For me, no truer words were ever said “it’s the most wonderful time of the year”; that is how I feel about Christmas. It isn’t just Christmas Eve, or Christmas day… it’s the spirit of Christmas, the very soul of the entire year.

My best memories of Christmas as a little girl were when I went to Radio City Music Hall for the Christmas Spectacular… and sitting on Santa’s lap; of course, growing up in New York City I had the pleasure of seeing Santa at Macy’s and at the Daily News Building. In fact, when my first daughter could walk I took her to those same locations even though we were living outside the New York City area. But growing up in an apartment did not allow us to have a large tree or leave room for elaborate decorating; we had a fresh-cut 4ft pine tree in the center of the kitchen/dining table… but for me, it was huge. We could walk to church for midnight mass, and I was mesmerized every minute as I adored the lights that streamed down 3rd Avenue and across 42nd Street. I remember my “Chatty-Cathy” doll sitting under that tree next to my brother’s “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em ROBOTS”… they seemed enormous compared to the mini-tree. Throughout the years, I have taken all that I love and multiplied it over and over for each of my children and then my grandchildren… I want them to love Christmas just as much and hold on to these memories and valuable traditions.

Last year, the neighbors and friends began to call me “Mrs. Claus” and “Miss Christmas”; a girl I worked with said that she had never seen anyone who loved Christmas the way that I do. You might say that I am really “out there”; my house is decorated room by room with 6+ Christmas trees; the house is donned (tastefully) with lights, wreaths and mini-porch trees, and of course my mini-van sports the Rudolph red-nose and antlers… this year I am putting lights around the car windows! From the minute that Labor Day is over some people stop wearing white…. I add it to my wardrobe… Christmas White!  Oh yes, I will be talking to you about fashion too, you see my daughter (who I call “Little Miss Christmas“) is a fashion blogger and she LOVES Christmas, so I will share her knowledge and from time to time she will post a blog of her own. Before the fall we also start ordering cookie cutters and sketching designs for holiday cookies; my other daughter is a cookie specialist! She makes hand-decorated gourmet cookies (cupcakes and a bunch of other things that are thousands of calories); she will also share her photos and blog with us. I will share information about ornaments and decorations, music, movies/DVD’s, cookies, fashion and basically everything I know and love about Christmas will become a gift to you. I am always looking for new things to add to my lists (oh yes, I have tons of lists), so please share and learn with me.

Have a Jolly Lolly Christmas!