**A Christmas Tale**

I’ve always loved Christmas! I love everything about it – the lights, the sweets, the magic. And when I was a child I desperately longed for it every year! Not because I wanted presents – even though it played a big part – but because I wanted to see my loved ones.

Every year me and my older sister went to Germany to spent Christmas with my parents. They had sent us both to Portugal because they planned to come back one day. And since they feared we wouldn’t want to come with them, they sent us when we were still little. My dad was always waiting for us at the airport and when I saw him I would give a whoop of delight and run towards him. I almost flew to his arms and hugged him like there was no tomorrow. I would only set him free when he turned blue and was gasping for air. My mom usually waited at home with food prepared and we talked and ate non stop – well I didn’t do much of the talking. The following days we would take a walk and look at the view. Snow was everywhere! I remember thinking everything seemed perfect when it was covered by snow.

One day, we went Christmas shopping and on our way to the shop a big snowball hit my sister’s back. Full of anger she screamed at the top of her lungs, “Who was it?! Show yourself!”. We heard  laughter coming from behind a tree and once we found out who it was, my sister began to run after my dad, the snowball sniper. But my dad ran faster than her and she couldn’t catch him up. So she started to throw snowballs at him. However she didn’t knew how to make snowballs and he was safed from their little war.

At home we usually decorated and ate sweets only found at Christmas. Sometimes we visited family friends and even though I wanted to play with the other children I always stayed by my mom’s side, because I knew that holidays were almost over and I was coming back to Portugal, far away from them.

That’s why I love Christmas. To me its true meaning involves my family, its warmth and love. I wouldn’t change it for anything!