My favorite Christmas memories are when I was little, around four or five years old. We would spend the holidays stringing popcorn into a garland to put around the tree (which would then be put out for the birds after Christmas), and we'd fill up the house with all of my mother's music boxes. One after the other, mommy would wind them up for me and I'd twirl and run around in circles while the music played. Then my parents divorced and the music boxes stopped coming out.

The only thing that has stayed constant is The Nutcracker. I had the VHS as a kid and watched it all the time, and NOW because my cousins' ballet school puts on a Nutcracker production every year, I get to go see it on stage. It's the number one thing I look forward to every holiday season. :)