Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. Well, besides New Years Eve. Yes people give you gifts as part of the holiday but there's so much more to it than that. There's decorations, Christmas spirit and movies. Here are five reasons why I love Christmas.

1. Christmas Spirit

Around Christmas time people are happier, kinder, more helpful and more loving. This is what Christmas is all about. It's not about the presents or money; it's about being a better, more kinder person. Unfortunately our society is obsessed with taking any holiday they can and making all about commercialism and materialism. Christmas gets most of the blunt and so many people forget that the point of this holiday is kindness, not presents. And while people should always be kind and helpful to each other, it's nice that at least people try to be good once a year. Also, as part of the Christmas spirit radio stations start playing Christmas music and there are Christmas movies on television so that's nice too.

2. Family time

While Christmas may not be the only holiday for family time, family time is an important aspect of the holiday. For me, any holiday that lets me spend time with my family is my kind of holiday. Family time is the most important thing to me and should be for anyone. If I have learned anything, it's that people won't be in your life forever, so you have to enjoy the time you get to spend with them while you can.

3. Decorations

I know this might be contradictory to when I said that I hate that our society makes Christmas all about commercialism but I do really love Christmas decorations, especially when people go all out. When I was in Bath, England they decorated all the walkways and passages with Christmas decorations and I always loved wandering through town just to see the decorations. Stores also do the same thing here. Many decorate their front windows with Christmas decorations, especially in big cities. Christmas decorations just seem to make things look prettier, and they remind me that Christmas season is in full swing.

4. Christmas cookies

While my Christmas cookies usually don't end up as good looking as these, I love any holiday that makes an excuse for me to bake/eat cookies. Also Christmas cookie decorations are so cute and it's something you can do as a family. It's also a good way to relieve stress. And like I said, you get to eat them so that is definitely a big plus.

5. Presents

I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy getting gifts on Christmas. I mean who doesn't like free gifts? But it's definitely not what Christmas is about. I also kind of enjoy Christmas shopping for people's gifts, especially if I know what I want to get them. But it's also fun just finding something in a store and then thinking "wow they would love that." I also really enjoy seeing people's faces when they open my gift and it's something they like. Not that any one of my friends would probably tell me if they didn't but I like to think I'm a pretty good gift giver.

Christmas is a magical time of kindness, coming together and joy. There's always some miracle that happens on Christmas and everyone seems a lot happier around the holiday. There are so many reasons to love Christmas and the holiday season in general. Happy holidays everyone!