Monday, December 14, 2009

My Holiday Favorites


I'm a HUGE Christmas fanatic. I love this holiday more than any other, and (often to the chagrin of my kids) tend to go a little...um, shall we say "overboard?"...this time of year. My Christmas shopping is already done (except for a gift card or two), and I've already started wrapping and plan to have all of the wrapping done by this Friday. I hope that actually happens, because usually, I'm up to the early, early hours on Christmas Eve getting everything wrapped. And I SO don't want to do that this year.

I'm not sure if it's the lights, the food (yum), the music, or the all-around holiday cheer that makes me so happy, but I am completely in my element during the month of December. Actually, it's probably a combination of all of these elements, plus the fun I have shopping for others. Regardless, soon after Thanksgiving, I start listening to Christmas music, watching Christmas movies, and reading Christmas books.

In fact, over at my personal blog, I've been sharing some of my favorites.

Last week, I shared that Love Actually is my favorite romantic comedy holiday movie, along with my other favorites in this genre. I also talked about my favorite classic Christmas movies, with A Christmas Carol (1938) being top on my list. And on Friday, I shared my favorite online Christmas shopping destinations this year.

This week, I'll be giving my list of family and kid favorite Christmas shows/movies, and next week, I'm going to post a couple of my Christmas cookie recipes, and maybe a few other holiday recipes.

Between now and Christmas, my family will take one evening to check out some of the area neighborhood lights (we have a few that go all out), we'll take in a movie (probably Disney's A Christmas Carol, but not sure yet), we'll have one full day devoted to Christmas crafts (my kids love painting Christmas ornaments every year, and then the next year, they go on the tree), and a couple days of baking (probably next Monday and Tuesday!). Whew, I'm tired just thinking about it.

So yes, I love this season. This year, I'm hosting Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. This is a first for me, as usually we do the big dinner thing on Christmas Day, but for once, I'd like to have a calm Christmas where I might just stay in my pjs for the entire day. Or not. We'll see!

What about you? Do you like the holidays as much as I do? And if so, what are some of your favorite aspects?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh I love every part of Christmas.

Maureen Lipinski said...

You're done shopping? I'm so jealous.

Tracy Madison said...

I'm right there with you, Jess!

Tracy Madison said...

LOL, Maureen! I have four kids. If I don't start early, it turns into a crazy week of shopping the week OF Christmas. It just so happened that this year, I found everything I wanted pretty much right away.

Jillian Cantor said...

I LOVE Love Actually. It's one of those movies I can watch over and over again!

Lesley Livingston said...

For some reason, I'm picturing you in a little pointy hat and shoes with bells on them right now. :-D