I'll be home for (every) Christmas.

I love Thanksgiving. Really, I do. Thanksgiving in our family means catching up with all 150 of our relatives in Rayne, Louisiana* while stuffing our faces with the most delicious Cajun food. It's always a delightful (and somewhat crazy) day. But what I really look forward to are the days after Thanksgiving.

Christmastime is here and everyone can feel it. Suddenly, all of the houses in my neighborhood are sparkling with Christmas lights of red and green, the songs on the radio fill my mind with images of snow and mistletoe, and the air smells of winter frost and cinnamon spice.

To celebrate the beginning of the season, I snuggled up on the couch with a warm blanket and leftover Thanksgiving cookies and proceeded to watch The Family Stone, one of the most heartwarming (and hilarious) Christmas movies of all time. It made me imagine growing older, starting a family of my own, and reuniting with my parents and brothers every Christmas. I can just see us, ten years from now, still as fun and dysfunctional as ever, but with new additions. Oh, I get so excited just thinking about what the future holds! Who knows where we'll be in 2019? But I do know that my wonderful family will mean just as much to me as they do now, perhaps even more.

*I was born in Louisiana but my family moved to Texas when I was almost three. We always go back during the holidays to see our relatives.

Photo from The Family Stone by 20th Century Studios.