When I was younger, I used to count how many Christmas presents I got each year. Christmas was all about the excitement of what I was getting. I loved my family, we were sweet to each other and were brought together in a humble way, however in addition to that, I appreciated and loved everything I got so much! I didn’t always expect too much, and mostly I just wanted to stress the fact that I was so so so grateful for everything that they did: Spending money on presents, letting Santa set up a big display when I was in to Bratz dolls with the big baby doll with our stockings full and set up next, spending time or thought on what we could even like, or even just getting us anything no matter how stressful or careless the thought was. I’m so grateful! And as the years go on, I get more and more and MORE excited about giving gifts, rather than receiving–Actually, that’s not quite true. I love receiving gifts because it just touches my heart so sweetly knowing someone thought of me even for a second when they saw something or they remembered something I briefly told them or if it’s just something that THEY wanted me to have, it’s all so fun to me. So yes I like to receive because I’m so thankful for all the thought put into things. Even if a gift I got wasn’t really my thing, if someone picked it out thinking maaaybe I might like it based off of what they know of me, then that alone is an incredibly sweet gesture. So, all that being said, this is my 19th Christmas, and I put so so much thought into the gifts I was giving. Usually a Christmas post would be me talking mostly about the gifts I got, which were thoughtful and adorable small but practical things (and not cheap things either, good quality things that will last me ages and that I adore) but that’s the least important part of this post. I want to tell you guys all about my experiences buying gifts for my family and Danon and whoever else I could, telling you the excitement of how I had things planned and sorted through ideas until I finally picked out specific things for everyone that I thought they would love. Not only that, but I tried to throw a little Abby-twist in there, because it’s cool to recieve gifts that you love that you normally wouldn’t even know to pick out, but I swear my mom is SOO excited about her gift and she wouldn’t ever have known to buy it for herself! I did some little things, I did some thoughtful things, and I want to get better at gift giving because it seriously is so fun to me…I think I’m like, already old enough to handle Christmas as a giver rather than playing the role as the main reciever, so maybe one day soon that’ll be up to me, in one way or another. 🙂 So now as I age, I feel more free, more real, and I’m gaining so much strength. So thank god for the power you gave me, and thank god for a White Christmas.

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