Originally published on December 19th, 2006 at Onward & Upward

My birthday is one week from today! I am very excited, because this is my first birthday spent with my hubby. Even though I’ve known him for over 5 years, we’ve always (understandably) been apart for Christmas. I’m not sure what we’re doing yet for my birthday, but I hope it’s a fun day. One of the perks of being a Christmas baby is that I’ve never had to go to school or work on my birthday, so I’ve always been able to choose the daily activities.

Christmas is my favorite time of year! I love the lights, the decorations, the movies, sending Christmas cards, connecting with old friends and relatives, and most of all, the music. I love the Christmas Eve candlelight service, coming up with gifts for everyone, and pretty wrapping paper. I love nativity sets, caroling around the neighborhoods, and church cantatas. And of course I love that my birthday is during this time of year. If I was born in a different season, I would have wanted to have a Christmas wedding like Beth (happy anniversary tomorrow!), but it didn’t work out that way.

This year has been fun because it is my first Christmas with my husband. I have been able to, for the first time, share my Christmas memories with him. Here are a few of the decorations around our apartment:

I got a Precious Moments “Our First Christmas Together 2006” ornamentI used to make “Kitty’s First Christmas” ornaments for my cat when I was growing up. The one on the top left is from 1993, with each subsequent year until 1995. The bottom one is crosstitched. I like how they become progressively more complex as I got older.

As I said, I was born the day after Christmas in 1982. This stocking is what the stork brought me in. :-) Actually, it was made by hospital volunteers. The tag reads:
“This Red Christmas Stocking
Symbolic of the time of year
was made by the KHV’s [volunteers]
to hold your baby dear.We’ve enjoyed having you with us
for the past few happy days
and we wish you a Merry Christmas
and many joys along life’s ways.

Kennestone Hospital Volunteers”

This ornament makes me smile because the inscription says: “Baby’s First Christmas 1982”. However, I wasn’t born until the day AFTER Christmas in 1982, so my first would have been in 1983. It makes me laugh to have a “First Christmas” ornament with the wrong year on it :-)

What special Christmas memories do you have?