We took a poll of our team and asked everyone to share what they were looking forward to most at Christmas. Dani loves seeing her loved ones open the gifts she has carefully selected — gifts not on their lists but things she knows they will love. Angela loves sledding, kids with twinkling eyes on Christmas morning, and holiday cookies (no sugar-free ones, please). Wyatt can’t wait to host Christmas at home for the first time and build new traditions. Josh is looking forward to the White Elephant game, because he has the perfect gag gift (spoiler: it’s a snuggie with monkeys on it). Brandon admits he just wants days off to sleep. (Don’t we all?) Katie loves her boyfriend’s family tradition of putting a plastic Grinch in one of the wrapped presents. If you get it, you get to put it in someone else’s gift next year. All of us mentioned the food, and some of us mentioned the music. More than one person mentioned a few holiday drinks, too. But we think Thao summed it best when she captured it in one word: family. That’s what truly makes this the most wonderful time of the year.

This year, instead of spending the holidays at home, we are going on a big trip with the extended family to a warm weather destination. We are lucky that our family can do this, of course, lucky that we can get several generations together, lucky that we are all healthy enough to travel and enjoy each other’s company while exploring a new place together. Yes, it’s a wonderful gift to have the time with the ones you love, which is what the holidays are all about, right? So why do I have this small, nagging, lump of sadness deep inside?

There will be no Christmas tree this year. No tree. This will be a first for me, and I’m not really sure how it is going to affect my holiday spirits. Since I’m from a northern state, I can’t imagine Christmas without snow on the ground and a brightly lit tree as a focal point in my house. Hard to believe a simple tradition holds so much importance for me but the fact is, it does. I will miss the excitement of dragging it into the house, decorating it together as a family and having it brighten my spirits all month long. But I will give this holiday vacation a try and see how it goes. Who knows? Maybe I won’t miss the tree at all once I’m there. Maybe I will find a different tradition, one that’s just as meaningful. Stay tuned. I’ll let you know when I get back.

In our house, when the Christmas tree goes up, it has a magic effect on our family. Everything slows down. We sit. We stare at the tree. We talk. It draws us in and keeps us together.

When the kids were little, they slept under it. They hid things in it. They ate their after-school snacks next to it. They touched every ornament and picked their favorites. We swept up the shards and learned to hang the precious ones higher.

Amazingly, now that they are teenagers, the effect is no less hypnotic. They do their homework in the living room instead of holed up in their bedrooms. We light candles and build a fire in the fireplace, even on school nights. Hot chocolate, cider and eggnog flow freely, and without parental reproof. For one month of the year there is something in our house that is a bigger draw than the television or Facebook. What a joy! If only it lasted forever.