Beautifully said wstaple! The best part of Christmas, to me, is the spirit of peace and joy we give to each other. I fully immerse myself in just about every aspect and tradition associated with Christmas. I love decorating, baking, wrapping gifts, hanging lights, hosting a big Christmas Eve buffet (the tradition Italian seafood buffet), listening to Christmas music, watching all those great holiday movies, exchanging cards (I'm making mine right now), shopping for just the right gifts, and so on.

I love collecting my Madame Alexander doll ornaments every year for the past 19 years! Ornaments are my thing (hence the name ornamentmaven) I have 3 trees - one big, one medium and one small. The main tree in the living room is overloaded with ornaments of every kind - no special theme- just years of memories. Ornaments belonging to our parents from the 1950's, ornaments collected from childhood and from 35 years of marriage, as well as ornaments given to our children. My medium tree is white with a pastel/purple theme. The ornaments on this tree are from Hallmark's three different Madame Alexander doll series. My small tree is also white and decorated with "Rudolph" ornaments and small stuffed toys.

I make about 8 to 10 different types of cookies each year, plus my traditional fruitcake. I have cookies that I bake each year - like my pignoli cookies, but also like to try new things!

I always decorate outside and always send Christmas cards, even though many people have stopped the card tradition.

I own about 30 Christmas movies on DVD. I just started watching those and will watch some 3 or 4 times between now and New Years

There is nothing better than autumn and the run up to Christmas!