Mon. Dec. 1, Christmas countdown begins

Well, the title of this post says it all, doesn't it? 25 days, according to ABC family, which means for me, it's about 23. I always count Christmas Eve as part of the actual holiday, and today's pretty much over. So, yeah. We'll start decorating soon, maybe next weekend, tree and lights and stuff. We don't usually do it all that early, you know? Keep the Christmas spirit in a smaller package, it's more condensed, so it's stronger, right? That's how I look at it, at least. Man, i love Christmas. And not just because of the presents, either, even though those are pretty great ; ). I think of it as family time, religious time, and a second Thanksgiving. We always make cookies and visit family and make cookies and get and give presents and visit some more and make cookies and make cookies and decorate the house and make cookies... it's a busy time, but so fun! There's just something about the feel of Christmas. You get it when you finally finish decorating the house and the tree and you sit there staring at it, and when you finally find the perfect present for you mom, or you finally wheedle Christmas wishes out of your totally selfless dad. My dad always says all he wants for Christmas is for us to be really, really happy, which is sweet, but I like to give him stuff. Even if it's nothing or even crap, he still puts this big grin on his face, and it's real! It's good to see all my family happy like that. My dad got my mom this Jewel Quest computer game last year, and she can't go a day without playing it. It's scary and annoying when i see it, but if I look at it through my dad's eyes, it's sweet and really makes you happy to know that you've made someone else happy. That's why I like charity work, and I'm hoping to do a lot more than I have done so far when I'm 16 and have a job and a license and stuff. Then I can do it myself. It's an unbelievable feeling, really. That's Christmas.