What Makes Christmas Special

I feel bad for not posting for a few weeks, but the truth is that I haven't been up to much since my last post. You can always tell when I am working because I don't seem to have anything on my mind to post--just work. I worked over the holidays which was filled with LOTS of weather delays. I did manage to keep a plane full of very delayed passengers in good spirits a few days before Christmas which made me feel good--like I made somebody's holiday a little better.

I spent all of Christmas Eve day in Portland on a layover and visited with my cousin, Jill (the one I also visited on Halloween--I get a lot of PDX layovers.) She was so sweet and I really enjoy catching up with my cousins. She made me some beautiful earrings and sent me home (back to my hotel) with a little bag of candy as my "stocking." She is so thoughtful and it really made my holiday to spend a little of it with family. She said I was an "angel" because she had been praying that she would have family visit her for Christmas since all of her (our) family live in Utah and her in-laws are all in Arizona. She also has an amazingly talented husband, Jason, who writes and produces commercials for a big advertising company. Last year he had two commercials in the Superbowl--the Old Spice ones with Will Ferrel. This year he will have four of his commercials aired during the Superbowl. He had a Nike commercial of his voted as "Best Commercial" by an ad magazine, too. But what I was most impressed with, is that he got everyone to sing a Christmas song before the dinner prayer, before we read the Nativity Story, and before the kids opened their Christmas Eve pajamas. I love singing Christmas songs. In fact, I love singing anything. A little secret about me you may not know is that my car is a karaoke machine of sorts. I love to turn the music up loud and sing along because then it sounds like I have a great voice. I'm sure there are many closet car-singers out there and I am definitely one of them, lol!

Christmas Day was spent mostly at 35,000 feet. My mom and sister had given me a few small presents to open, but I really celebrated "my" Christmas a week earlier when I made everyone open the presents I bought them while I was there and could watch. My nieces and nephew were thrilled, as you can imagine any kid would be, to get to open a few presents a week before Christmas. In fact, a few weeks ago I had asked my nephew what he was going to ask Santa for. He said, "a present." I asked, "What kind of a present?" He answered, "A yellow one." I tried to get him to clarify, but it seems he didn't really care what was "in" the box, he just wanted a yellow present. So of course, being the doting auntie that I am, I had to go and buy yellow paper and I used a big ol' box to wrap his little present. When he saw it, he just started screaming all excitedly, "A yellow present! A yellow present!" And then when he unwrapped the paper he said, "A box, a box!" and then started pulling out the tissue paper. I don't think he even cared what was inside of it. But darn it, it was yellow! (Oddly enough, yellow isn't even his favorite color. Orange is.) I don't even have to tell you all how much that little guy cracks me up. He is at such a fun age.

Back to Christmas Day, after flying all day, I landed back in NYC (Newark, NJ, actually) around 5pm and took a shuttle back to my apartment. It is basically a 3-hour drive, but I always enjoy it because we drive right through downtown Manhattan. Times Square and Broadway were packed with people on Christmas night. It was amazing to me to see the throngs of people who wanted to spend their holiday with strangers, bright neon lights, and concrete. (Maybe they were Hanukkah or Kwanzaa celebrators? BTW, do you know of anyone who really celebrates Kwanzaa? Just wondering.)

And the final highlight of my 2008 Christmas celebration was flying into SLC on Saturday for my Dad's family Christmas party. Because of some scheduling conflicts, we ended up having the party after Christmas this year, which worked out for me because I was able to attend since the airline could only work me so many days around the holidays. It may not have seemed like a big deal, but my Dad's family party is part of my holiday tradition. We play a white elephant game that we all seriously anticipate for the entire year, all competing for the funniest or coolest gift. The first gift I opened was a Bart Simpson Chia Pet; but it was soon taken in the game and I ended up with a Christmas book. Anyway, my point is that it is one tradition that I didn't miss out on. I did miss my Mom's family party but I was just grateful to have enjoyed whatever I could this year... And my Mom saved me a piece of her breakfast casserole that she makes on Christmas morning. That was a real treat for me. :)

I guess what I am getting to in all of this is that this year I realized that Christmas isn't really a day, it is a season. So even though I was working on Christmas Day, I still feel like I had a nice Christmas. And to be honest, without all the hype of opening presents on Christmas morning, I realized my favorite parts of Christmas are what really make Christmas special... traditions, spending time with family, and the thoughtfulness and sacrifice of others. Thank you for the Christmas cards with pictures of your sweet families. It really meant a lot to me to be remembered. To those I was able to spend time with, know that it was the highlight of my holiday season. And to those of you who spent time and effort to make my holiday special, thank you. I will always remember my first Christmas working away from home.