It’s finally Christmas time, my favorite time of the year! There are so many things about this holiday I love, including the cold, frosty weather, ice skating and the smell of a sappy Christmas tree. But what I love most of all is how magical this time feels. There must be something in the air because if you look at the people around you, everyone treats everyone else with kindness and friendliness. Strangers help each other out, everyone seems to have more patience for the most part and the energy in the air just seems so much happier.

Even my family seems to grow closer together during this time. Everyone makes sure to visit with everyone, whether it’s at a Christmas party or a small family Christmas dinner. The traditions that we carry out are also one of the few times during the year that we are all together in oneplace.

Usually, we go to Half Moon Bay to a tree farm and cut down a Christmas tree together. It’s always a team effort to decide on which tree will best suit us. Will it be the Charlie Brown tree because it has more character or the tremendously majestic tree that probably won’t fit throughour front door, let alone clear the ceiling once it is inside?

Next on our list of traditions is decorating night. Usually pretty last minute, we all find a time when we can get together and we totally deck out our house with decorations. Christmas music is playing, maybe a Christmas movie like Frosty the Snowman is on the television, and we all go to work on some part of the house. I usually handle the lights outside and inside which takes an eternity to finish because there’s always that one bulb that somebody stepped on by accident and I have to untangle the thousands of lines to find it. By the time I’m finished, I’m suremy hands and face are frostbitten but the house looks incredible and we blow all the other lights on the block out of the water. There’s nothing like bonding with your family out in the freezing cold.

A new tradition that we started last year or the year before is ice skating in San Francisco. It was my second time ice skating in an outdoor rink at night and I absolutely loved it. Once again, something in the air is magical when you’re out there on the ice. I have finally perfected not falling on my face so I have been able to enjoy watching how happy everyone around me is. There really is nothing like it.

Finally, one of my most favorite moments during the Christmas holiday is Christmas Eve night and morning. Because I have two families to celebrate with, I usually spend Christmas Eve night at one house and then on Christmas morning I go over to the other. On Christmasmorning, it is the best waking up super early with my siblings and going down to open up presents together. I’m pretty sure we are the only ones awake at that hour on Christmas morning and we take our time to enjoy ourselves and see what creative gifts we gave each other. When the time comes and the sun is finally rising, we all go over to our other home and repeat Christmas morning all over again. It’s amazing how much love you can feel in just a few hours. I can honestly say that I am one of the luckiest people alive when it comes to family.

When the day has ended and the Christmas fog has worn off, it seems like everyone shifts back to their old ways and I am always left with that familiar holiday nostalgia. If only I could be stuck in December forever.

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you enjoy your time with your family and friends however you decide to spend it.