is it really wonderful?

"It's the most wonderful time of the year...." the song plays on my car radio, and although I love this time of year, I am stuck in bumper to bumper traffic and the guy two cars back is blowing his horn at who knows what.  Really?  Is it really the most wonderful time of the year? 

This is my favorite time of the year.  There is something about having all the Christmas lights on and sitting and enjoying the glow.  Even with my wild 2 year old running around, it's great.  Christmas is a beautiful time... in the right controlled environment.  If you go out to the mall or shopping centers, you might feel differently.  And that is something that bothers me.  Why does this time of year have to be so crazy?  What makes the traffic seem 20x worse than any other time of the year? 

This morning I was reading my December Guideposts and read an article about a family tradition that I thought was pretty cool.  I doubt it's something that I'll adopt, but pretty neat nonetheless.  The story tells of a young mother (with a 2yr old like me!) who wants her son to enjoy Christmas for the "right" reasons.  She was talking with her Grandmamma about what her Great-Grandma Lela would have done.  You see, her G-Gma raised her kids in a run down shack and didn't have money to buy presents. But every year she put away ingredients starting in January, so that by December she would have enough stuff to make 7 cakes.  One for each day between Christmas and New Years.  For her children, it was the best present ever.  They even shared those cakes with neighbors, family, and friends that would come by. 

So the Granddaugther decided that is what she'd do.  So every year from then on, she and her son (and eventually her daughter too), along with her Mother and Grandmamma would bake 7 cakes.  They ate some and shared some, and remembered their Great Grandmother Lela. 

Yes, presents are fun and there is nothing wrong with them, I already have too many things picked out for Miss A., but there is more to Christmas.  For us, it's celebrating Jesus' birth.  Without him,...  well, I don't even want to think about where we'd be. 

So yes, it really is the most wonderful time of the year, as long as you keep the real reasons in mind.  And it probably wouldn't hurt if we all worked on having a little more patience.... but I wouldn't expect anyone else to do that, especially when they are worried they aren't going to get one of the "it" toys as they are racing to Walmart at the last minute.  :o)