Do they know its Christmastime?

I hope everyone has had a wonderful, loving, happy and peaceful Christmas. Christmastime is my most favorite time of the year. I have never been a super religious person but I love the holiday all the same. Actually, after my class on Christianity this past semester I feel like I appreciate the holiday a lot more. It's wonderful. Maybe it is because of all the magical childhood memories I associate with this season. Here are some things that I love about Christmas:

the smell of COOKIES in the air

holiday MUSIC

driving around town to view the CRAZY lit up houses 

the DECORATIONS in the stores

the excitement of going to sleep on Christmas EVE 

the way the light REFLECTS on the ornaments on the tree

the looks of kids faces when they see what SANTA has brought them

Christmas SPECIALS on TV

eating SWEETS on Christmas morning

laughing with FAMILY on Christmas morning

HAM on Christmas day

picking out gifts for my LOVED ones

the SPIRIT of LOVE and PEACE in the air

GIVING and SELFLESSNESS

the smell of Christmas TREES

lights TWINKLING on the tree

sitting on the stairs Christmas morning with HANNAH and SAM

WRAPPING gifts

EATING EATING EATING

being COZY

I dream of a WHITE Christmas

... As you can see I have many Christmas joys. And I'm sure there are many more that I have not thought of. I have so many Christmas traditions that I share with my family, I cannot imagine a holiday season without them. Here are some pics of this year's Christmas:

My mom got sick of dealing with crazy Christmas
tree drama so we finally decided to go the fake route this year... 

The annual "children at the top of stairs pic"

Such a good looking crew!

A Save the Children donation I made in
my family's name for maternal health
and education

My cutie little brother Sam
(Well he's not so little anymore...)

In all I had a wonderful Christmas, I hope everyone else has had a great day as well! :-) I would like to leave you with one of my most FAVORITE Chirstmas songs!!! (As a matter of fact, the titles pof this blog post and my last blog post are lyrics from this song). Oh and it has to do with Africa so its not a surprise that I would be obsessed with it :-P

SPEAKING of AFRICA... Today is the one month countdown date. ONE MONTH! I leave for a trip of a LIFETIME in ONE MONTH. I'm trying not to think of all I need to do up until then... I'm also trying not to think of things that are making me nervous about my trip... BUT other than that, I am so excited! I am well prepared for my journey with some of my gifts I received today (including a scuba mask and snorkel from my father! MAURITIUS here I come!)

Anyways, here is my most favorite Christmas song :-)