Winter holidays are always a busy time with many different traditions. Depending on which holiday you celebrate, those may be different. But some of the more popular ones are listening to Christmas music, eating certain foods, or seeing specific movies or events. Yet none of those named above are my favorite part of the holiday season during the winter. I love something else that may be a little strange to others.
My favorite part of the winter holidays is decorating for them or seeing decorations. I personally have celebrated Christmas for most of my life as I was raised in a Christian household. I've always loved putting up the Christmas tree with my family, hanging the lights and ornaments all while dancing and singing along to Christmas music.
Of course, the tree wasn't the only thing we decorated around the house. In my family, we also had stockings that were hung on the mantle. We also had different snow globes and knick knacks that we put out all around the house. My family made a whole day out of it, which ended up being a lot of fun as a kid. I even enjoyed the tradition long after I was a child. My freshman year of college, when I found out my parents had decorated the tree without me, I was so upset because I enjoyed it so much.
It also wasn't just the indoor decorating that I enjoyed, either. I loved putting up the Christmas lights on the bushes and trees outside. We also had some of the bigger outdoor decorations as well, one of which included a giant inflatable snowman that held a shovel reading, "Let it Snow!" Our outdoor decorations also included two wooden reindeer that looked like Rudolph and Clarice from the tv special and light up candy canes that stood up lining our front walkway.
Every year, it was a delight to go outside with my dad and put up each decoration on its own. I was too short, unfortunately, to help much with the lights on the bushes and trees. But I was able to put together the wooden reindeer as the pieces fit together by sliding into notches carved out of the wood. It may have taken a while, and we would probably be frustrated afterwards, but our Christmas decorations made the house look festive and inviting from the street.
Not only did my family enjoy putting up the decorations, we also really liked going around the city of Goshen and looking at others' outdoor decorations. I don't know about your city, but in my hometown, many houses went all out with Christmas decorations. Lights covered the houses, inflatables filled the yard, and characters were made out of the lights. Many were breathtaking, which made it so enjoyable to go around the different neighborhoods and see how people decorated for the holidays.
My favorite house wasn't too far down from my own. We lived on 5th street and this house was over on 15th street past the local college. This house had so many lights and scenes that you were instructed to turn on a radio station for music that went with it. The display was incredible and looked like something a professional would have done. Yet it was just a family who lived in town that loved decorating for Christmas.
Decorating has always been my favorite part about the Christmas and winter holiday season. I hope that as I get older and move into my own place that I'm able to find my own traditions surrounding decorating. Whether that be ornaments on the tree or lights on my apartment balcony, something special will come out of decoratign around this time of year. Just as it always have in the past.
