Kick-starting Christmas

(Don Dale 2010 photo)

I started to really get the Christmas spirit Friday night.

I've already done most of the necessary shopping, and the plans for Christmas and New Year's Eve are in place. But I hadn't started to feel the memories of Christmases past that usually kick-start my enjoyment of the holidays.

My nephew and I had planned to grab dinner Friday night. He called me to tell me that he'd be a little late. He'd just learned that his 3-year-old granddaughter's -- my great-great-niece's -- pre-school holiday program was being streamed live on the Internet at 7 p.m. Rowan and her family live in Northern Virginia. The Internet video feed was originating in Arlington.

A few minutes later, I called my nephew back and asked him to send me the Internet address so that I could watch too.

At 7 p.m., I settled in to see the first children's holiday presentation I've seen in ... oh, maybe, 50 years.

The picture was a little fuzzy, and the sound was hit and miss, but "adorable" is the best word to summon up the performance. Watching Rowan and her friends caught up in the excitement that only children can really feel at Christmas started to put me in the holiday mood.

This morning, I woke up to snow falling and a light dusting already on the ground. The snow really cinched the deal. By 10 o'clock, it had stopped. It was just the kind of snow I like -- not enough to disrupt life much but enough to suggest a winter wonderland.

Christmas madrigals are playing on the radio now, and I picked up a quart of eggnog on the way home from fitness class. Tonight I'll probably drag out the DVD of "Christmas in Connecticut," which is one of my favorite holiday movies. Maybe I'll even wrap a few Christmas presents.

Sometimes the Christmas feeling hits me early, and at other times I don't really get in touch with the holidays until Christmas Day itself. This year, it came early.

Kids and snow. It's an unbeatable combination for ramping up the Christmas spirit.