Christmas has always been my favourite holiday for as long as I can remember. From the family gatherings around my Great Grandma's house on Christmas day with as many family members as possible, to the local football club bringing around a sleigh with Santa on every year for the kids, giving them lollipops and even to the Christmas light switch on a month before Christmas itself. As I've gotten older my obsession with Santa has died down a lot (it's still there, i promise) and I've developed a new meaning of what Christmas does in fact mean to me. 

For starters, it's one of the only times within the year that my entire family can meet up and have a lovely Christmas meal while discussing everything that's happened since we last met and what we're looking forward to in the new year. This year has gone by so incredibly quickly, it only felt that I completed my GCSE's, turning 16 and finishing school happened only a couple of weeks ago. It's been nearly 6 months-half a year. Last year's Christmas only feels like it happened 4 months ago, yet here we are again with putting the Christmas decs up and nearing the end of my first full term in sixth form. I come from a relatively large family, I'm no longer the youngest of the bunch and I haven't been for a while when I think about it. One of my second cousin's (no. 3) son is nearly 6, while two of my other second cousin's (no. 1 and 2)  have both welcomed daughters while another one of my second cousins (no.4) has welcomed a son not that long ago-extending the family even more. The furthest my family extends to is Australia, I don't think I've seen them since second cousin no. 1's (for privacy purposes) wedding a couple of years ago-before she had her 3 kids. There coming over this year to visit the family and to introduce us to their newborn daughter. 

There's a lot of family traditions surrounding Christmas for my family- some of which only happen when we're all together which seems to be getting harder and harder every year. The main tradition is how Christmas day works in our household. The first thing we do is open presents, youngest to oldest, before the Christmas tunes come on, as well as the TV, while Christmas breakfast is cooked (it's normally like a normal day's breakfast because of the HUGE lunch we have) and the main part of our Christmas dinner is put in the oven so it can be served in time. Family members start to appear left, right and centre with their gifts and food offerings, before we all sit around with the wine and the chocolates out, enjoying each other's company for the rest of the day-feeing like a stuffed pudding who just wants to nap the rest of the holidays away. 

My family is split in half when it comes to who's religious and who's not. Mainly the older family members are (like my grandparents and great grandparents, and the few aunts and uncles). Whereas, the younger generation of the family aren't; including me and my mum. To put it shortly, I'm not religious so my definition of Christmas is different to those much older than myself. 

For me, the definition of Christmas is spending time with my family and being grateful for the opportunity to do so. Christmas is about love, faith and hope. Celebrating new beginnings and endings with my loved ones. Once my house is decorated for Christmas (which you'll get to see in another blog post very soon!!) I'm very much in the Christmas spirit and my house starts to feel like Santa's grotto. Memories from when I was child have contributed very much so into what Christmas means for me, I'm very lucky to still have my great grandparents with me and for my entire family in general. Santa lives on in our family without anyone dressing up like him, despite the urge (really don't like that word) to do so from some, for the kids of the bunch. 

Writing this has just added to my excitement in general for Christmas and for the rest of Blogmas.