~ Blogmas Day Six : Flashback Friday ~

Growing up, Christmas was always a big deal! 

We would decorate the house, have Christmas music playing non stop, and enjoy all the good food that comes out around that time of year. I remember walking home from Beechwood Secondary School and it would be dark, cold, and wet; however, turning the corner and seeing the tree lit in the front window always made me smile. On Christmas eve, we would get dressed in our new Christmas pajamas and try to fall asleep. Mum always said, "The sooner you fall asleep the sooner Christmas will be here." But we were always too excited to sleep!

Christmas morning we would wake each other up yelling, "Wake up! It's Christmas!!!" We would then beg our parents to get up, and every year they would try to prolong us from opening our presents. One year Dad got a call from his family in California and we had to stand their at the top of the stairs till he was done. It was absolute torture. We also had to wait upstairs while dad checked that Father Christmas had been. Then, finally,  from the youngest to the oldest we would walk down the stairs into the living room. Every year I was speechless at the sight of presents piling around the tree.  With eight children each getting three or four presents, you could imagine the space all those presents  would take up.

 The only lights on were the tree lights . . . . it looked amazing. 

We would sit around the tree as Dad would hand the first person a present. We were all so excited to see what each other got. One year Robert and Kiel were so excited because they got a Nintendo or Playstation . . . something like that : )

Another year, I remember we had finished opening all our presents and then Dad found some bikes in the kitchen. I don't think you could have found a more excited group of kids. We rode them later that day to my Nan's house. 

I am so thankful that my Mum made Christmas to be such a big deal. It continues to be a big deal today as our family continues to grow and grow. 

 I love Christmas and now get to enjoy it with my own little family.