Happy New Year's Eve to all my amazing readers! I have one last Christmas themed piece of the year to share with all of you before we get back into the puppy writing groove. This piece is going to be a little bit different from what I have currently written. While Luna will be mentioned often, this blog is not 100% all about Luna. I wanted to share how I was able to create some Christmas magic for Luna and Jose, even with everything that has happened this year. This time of the year is one of my favorites, and I wanted to share with everyone how I am able to get into that holiday festive joy!

The Christmas season happens to be my favorite time of the year. There is so much joy, laughter, cheer, and magic. Growing up, my Mom always made the holiday extra magical, which probably plays into a huge factor in why it is my favorite holiday. Every inch and every corner would be decorated in the house. Twinkle lights were hung in every room. Christmas trees of all shapes and sizes would be filtered around the house. The smells of holiday sweets and candles always filled the air. You would take one step inside the house and instantly felt like you were walking into a winter holiday wonderland. Friends of mine would always try and make plans to come over during this special season, stating that they loved how cozy and whimsical it felt. 

(These are two pictures of my family's home during the Christmas season!)

Now that I no longer live at home, I want to create this magic for my future family. While I live in an apartment, for the time being, that doesn't mean I cannot try to replicate this incredible feeling for my fiancé and my little Luna. I know what you may be thinking. Creating all that for just a dog might sound a little crazy, but hey, with everything that happened this year, I think we could all use a little crazy in our lives. This year I vowed to myself that I would make Christmas magic for Jose and Luna, especially since it would be the first Christmas that I was spending away from my parents and brother. I knew it had to be perfect! This year had to be the year that I paid special attention to all the details.

The first step to making a cozy holiday wonderland was to decorate the apartment! The tradition we have started the last couple of years was to put all the decorations up the night of/the day after Thanksgiving. However, with how 2020 was going this year, everyone in the apartment agreed that putting up the Christmas decorations early was necessary for all of our own sanities. I do not have quite the collection my Mom and Grandma have for Christmas. However, I try to have as many cozy accessories as possible. White lightened garland is hung around the doorframe that enters into our apartment entryway. Christmas blankets and pillows are thrown and tucked in nicely onto the couch and chairs. Another strand of garland rests on the tops of our kitchen cabinets, giving off a light whimsical glow in the evening hours. In our bedroom, I throw on the Christmas linens to make the room feel extra cozy. Luna absolutely loves our Christmas throw. It is a red and black buffalo plaid with white Sherpa lining on the inside. Her favorite place to curl up and take a nap is always on the bed during the Winter season. I also have white lightened garland draped across the bedframe backboard and a medium-size Christmas tree placed in the corner of the room. This Christmas tree is decorated with white lights, wooded snowflakes, and buffalo plaid bulbs to give off a country Christmas cabin feel to the room. During this time of the year, it isn't hard for any of us to doze off into a deep sleep in there. 

The next step is always to have the place smell like the Christmas season. As fall comes to an end, I always make sure that I have plenty of candles of my favorite scents, which remind me of past Christmas's. An absolute go-to scent is always pine. Not only is it one of my favorite holiday smells, but due to our living situation in an apartment, we do not put up a live Christmas tree, as my family does. I miss the smells of the fresh tree, so pine candles allow me to pretend that my fake tree is indeed real. Another way to get your home smelling like the holidays is cooking and baking your family's traditional meals and sweets. This year I had my family cookie recipes and holiday meals passed down to me. I had helped in the past with baking the cookies and preparing the meals, but I had never made any of them on my own. It was a scary thought taking on these old family traditions. The last thing I wanted to do was to miss any of them up. Luckily for me, I managed to get the recipes just right! Luna loved all the smells that were coming from the kitchen this year. She was glued to my leg the whole time. I believed she thought she might be lucky enough to snatch up any items I may drop on the floor. 

The finishing touch in creating a magic Christmas home is to find a station or two that plays your holiday music tunes. I found a few this year that really made me and those around me get into the holiday spirit. In the mornings and early afternoons, I would play a station on Spotify called Cozy Christmas Jazz. Anyone who knows me well knows that I love listening to jazz. It tends to calm me and puts me in a creative mood. When I found this station that was jazz and jazz that included all my favorite Christmas songs, well, it became my go-to playlist to listen to this year. Luna loved the moment I would put it on. She would instantly curl up in her bed by the tree and fall into a deep sleep. The second station that we would play would be Christmas Hits on Spotify. This included all your favorite traditional music while throwing in some current Christmas bops as well. Whenever we wanted to have a fun evening, we would throw this on. 

Cozy Christmas décor, candles, smells of holiday cooking and baking, and music is what allowed Jose, Luna, and I to get into the Christmas spirit this year. While it might not have been the Christmas we were hoping for this year, the fact that we were all together is what made it so incredibly important and special. We missed our loved ones dearly, but with my Mother and Grandmother passing on their family holiday traditions down to me this year, it almost felt as though they were here, celebrating Christmas with us in spirit. I know I personally have a long way to go in order to replicate the Christmas magic my Mom made for my brother and I, however, I know that I am heading in the right direction. I truly hope that this post could let you have one last sense of the Christmas spirit and buzz until next year. May the new year bring much joy and happiness to you all!