By Anthony Welch

As an adult, the holidays and Christmas time means stress for me. I dread the arrival of holidays each year.

However, being the parent of a 7-year-old helps me to find things to enjoy during the holidays. Simply watching him enjoy Christmas makes me happy. My son Jaxson loves singing Christmas tunes (in fact, he started singing “Jingle Bells” back in July). He’s all about the decorations, the tree, the lights, the treats, the movies, you name it.

I’ve also discovered a new calmness during the holidays in the form of watching Hallmark movies with my mother-in-law. This strange, newfound pastime has me a little perplexed. But those darn movies are just so uplifting and positive … even though they tend to follow the same story line: big city girl returns home to the small town she grew up in and falls for a guy who owns a Christmas tree farm or something and then realizes the guy she’s engaged to is a jerk.

Something that does cheer me up during the holidays, is remembering how it was when I was a kid. The oldest of four siblings, I did my best to keep the Christmas spirit alive in my two younger brothers Gabriel and Dominic and younger sister Lacey. I made sure they all pitched in to make or buy our parents gifts. I even made sure our pets had some sort of presents at Christmas.

We usually all slept in my room Christmas even night and, of course, struggled to fall asleep. We usually joked around, one year had a Styrofoam fight in the dark, or just talked about what we had hoped to find under the tree, which for me was “Star Wars” toys galore.

Dominic usually was the first to awaken Christmas morning … way too early every year around 5 a.m. Wanting to let my parents get some sleep, I always set a rule that we wouldn’t come out of the bedroom until after 6. Some years, we were awake before 5. We’d pass the time reading pro wrestling magazines I had in my room or just chatting.

As I got older, I still made sure that my siblings put out cookies and milk for Santa. I’d tell my siblings that I was sure I heard footsteps on the roof or jingle bells ringing in the middle of the night (one time I swore I did hear jingle bells). I enjoyed presents like any other kid, but seeing them enjoy the holiday was what made it great to me.

I hope all our readers enjoy a great Christmas with their families.