Christmas Traditions and Growing Up

Does anyone else have Christmas traditions? We do…and it starts on Christmas Eve. We all pick out a Christmas movie (mine is It’s A Wonderful Life every year!) and we start watching them around 3 or 4 pm on Christmas Eve….for dinner we each have our own frozen pizza and we all sleep in the living room. Then on Christmas morning we eat orange rolls, read the Christmas story from the Bible, and open presents. This is the first year I away from home…I’m an intern at Honor Academy Of The Ozarks and it’s funny how even though I knew I would be home for Christmas break…I still had it in the back of my mind that me not living at home would somehow make things change. That our traditions would stop. Or that they wouldn’t mean as much. I was afraid of change. You know what….things have changed. Not seeing my family for 5 months makes the traditions so much more important. I love my family more. I am thankful for every little thing. When It didn’t look like I would get to watch It’s A Wonderful Life I actually cried. We went and bought it, lol. I guess for me it’s that  I'm not alittle kid anymore. Mommy doesn’t take of me when I'm sick. I have to work. I have real problems now. When I cry daddy can’t save the day….it’s like Christmas is still that piece of childhood. These traditions aren’t just traditions. They are a piece of my innocence. It’s one night where I am a little kid again…it’s where growing up is far away, my parents are down the hall and my sister next door instead of a state away. I have blind faith and no worries. It’s where I feel at home and I am forever ten years old. I know eventually I will get married and have my own kids and when that comes these old traditions will go by the wayside. But for now I am sooo thankful to have a Father in Heaven who loved me enough to send his son to be born of a virgin, live a sinless life, die on a cross, and raise from the dead for my sins. I am thankful for loving parents who didn’t walk away when things got tough, who raised me to the best of their ability, and who love me. I am thankful for a sister who keeps my secrets and is my best friend. I am thnkful for childhood being wrapped up in one single day and is the best present the grown up me can recieve. So if you live at home remember the traditions…and if you don’t or even if you do. Be thankful for what you have and love those with you this time of year!