Christmas.

I was thinking about my childhood Christmases and how wonderful they were.  My parents were always the kind that made sure that we had amazing Christmases.  I have so many happy memories from Christmases past.
One of the yearly activities we did when we lived in Virginia was to go as a family to find a Christmas tree.  We bought our trees from the local tree lots.  We would all hop into the car and go as a family to search for the perfect tree that all of us agreed on.  Sometimes we would have to search a number of tree lots to get to the perfect tree.  Our favorite tree was the Blue Spruce, I can smell the fragrance of that wonderful tree as I type. 
After we purchased our tree and we headed back home where my mother would ALWAYS make us hot chocolate and serve Krispy Kreme donuts.  Dad would bring in the tree and spend the needed time to get it set up properly as we all watched the process.  We would be so happy watching and sipping our hot chocolate.  It was dads responsibility to put the lights on the tree.  Back when I was young it was the large HOT lights that were put on the tree.  Once the lights were on the tree it would be lit up and we would sing carols and just enjoy our family time.  When I was young mom decorated the tree while we slept.  She draped tinsel piece by piece on each of the tree limbs.  I loved the tinsel, it swayed in the breeze as you walked near the tree. 
I can remember laying at the base of the tree looking up through the branches at the lights and lightly blowing my breathe up into the tree to make the tinsel dance and shimmer.  It was certainly magical to me as a child.  Christmas has always meant family and I love it.