As most of the world can relate, the holidays are often so jam-packed with goings on and things to do that one usually feels more harried than happy, more manic than merry. And while I had my moments of madness, mostly I was surrounded by incredible friends and family, busy making gifts and memories and basking in the events of the season.
I was able to travel home for just over a week for Christmas itself and spent time cuddling the nephews, soaking up the wisdom of my grandparents, enjoying the snow and the company of great friends, getting visits from Santa and eating my weight in delicious food.
making treats
playing in the snow and the mountains
Santa loves me!
one of many delicious meals
more treats
one of many fabulous light displays
more lights
Man I've missed you! My life has been in an emotional upheaval lately which you'll hear about soon enough but I needed to make some belated updates on the holidays and steal some ideas from some friends' blogs to get myself feeling caught up and ready to tackle life and regular postings again. So, pretend this really was posted a week and a half ago and many apologies for the tardiness of it all.
November photo-a-day challenge #17
Something funny
November photo-a-day challenge #18
Favorite food
I have a friend who has introduced me to the wonders of Pie Day. In lieu of gorging yourself beyond all hope on Thanksgiving and then not having enough room to enjoy dessert, her family has claimed the Sunday prior to Thanksgiving as Pie Day, a day dedicated to the dessert and all its glory. She is out of the country this year so I took it upon myself to steal her tradition. I spent all day Saturday baking, decorated with quotes and images of pie, and invited a ton of people to share their own pies and the day. It was a success! We had over 15 different flavors and mmmm, were they delicious!!
Today marks the beginning of the 12 Days of Christmas. Okay, so historically the 12 Days of Christmas begins the day after Christmas and ends with Epiphany or 3 Kings Day on the 6th of January but as we like to do in our modern world we've twisted tradition to fit our needs and wants. We've kind of morphed it into a pre-Christmas celebration by doing sub for Santas and anonymous gift giving and such in the days leading up to Christmas, and depending on who you ask the 12th day could be Christmas itself or the day before, so it's really sort of a fuzzy logic. But since I didn't post this yesterday I'm declaring that it starts today and ends on the 25th, and if you don't like that, well, I have a couple of names for you...do you prefer Scrooge? Or Grinch? I'll let you pick. :)
Now that that's over with let's celebrate with a little Christmas cheer, shall we?
I’m one of those people who starts listening to Christmas music on November 1st. I don’t put up the decorations until after Thanksgiving, but if I wait that long to start in on the music I find I don’t have time to get it all in and I’m left with a deeper feeling of post-holiday let down when it comes time to put it all away, which for me is just after my birthday on January 2nd.
There are a host of songs I feel embody the season of Christmas, many of them I only need to hear once to have had my fill (as much as I hate Feliz Navidad and Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer, it just isn’t Christmas without them…once, and only once!) while there are others I need to hear a dozen or more times to truly reach my limits, if even then.
So, here, in no particular order are a few of my favorite songs (specific versions of course, for not all renditions are created equal) narrowed down to 12 in keeping with the spirit of things and making it a bit more manageable because I could go on for days, making up my ultimate Christmas playlist...so far.
Hmm, 12 songs just isn't enough. That is in no way a proper sampling and it's much more heavy in the secular music than I would have thought. I really do love the religious songs as well, I promise! I also obviously tend to stick more toward the traditional sounds as my absolute favorites. But here are a few recent discoveries that are quickly finding their way on to this list!
I'd also kill for a great version of Gesu Bambino or Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella...I find most of them are instrumental and I've yet to run across a vocal version I'm in love with enough to pay the 99 cents for on iTunes! Any suggestions?
What are your favorite holiday tunes? Bonus points to anyone who actually responds in the comments! (That means Santa will be watching and you're guaranteed to get everything on your list this year...yes, I have that kind of power.)
*Also, if favorites are going to be mentioned I suppose I should give a tiny shout out to the song I love to hate. It's found its way onto nearly every holiday album ever and is one of the most cringe-inducing songs I know. I just can't stand it! (Though some versions do rater higher on the hate scale than others.) Let's give a nice round of applause for The Little Drummer Boy...
Clap louder! I can still hear those blasted 'pa rumpa pum pums'!
Okay, fresh is sort of a strong term. But anything that has once semi-recently been alive and has nothing to do with plastic or PVC, aluminum or animal bristles counts as basically fresh in my book.
My roommate and I ventured out Saturday morning where we found a formerly fresh spruce just a little taller than myself, bound and gagged with a few of its closest friends in the parking lot of our local Home Depot. The friendly sales people Saran wrapped it to the roof of our car and we proceeded to drive oh-so-hesitantly back home where we liberated it and gave it a much needed drink before bedecking it with various lights and baubles and freeing it of about half of its needles.
I wish I could take a picture of the smell, because frankly, that makes me happier than anything else. Nothing says Christmas like the scent of 'fresh' pine, though the sight of a brightly lighted tree (fake or fresh) is pretty stiff competition.
Look for more posts about holiday traditions and faves in the weeks to come. And I'd love to hear some of your favorite holiday doings. What does Christmas mean to you? When does the holiday season truly start? Are there things you look forward to each year? Things you dread? I'm challenging anyone who actually reads this to post something, anything in the comments. I'd love to hear from you!
