It should go without saying how important family is, especially during Christmastime, but it might bear repeating why the family is so important both during the holidays and throughout the year. Many times we forget how important family is to our lives and take for granted all the wonderful things that having a family can bring to our lives. During the hustle and bustle of the holiday season with gift buying, decorating, cooking, and all the activities that are involved in celebrating the Christmas holidays, it is easy to forget why we do it all to begin with. Of course, Christmas is meant to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but it is also meant to celebrate the love we have for the people in our lives and to share some special holiday moments with those that we love. So, you might want to keep the following things in mind when you're standing in that long line at the department store waiting to buy those last minute gifts this Christmas Eve.

For better or for worst, families are linked together forever. No matter how far away we move from each other or how often we see each other throughout the year, our family ties are ones that bind us together into one complete unit. While some families are certainly closer and more united than others, our family connections are ones that will last a lifetime. Whether you get together with your family once a month, once a week, or once a decade, when you do get together you should try to focus on the importance of being together and appreciate the things that make your family so unique. While there may be bickering or disagreements or misunderstandings while you?re together, in the end you have to remember that you will not always have the chance to be together and should try to appreciate the times you do have and make them as special and memorable as possible. One thing you might want to try the next time you are together with your family is to take a moment to honor your family ties. You can do this by giving each member a special Christmas ornament that marks the holiday and will give everyone warm memories of the time you spent together every time they look at it.

The thing that makes families special and unique is the history that you all share. It is important to remember that you are who you are based on the influence and connections you have with your own family members. This unique history which goes back thousands of years and connects you all together through blood, marriage, or love is special and unique to your family alone. Without your mother, your father, your grandparents, and their grandparents before them, you would cease to exist. It is the kind of thing that can really boggle the mind when you think about the specific series of events that had to occur to get to the point for you to be born in the first place. Remembering this and honoring the history all the members of your family share is a wonderful way to understand the importance of family during Christmas and throughout the year. You are all in it together and appreciating that is what bonds families together. You can honor your familys history this Christmas by creating a family tradition that can be carried down from this generation to the next. You can do this by starting a holiday collection of figurines, nutcrackers, or Christmas ornaments that can be displayed each Christmas season and then handed down to your children who will hand them down to theirs. Each Christmas you can add to this family holiday collection and before you know it you will be carrying on the family tradition as if it had been around for generations.

Of course, the most important thing about family during Christmas is the love you share for each other throughout the year. The whole meaning of Christmas is to share and express your love for each other and say the things you do not get around to saying the rest of the year. Oftentimes, we take for granted the fact that our loved ones know how important they are to us and how much they mean to our lives. We may forget to say these things verbally and many times the things we want to tell our family members and friends never get said or come too late. Visiting family, having holiday parties, and exchanging gifts at Christmas is how many of us express our love for one another without actually saying it. Giving each other a peck on the cheek while standing under the mistletoe, exchanging gifts we bought especially for them, or sharing a plate of homemade Christmas cookies at the dinner table are all ways in which we tell each other we love them. So, even if you can only give your loved ones a special Christmas ornament or can only take a few minutes to make a quick phone call home to say "Merry Christmas," remember to take the time to express your love for your family members in some small way this holiday season. While these acts may seem insignificant at the time, they are the things we will hold dear to our hearts for a lifetime.