If it were up to me, kids would never grow up and holiday traditions would never change.

That’s not really true. Of course we want our kids to grow up, be successful and find happiness. That aside, I sure do miss the Christmases of old. I miss attending the school holiday plays, driving around to look at Christmas lights while listening to Christmas music, decorating Christmas cookies, and all the other activities that surrounded Christmas. Even if I wasn’t personally decorating the tree or baking the cookies, I sure enjoyed being around it.

There won’t be any more school holiday plays to attend, and the days of driving around to look at lights are pretty much over. Playing a Christmas movie on the living room television is like opening a box of Kryptonite in front of Superman. In years past we have always exchanged gifts at 6 a.m. on Christmas morning. This year we agreed to begin at 8 a.m. so the kids could sleep in.

(I was up at 5:30 a.m., sitting next to the cats and watching old Christmas specials in the living room.)

I’m being a bit melodramatic. Both of our families came over to spend Christmas Eve with us, and our family had a lovely Christmas. I gave some thoughtful gifts and received many great ones. We were grateful to get to spend time with our families over the weekend.

The hardest part about being so nostalgic is that sometimes you fail to appreciate the things you have because you’re too focused on the things you used to have. Next year I’m going to put extra effort in being more present during the holidays and finding some new and different ways to find my Christmas spirit.