or dvd's we got as presents, eating crap food and having endless cups of tea. We even have the Christmas crackers and wear the crepe hats! It's the best thing about Christmas, and because we're all nearly grown up we won't have many left with our parents. I'm not saying we won't ever see them at christmas but we'll have our own families to get excited with. This is something that should be cherished when we're young but of course we're too busy thinking about the PS4 game or Xbox to think about who is around us.  

Of course you also get to see the many friends that have been working or in college and go out and catch up. Maybe do the twelve pubs or go out for Stephen's day. You can celebrate another year with your partner or your first Christmas together. I know myself personally I can't wait to celebrate my 3rd Christmas with my boyfriend and hopefully it will be the 3rd of many to come :) 

Christmas nowadays, to me, is more about seeing people I love or that I haven't in ages and thinking about those we have lost that were there the year or so before. 

So what does Christmas mean to you? 

Just remember to think about your family this year, because after all it's not what is under the tree that counts, it is those sitting around it with you :) 

Hope you enjoy :) :)

Sandy.S

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