I have had a countdown to Christmas 2016 since Christmas 2015 ended. I absolutely hate the winter, but Christmas is the one thing that makes up for the freezing temperatures and short days. Here are 10 things I wait all year for, 10 things I love about the Christmas time:

1. Family

Since I live at college now, I don’t get to see my family as often as I want to. So Christmas is a nice time to all get together once again.

2. Friends

Thanksgiving was our first reunion since school started, Christmas will be our second—and longer reunion. Especially since I did not have a chance to see everyone I wanted to during Thanksgiving. I can’t wait to catch up!

3. The Food

The Christmas parties do not disappoint when each house has a table littered with mouth-watering foods (like giant hams and aesthetically pleasing holiday cookies).

4. The Decorations

I LOVE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS. I love all the twinkling lights, all the colors, and just legit everything Christmas/holiday themed: the bells, the Jesus’s, the tinsel. Everything just looks so nice everywhere you go.

5. The Music

Not going to lie, I listen to Christmas music on repeat the day of Thanksgiving until the day after New Year’s. My car radio will permanently be on the Christmas station for the month of December and I have an obnoxiously giant Christmas playlist on Spotify.

6. The Movies

Christmas themed movies are so special to me because I love Christmas movies but I don’t allow myself to watch them during the year—because if you watch them too much you’ll lose the all excitement. So even though Home Alone 1 and 2 and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation are some of my favorite movies, I don’t touch them unless it’s the days of December 1 to December 26.

7. Giving

As much as I complain about how empty my bank account is, I DO NOT MIND BUYING PEOPLE PRESENTS! I absolutely love walking around stores and seeing something perfect and thinking of that person and how much they’ll love it.

8. Gifts

I also love receiving gifts too.

9. Vacation

After a hard long semester, it’s nice to go on Christmas vacation for a straight five weeks and not have to worry about textbooks or dining hall food.

10. Snow

Okay, I do complain about the snow a lot, but I have to admit that when it’s snowing at 3 AM and it’s nice and smooth and glistening in in the street light and I’m looking at it from the inside, I don’t mind it that much at all.

I hope everyone has a happy holiday and a Merry Christmas!