So, I've had this written for a while, and after last night's Chrissy party, I figured it was about time I posted it. Its in first person, Julie's point of view. Read and review,

Love Rhyleigh xoxox

Rachel and I were talking, and she wanted to know what my favourite things about Christmas were. Since our family always gets into the festive spirit, I thought I'd use the classic 'Twelve Days of Christmas'. So, I give you 'Twelve Christmassy Things About Julie Rafter'.

1. Since I became a mother, the past twenty six years, I have written my children a letter, tying it up in a red ribbon and placing it on the tree. I've got all the letters saved up in my drawer and it rests on the very top of the decoration box. When I'm gone, Rachel, Ben, Nathan and Ruby can read it and know how much I love and care about them. Writing a letter was a habit I picked up off my mother- when she died, Dad gave me all the letters she saved up. I cried for hours.

2. When I was a kid, Christmas was so much fun. I always peeked- one year, my mother caught me. I was in so much trouble. She unwrapped all the presents and put them in the back of the car, in a sack. I was upset. I think it ruined Christmas for me- and Mum.

3. Because I was a peeker as a child, I was determined to outwit Rachel, Ben and Nathan. I never wrote names on their present, or colour coordinate their presents, like other people did. I wrote a string of numbers on the tag, just a string of random numbers. For Rachel's presents, I would always make the first number one. For Ben, the second number would be two, and for Nathan, the third number would be a three. The amount of hours the kids spent adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing the numbers were highly entertaining. I outwitted my children and am proud of it. To this day, they don't know the significance of those numbers.

4. I collected candles for twenty years.

5. I love wrapping presents, but I always procrastinate and leave it to the last minute. It's a habit that Dave hates.

6. Christmas is my all time favourite holiday. I love the shopping, I love surprising my family with gifts, I love cooking the traditional lunch, and I love just being with my family.

7. I don't like giving gift cards or money as presents. As the kids got older, that's all they wanted, but I always make sure I wrap something up for them, because I'd feel bad if they didn't have anything to unwrap.

8. We always had a real tree when I was growing up. Up until I was twelve. That was when Dad switched jobs, and we gave back the company car. Dad used to say, "Just chuck it in the back of the car". Then we just had our car and Dad said, "We're getting a fake tree this year". Dave said the same. We had the one car at the time, and a baby. There was no way we were having a real tree.

9. Every year, after I unwrapped my presents, we'd go straight to my grandparents, to have lunch with my grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins. I loved seeing my family, but I hated leaving behind my presents. When Dave and I started a family, we stayed at home, to let the kids play with their new toys, and invited my parents over for lunch.

10. When the kids were little, Dave and I would only put one present each under the tree. On Christmas Eve, after the kids went to bed, we'd put the other presents under the tree, so the kids would believe in Santa. It worked until Rachel was six. She was thirsty and walked straight into the room, where Dave and I were wrapping presents. She cried. I loved seeing their faces when they walked into the room. It was priceless.

11. When I was growing up, my parents wouldn't let me get out of bed until it was daylight. The anticipation almost killed me- but they kept it up, year after year. I didn't want to do that to the kids, but it was Dave's decision. We might as well have been awake, opening presents- we could hear their screams of excitement long before daylight.

12. I think having Ruby this late in my life is giving me a chance to relive the memories of Rachel, Ben and Nathan's childhood. I'll get to relive their memories, through her excitement. Santa will be back around, and she'll know it's true. I've been there, done that... and now I'll get to do it all over again.