I don’t know when it started, but sometime in my 20’s, my mom started a new tradition.  She began to buy three angels every Christmas, all exactly the same – one for my tree, one for my sister’s tree and one for her own tree.  After a few years, we finally figured it out and my sister and I started buying three angels as well.  It didn’t take long before our homes were filled with Christmas angels.  After Mom passed away in 2000, Tracie and I continued the tradition, buying just two angels now.

It takes a lot of time to find a unique and different angel each year, but that is part of the fun.  We’ve bought ceramic angels, wood angels, flower angels, angels made from just about any material.  From so many states and countries, wherever we could find something new, we bought.  When I downsized to my 280 square feet, I fully intended to distribute the angels to my friends and family, to spread the love, but I’ve found, I can’t do it.  I love all the angels, most are kept in a box now, but I’m sure that’s what keeps us safe everywhere we go.

In November, we all had something to be thankful for.  A reminder that each one of us has someone or something that we are lucky to have.  I wrote my 30 things down all at once, today I want to share with you 31 things I love about the holidays.  In no particular order:

1. I love Christmas angels
2. I love Christmas carols played in all the stores
3. I love the Bah-humbuggers
4. I love all things pumpkin
5. I love thinking all my gifts can be homemade, even when I don’t start thinking about it until December
6. I love Pinterest Christmas crafts
7. I love Christmas cookies
8. I love Christmas parades
9. I love gift-giving
10. I love thinking about gift-giving even more
11. I love Baileys
12. I love Christmas concerts
13. I love reading the Sunday ads for gift ideas
14. I love Christmas morning
15. I love the Christmas feast
16. I love giving pajamas to open on Christmas Eve
17. I love the frantic-ness that is others at Christmas
18. I love the smell of Christmas baking
19. I love the Christmas Tree Fantasy (in my hometown)
20. I love that the holiday season starts with my personal favorite, Thanksgiving
21. I love making Christmas cards
22. I love Christmas lights
23. I love snow covered Christmas mornings
24. I love kids getting up before dawn on Christmas morning
25. I love filling Christmas stockings
26. I love knowing I get to talk to all my family on Christmas day
27. I love sending Christmas cards
28. I love Holiday parties that you get to dress up for
29. I love spending Christmas with my loved ones
30. I love when Christmas is over
31. I love sending New Year’s Cards to ring out the old and ring in the new

These are the things I love about Christmas and more, all at once, no doling it out one at a time.  What do you love about the holidays?