Christmas is one of those holidays that takes up an entire month, despite it actually being only one day. After Thanksgiving, I go into full Christmas mode. Christmas basically starts the day after Thanksgiving and goes until the end of December.

The weeks leading up to Christmas are like waiting in the line for a roller coaster. So much excitement is built up and all you want to do is scream even though nothing has actually happened yet, except you getting closer to the actual thing. All the decorations go up and eventually your house looks like it was covered in red and green sprinkles. Then all of the stores start playing Christmas music and you get all the feels of the holidays. Starbucks breaks out the Christmas drink collection and you get a strong urge to eat a candy cane.

Picking out a Christmas tree is one of those time marks when you know its almost Christmas. It’s a real-life Christmas air freshener. Decorating the tree is just icing on the cake. Ornaments are the sprinkles on that cake. Picking out ornaments is no easy job. Some people like to go for a theme with certain colors while other people go crazy with words and designs. I like to have a good balance of nice ornaments with simple home-made ornaments. My Mom and I always go out and buy new ones every year. This is especially important in the case that one of your ornaments brakes, or in the case of my family, your tree falls over and they all brake. Bonus: ornaments make a great gift or stocking stuffer!

It’s the best feeling driving through neighborhoods at night and seeing all of the Christmas decorations outside and the lights from Christmas trees through the window. I always loved going to those light shows where houses would compete over who had the best Christmas display. I always envied those people because my family didn’t do anything that extravagant. We usually just go with the lights in our windows and a classic wreath on our door.

As Christmas reels in, its time to do all of that last minute shopping and baking. The house fills with shopping bags and gift wrap and it smells like an everlasting Christmas cookie candle. You go looking for the perfectly ugly, yet cute, Christmas sweater to wear to that Christmas-themed party. Then next thing you know it’s December 24th and Christmas is just hours away.

Christmas Eve is basically Christmas since your tree is up and people sometimes give you presents, but its not actually Christmas. Its kind of like when you have a birthday party before your actual birthday, its not the real thing but its pretty close. I probably eat more on Christmas Eve than Christmas Day, but that's because my family does the Italian Christmas Eve with seven courses of fish and about a million different desserts. Then I put out milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer because i’m still a child at heart.

Waking up on Christmas Day is the best feeling. You get up and you see your stocking full and the bottom of the Christmas tree covered in presents. When I was younger I would get up at 7 am and wake up my entire family to open presents. Now we ease into the waking up and by 9 we are all in the kitchen with our Christmas mugs ready to start the day. We typically start downstairs with our stockings and make our way back up to the tree. We have breakfast at my Grandparents and we open stockings there. Then the rest of my family comes over for presents and finally we finish off with a carb and meat fest for dinner. Finally I return home to bask in my food coma and look at my presents one more time. What a lovely holiday.