I have always loved Christmas. I love everything about it; from the family time to the stocking stuffers to the limitless amount of cookies. I'm the person that has Christmas carols stuck in my head year round and gifts picked out before Halloween. It is the most magical time of year, I get wrapped up in the Christmas spirit and I can't help but have an overwhelming feeling of happiness. That feeling has been with me since I was a little kid, but a lot of things about the holiday have changed as I've grown up.

Christmas, of course, has always been a hugely celebrated event at my church. I mean we go all out. Every Christmas Eve since I was old enough to walk, has been spent at church participating in our annual pageant. That was always followed by a birthday party for Jesus celebrated with cupcakes and goodie bags to take home filled with sparkly reindeer food (so that they could see it by moonlight). Then there was a late night service that was long but festive and filled with sleepy kids. As time has moved on, the kids grew up and moved away. The cast of the pageants dwindled down and someone forgot to bake the birthday cupcakes. No one made the reindeer food and Christmas Eve seemed different. Granted I was entering my teenage years and I didn't need the goodie bag but I wished more than anything that the small number of kids left in my church would get to experience the same magical traditions that I did growing up. Now there is still the pageant that I help produce every year, and it's still dysfunctional and adorable as ever. I still look forward to it being part of my tradition but it's different–I'm on the other side of it, just watching. Now I'm not the cranky six year old barely awake for the candle lit silent night, I'm the 21 year old version of the same little girl who's heart is full to the brim by the end of the most beautiful service of the year. I've realized that some of the changes have even made Christmas that much more special.

Even Christmas day has changed some what. The general order of events is all the same but how we go through the motions is completely different. Growing up it felt like the opening of the presents took .5 seconds then we sat around all day and played with our cool new stuff, but now that we are older it feels more civilized. We take our time going through our stocking, opening presents, thanking the person that bought it, and we get presents like clothes (that we actually want) or something that we "need". There was nothing quite like running into the living room to see what Santa brought or the first rip of wrapping paper, now there's still excitement to see what the present with my name on it will have inside but I'm more excited to see the reaction on my family's faces when they open presents I personally picked out and bought for them.

I guess these little changes are all just part of growing up, with some traditions simply being what makes childhood so special. But I don't see my adult years turning me in to a grinch by any means, the Christmas spirit is enough to make anyone a child at heart for the one special day.