Because Christmas Is....

... The celebration of the birth of Jesus
... Family and friends gathering
... Reading the Christmas story in Luke
... "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens
... The Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center in New York City
... Gingerbread houses
... A table full of colored papers and ribbons for wrapping
... The aroma of roasting chestnuts being sold by street vendors, as snowflakes gently fall
... Stacks of Christmas magazines ~ some old, some new
... Christmas Eve candlelight service at church 
... Baking sheets full of Christmas cookies right from the oven
... Sitting in a dark room late in the evening, drinking hot cocoa and enjoying the lights of the tree
... Salvation Army bell ringers and having extra money to drop in their kettles