Christmas is such a great time of year. Possibly my most favorite time of the year. To me, Christmas means celebrating the birth of my Savior with my family and friends. This is done in many different ways, and it means so much to me. I adore the feeling that the Christmas season brings.

The most important part of Christmas is the birth of Jesus. He is the sole reason for the season, although in today's time it is very easy to forget that. Celebrating Him brings joy like no other to my soul. Listening to Christmas carols and thinking about their true meaning fills my heart with peace. I also really love Christmas sermons at church.

One of my favorite family traditions is going to pick out a real Christmas tree with my family, and, of course, our dogs. We hop in my dad's truck and go to hunt the perfect tree. After some agreements/slight disagreements we bring the tree home, put it in the tree stand, and place it in a corner of our living room to decorate. Decorating usually goes like this: my mom and I putting lights and ornaments on the tree while my dad sits in his recliner "supervising" and telling us where to put the decorations at. Our lab/golden retriever mix is probably trying to pull ornaments off of the tree and/or has a Christmas decoration in her mouth that is not supposed to be there.

Family dinners make Christmas even better than it already is. I have a pretty large family and when we all get together the air is full of good smelling food and laughter. Personally, the desserts are my favorite. Especially my cousin's apple dumplings. We talk and reflect on all things Christmas and I look forward to this for months.

Christmas would absolutely not be the same without Christmas music. Especially Mariah Carey's Christmas album. My friends and I drive around blaring Christmas music, perfectly singing alongside Mariah; probably on our way to shop or grab a Sonic slushy sometime past 1 a.m.

When I was little, my parents and I watched "Frosty the Snowman" and "Rudolph" every year before Christmas. Because of our busy schedules and me being a grown up now we don't always get to do it. I still love these movies along with many other Christmas classics. My favorite is "Elf;" I could watch it every month of the year. One of my favorite things to do in December is to curl up with a blanket and watch Hallmark Christmas movies with my mom. I wouldn't trade this special time for the world.

I love shopping any time of the year. However, shopping for Christmas gifts is my favorite kind of shopping. Picking out a gift that will make your family and friends happy is thrilling and warming. Although I think Black Friday has gotten crazy and sometimes out of hand, I still think it is fun to participate in. This year I went with my mom like I do every year, then later in the night went with two of my best friends and stayed out the rest of the night. We drank lots of caffeine, had Chinese food at three in the morning, Waffle House at five in the morning, and jammed to some pretty awesome Christmas and rap music. It was so much fun despite being delirious from exhaustion. Might I add that we scored some pretty sweet deals as well.

These seemingly small things that many people do around Christmas seem like yearly routines. Christmas would not be the same without any of these and I am so thankful for everyone of them. Most of all, I am thankful that our Heavenly Father sent his son to save us. The Christmas story is a perfect, sweet story.