Category: HOLIDAYS

This is one of my favorite fun categories! Hubby and I do stockings for each other full of things we each like and are always looking for new ways to surprise each other.  I’m always on the look out for special little items that I tuck away all year long waiting for just this day.  Since the kids are grown hubby gets my FULL attention and he hates it (sort of) because he says he isn’t as good at reciprocating the stocking process.  But, he tries hard and is getting better at it every year.  EVERY year though he complains about having to actually make things ‘fit’ into something stocking shaped. We usually find a way to sneak in a handful of lottery scratchers.

Bailey, our NISSE is watching over the stocking to keep hubby from peeking. 😀 but, here’s a sneak peek of hubby’s stocking for this year. It will have some of his favorite jerky, a few fun bottles of his favorite spirits, some “coal” whiskey stones, a pickle fork, new military themes “masks” as well as a FUN BAH HUMBURG mask for the holiday, various candies, some camo coasters for his drinks…

We also both have “wish” lists, but they are really small as we really don’t need anything so once again we are always looking for the special item that will surprise the other. 😀 My list for this year hasn’t changed much since this last year has been so full of pandemic drama and unanswered questions.

Christmas Past is a COMPLETELY subjective category. LOL 😀 I keep seeing the ghost of Christmas Past from A Christmas Carol roaming through my head.

The older I get, the more I realize that it’s the traditions and the memories that weave our holidays together. It’s little things like the who puts the lights on the tree or the angel on top of it. It’s the favorite recipes that you only make at Christmas time. It’s the laughter of the munchkins each morning as they discover what mischief the Elf has gotten into. It’s a baking day with the munchkins making your favorite traditional recipes to share on Giving plates to the neighbors…

3 years ago was a VERY unusual Christmas for us with my surgery and it’s life altering outcome, but we did follow many of our normal traditions like putting up the tree, Christmas Eve service with our neighbor who attended the same church and Christmas Eve dinner at a friends (even if I couldn’t eat anything 😀 ). Two years was a little more “normal”, whatever that is. And last year I felt like I was getting my “normal” back and looked forward to the traditions and even the stresses of the holiday.  Then there is this year during the pandemic that is changing EVERYTHING! It is also making the PAST seem like a cake walk.

This category for me is also subjective based on where we are living at the time. We are in the cold of the Pacific Northwest, but it’s kinda dry this year.  A couple of my favorite Christmases were when we were in Upper Peninsula, Michigan.  Maybe it was the trees, the water and the snow, but for me it was also the old churches.  There is so much history there. 

These are 2 of my favorite country churches from Michigan.  I took these pictures in 2011 at Christmas time ON THE SAME DAY, just minutes apart. That’s how fast weather changes with lake effect snow!

I JUST LOVE OLD CHURCHES! The bottom 3 pictures are from a REALLY neat old stone church in the middle of town.
But, my favorite country church is from a teeny tiny little town called Mansfield. It was once a growing little town until there was a mine disaster.  Now all that exists is the monument to the disaster, the church and a few random homes.

Before I start this post, let me just say THESE TREES ARE JUST WRONG!! I saw these several years ago at a store I liked and I just couldn’t get over how ugly they were, at least to me. 😀

I love how a neighboring town always does their tree right in the middle of main street. I haven’t gotten over there yet this year so here’s a picture from a few years back. Carlie and Cady thought it was pretty neat.

How we decorate each year changes based on moods, weather, where we are living, pandemics etc… so it will never be the same twice! So far this year we still haven’t caught the motivation to do anything. We PREFER real trees, but back in 2017 we decided with the remodel and my surgery that we would break down and buy an artificial tree.  SHHH don’t tell hubby, but I really love this tree. We’ve alternated between the artificial and real trees since then. We’ve reached a compromise for future years – an artificial tree with real wreaths and garlands. This is a favorite tree from several years ago.

Usually the holiday season is an endless list of tasks and errands. BIG or quiet usually depends on where family members are at the time. The last several years though the holiday season has been fairly quiet, many times too quiet.  This year for obvious reasons it will be even quieter. I would PREFER a large, loud family filled Christmas with lots of goodies and partying though.

When do you decorate for Christmas?  Do you go BIG or keep it simple?  What we’ve done in years past and what we will do this year are entirely different.  I honestly just haven’t “felt” the motivation yet this year! COVID has changed so many things in our lives and I hate to admit it has changed this for me too, but it has. There will be no munchkin baking day or munchkins for Christmas dinner… so until I “feel” it, let me describe Christmas past.

I LOVED our tree last year.  We bought all new LED lights so I worried a lot less about the lights getting too hot and it was full of all our favorite ornaments.  I found a great antique tree topper that I really like. 😀

In reality how I decorate each year changes based on my mood, weather, where we are living, etc… so it will never be the same twice! But, it will at least be the same components.

This is my Snowman Family arranged from 2 different years. They were so muh fun to make out of second hand store finds.  The were also a lot of work.  I only made two families, shipping one to a friend who lives in Florida and never sees snow 😀
We made candle yule logs for Advent craft night at church one year and they were a HUGE success and soooooooo easy to do.  The decorations below are a few of my all time favorites, several of which I’ve made over the years.
The ornaments below are some of our homemade bulbs.  Several years ago I made quite a few and then did them with my girl scout troop also.  Hubby liked them so well that we have now donated all our store bought bulbs and made enough of these for the entire tree.

My cousin that passed away in 2014 made the ornament below for me.  It will always be hung by my shooting stars in her honor even though I’m still mad at her for leaving the mess called A HOUSE FROM HELL for me to deal with.
And our handmade ornament by Design Chick Creations.

I try to make my own Christmas cards every year, and I PLANNED to do homemade again this year, but years like this last year full of COVID and the years before full of health issues, surgeries and issues from the HOUSE FROM HELL sometimes finds me sending out box cards. They are pretty cute and I’m glad to be using them up!  I WILL do homemade again next year 😀 I did try an annual letter a few times, but ended up in just doing a few paragraphs eventually hitting the highlights from throughout the year since. I do still send Christmas cards out, but I fear they are becoming a thing of the past unfortunately as I get fewer and fewer each year it seems.

Today’s category is an easy one for me. It’s also one that really doesn’t change much from year to year.  I start taping Christmas movies on Lifetime, Hallmark and INSP as soon as they air so I can watch them ALL year long. I’m a sucker for a happy ending and let’s face it, Christmas movies have happy endings.

So this list could be reallllllllllly long, but I will just keep it to the top 5 MUST watch each and every year movies.

Now Home Alone is just silly, as is Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase but, they never fail to make me laugh! A new favorite is the Christmas Chronicles with Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn.

What are your favorite Christmas songs? Do you have a regular playlist?

I’m all over the place with Christmas music – it really depends on the day, the occasion, my mood, what food we’re eating – there are just sooooooooo many factors! BUT, I do like to wait until at least the day after Thanksgiving!

I love so many of the old standards, but I also love country Christmas and Mannheim Steamroller. I love Christmas carolers, not that you see many these days. I was even part of the hand bell choir at church for Christmas programs many years ago.

As for some of MY favorite songs I have a few that top the list:

• Silent Night
• White Christmas
• Jingle Bell Rock
• Winter Wonderland
• Frosty the Snowman
• Little Drummer Boy
• The twelve days of Christmas
• Deck the Halls
• Come All Ye Faithful
• It Came upon a Midnight Clear
• We three Kings of Orient
• Joy to the World
• Rudolph the Reindeer
• Do You Hear What I Hear
• The Most Wonderful Time of Year
• It’s Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas
• Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer