The Best Time of the Year

Today is the first day of the best month of the year....DECEMBER!! Seriously, I love December! I love that people basically celebrate Christmas all month long. Some of the many things I love about December and Christmas time:

~~Christmas decorations....seeing all the lights and trees and other decorations just makes me so happy. I seriously need to get to work decorating our apartment this weekend!

~~Christmas music: I went through my i-tunes yesterday and put all of my Christmas music on to one playlist. Most of my favorite hymns are Christmas songs and I am so happy that we have started singing them in church. And I love having all my Christmas music from my computer playing in the background. Some of my personal favorites are: Oh Holy Night, What Child is This, Silent Night, My Grown-Up Christmas List(by Kelly Clarkson), and A Baby Changes Everything(by Faith Hill)

~~The whole message of Christmas: Christ's birth and his whole life. So many things today are trying to take Christ out of Christmas, but he is what it is all about!

~~The spirit of service and love that everyone seems to have in their heart. Christmas time reminds everyone what truly matters. There are so many acts of service and love around this time. The best in people seems to really come out.

~~Picking presents out for people: I absolutely love trying to pick something out for each person that I think they would love and then watching their reaction when they get it. I pay attention to what people say and so when Christmas time comes, I can get something that they mentioned once that they liked or wanted. Or sometimes coming up with something on my own that completely takes them by surprise. I wish I had more money, so I could get more presents for people!


~~Christmas stories: I love Christmas books and movies and any other random Christmas stories. My family has a pretty big collection of Christmas movies that I look forward to seeing every year, but my favorites are: It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and The Christmas Wish. There are countless Christmas stories that are all so wonderful, but one in particular that stands out to me is "A Christmas Dress for Ellen" by Thomas S. Monson.

And so many other small things that add up to the best time of the year....


*Being with family*Hot chocolate*Snuggling up with a blanket*Giant snowmen built specially by the Skidmore family*Christmas caroling*Candy Canes*Family traditions*White Christmases*Annual Christmas ornaments from Grandma*Nativity scenes from around the world*Secret Santas*Holiday socks*Curling up by the fire*Being warm inside while it is snowing outside*Random acts of service*Getting Christmas cards, letters, and pictures from family and friends*Staying in pajamas all day*My mom's amazing cooking