Day 25 - Treasure Hunts

Black Friday has a very different meaning around our house. To my knowledge, we have yet to brave the stores on this day every year. Instead of shopping for presents to put under the Christmas tree, we turn on Christmas music, heat wassail, and pull out the Christmas decorations. This is one of my favorite days of the year, and I'm so thankful we are all home to celebrate. When the sun goes down, our house looks like Christmas exploded. Beautiful! Black Friday involves a very different treasure hunt for us.


The Christmas tree is my favorite item to decorate. Every year, we dig through a box of old ornaments. As kids, we picked out a new ornament every Christmas and recorded the date. It's fun to see the stages and our mentality at the time. I have a beautiful carousel horse from when I was 7 and Santa holding a cell phone when I turned 16. Our Christmas tree tells a story.

We also have a porcelain nativity that sits above the fireplace. When we were younger, we would fight over who would arrange it. Since I tend to break things, Mom usually monitored me when it was my turn. It's the first thing people see when they enter our house, and I love the message it sends. 

Move over ABC Family's 25 days to Christmas. Mom's version is better. As kids, we stuck Velcro felt ornaments on a felt tree every night leading up to Christmas. Each ornament contains a picture indicative of a piece of the Christmas story. We no longer sit around the tree every night, but each day I add another ornament to the tree and remember the story. I remember the reason we celebrate and decorate and give gifts.

Black Friday is a treasure hunt of memories. We remember where the Lord has brought us,  laugh at every discovery, remember why we celebrate Christmas, and we remember why we give gifts at Christmas. We were already given the greatest gift in a baby who became a Savior. I'm thankful for the reminder, for the memories, and for the joy of this season! Merry Christmas season!

What are you thankful for today?