The First Days of Christmas

My maternal grandmother, Helene, set the tradition long ago that all of the Christmas boxes were brought out from storage at the beginning of December. My mother tells of how she would come home from school with anticipation to see how her mother had unfolded the season a bit more, having unpacked one Christmas box every day, using its contents to decorate their home. My mother was born and raised in Hamburg, Germany, and has as a very rich Christmas tradition with which she has raised her family as well. And so...one box at a time, our home will begin "to look a lot like Christmas" daily until Emilie comes home next week from BYU-I: the crowning of our holiday season, and "all that I want for Christmas"!