The 12 Days to Christmas: Merry, Merry!

The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I come bearing good tidings of great joy which shall be for all the people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ The Lord.”

Merry Christmas!

The 12 Days of Christmas: last-minute running around

Somehow, no matter how well you plan everything out, there are last-minute errands to run, stocking stuffers to pick up, and grocery shopping to do for the upcoming festivities. Here’s what our day looked like:

Technically, I got my nails and toes done last night, but it’s all good. My Christmas bonus treat for myself– putting the rest to pay off my credit card!

And because the world didn’t end and the zombie apocalypse didn’t begin yesterday like the Mayans never said but everyone else interpreted, we’re going to a party to watch zombie movies. I made a veggie tray to fit the theme:

Off to watch “Shaun of the Dead” and “Zombieland!”

The 12 Days to Christmas: Movie time!

I love Christmas movies and the debates that come with them. Which one is the best? How many times can you watch it before it gets to be too much? Which ones just drive you bananas? Are the ones you loved as a kid the same ones you love an adult?

So many questions to consider.

Favorites

I’ll get right down to it: my favorite Christmas move is “The Muppet Christmas Carol.” Sadly, I have not been able to watch it this year because our faithful VCR finally sold the farm gave up the crapped out. That’s right– until last year, I watched Muppet Christmas Carol on VHS. I had to rescue it from the yard sale pile when my parents sold their house! Totally averted a major disaster.

My second-favorite is “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” because it’s a classic and infinitely quotable. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said “I’m cuuuuuuuute!” or smacked my lips and said “Nuthin’” or “Eat, Papa! Eat!” or making references to the Island of Misfit Toys. There’s just something comforting about watching a movie your parents watched growing up.

As far as the new movies are concerned, my guilty pleasure is “Bad Santa” with Billy Bob Thornton. It’s one of the most vulgar films about Christmas out there (IMDb says the unrated version sets the record with no fewer than 170 instances of the f-bomb), but it cracks me up every time. We’ll watch it during the summer sometime just for giggles.

Confessions

I hadn’t seen “Miracle on 34th Street” until last year, I still haven’t seen “It’s a Wonderful Life” even though it’s Mum’s favorite, it took 3 or 4 tries for me to like “Elf” but I love Will Ferrell, and I can only watch 15 minutes of “A Christmas Story” before getting sick of it.

The Great Debate

Every year, Dan and I get into a big debate about one particular Christmas move franchise: Home Alone. Any kid from the early ’90s knows the only ones worth watching are with Macaulay Culkin (I mean, can you really forget/lose your kid more than twice and not be thrown in jail?) so the debate falls to which one is better: “Home Alone” or “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.” Dan stands by the first being the better of the two, whereas I’m a fan of the second. It’s probably because we had a copy of the second movie and not the first, so I learned all those lines (correctly or otherwise… I thought the line in the movie-within-a-movie went “I could smell you getting off the elephant,” which is a constant source of teasing) and knew the pace of the movie so much better than the first. I think Dan had the first, so there’s that.

What do you think? Is the first Home Alone or the second one better? What’s your favorite Christmas movie of all?

I’ll leave you with a few parting words of wisdom: “She’s a beaut, Clark.” from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and “I’ll give you to the count of three to get your lousy, lyin’, low-down, four-flushin’ carcass out my door!” Actually, I’ll give you til the count of three to leave a comment and let me know what you think!

The 12 Days to Christmas: Sing a little song

A little later in the day today, but better late than never, right? I’m taking a little mental break from end-of-the-year craziness at work before I start packing up my office for our upcoming refurbishing. Moving right along…

I’ll start with a question: What’s your favorite Christmas song?

If you’ve been fortunate enough to work in retail or the food & beverage industries near the holidays, you’ve probably hit the point of Christmas song saturation before. I’ve worked both, so for a while, I hit saturation years in a row. The good news is that I know a LOT of Christmas song lyrics.

I’ll tell you what is NOT my favorite Christmas song… “Dominick the Donkey.” And “Christmas Shoes.” And the millionth time I’ve heard “All I Want for Christmas Is You. ” Am I right?

Somehow, I never get sick of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” or the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s “Christmas Eve in Sarajevo.”

My favorite favorites, though, are the ones we get to sing in church, especially on Christmas Eve.

• “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”
• “”O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
• “Silent Night” (probably my favorite of all)
• “O, Little Town of Bethlehem”
• “Angels We Have Heard on High”
• “O Come, All Ye Faithful”
• “Joy to the World”

There are a whole lot of songs starting with “O…” huh? I know I’m looking forward to the choir concert and “midnight” Mass (it starts at 10pm, but the concert is at 9:30 and ensures we get good seats for Mass) to sing my little heart out.

And just in case you missed me asking the first time, I’ll go ahead and ask again: what’s your favorite Christmas song? Do you have trouble picking just one?

The 12 Days to Christmas: Bah Humbug

Of course, the lead-in to the holidays isn’t always gingerbread and snowflakes. A lot of people struggle this time of year, whether it’s because they’re lonely, depressed, stressed, or anything else.

The past few years, I’ve found myself struggling to hold it together during the holidays. I’ve mentioned it before, but with both our sets of parents split up, we wind up trying to figure out how to see everyone on Christmas without disappointing anyone and still have time for just the two of us to celebrate. Financially, Christmastime has been scary– we’re very fortunate this year to feel a bit more comfortable, but there have been years when I’ve been stressed that I couldn’t fully show my family how much I loved them with meaningful gifts. I always came down to the wire finding and buying all of those presents and it still never seemed like enough. I’d bake, decorate, send cards, and drive myself half insane trying to present my own perfect version of Christmas.

This year, I decided enough was enough. I resolved not to cry. I put an app on my phone that helped me track gift ideas and set a strict budget for every person on our list. I started seeking out those gifts in September. I delegated some. I set them all aside in the office, out of the way, and checked the person off my list. Because I started early, I was able to think of gifts I think people will really enjoy, not just some random junk because it’s that time of year to buy, buy, buy without much thought. In a way, that feels a lot better and I’m happier about it.

We started decorating early, setting aside a couple of days to put the storm windows on, the wreaths, the fans, the tree, the garland… all of it. We turn the lights on the tree and in the windows every night, and we’ve really been able to enjoy all the decorations a bit more.

We thought about last year’s Christmas rotation, considered who we saw when for Thanksgiving and Easter, and came up with our visiting game plan for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. There may have been a Venn diagram involved. By some miracle, all of our parents seem to be happy with our plans: seeing Dad for dinner Christmas Eve, Mum first thing Christmas morning, Dan’s mom right after that, then his dad, then heading over to see my extended family. It’ll be a busy day, but we’ll manage. And we’ll do our best to have some time for just the two of us– mainly Mass on Christmas Eve and super early on Christmas Day.

Through it all, I’ve been careful to reflect on how fortunate we are, and that’s helped stave off my formerly-inevitable sobbing breakdown. We have each other. We have a beautiful home where we’re blessed to live in for free. We have all of our parents and siblings with us in a 10-mile radius. We have money to spend on gifts and still be able to pay our bills. There are so many people on this Earth that are happier with less… who are we to complain? I’m not saying I’m above it all– far from it, I’ve had a few angry outbursts in the last few months– but when I take a step back and really reflect, I’m amazed at how happy I am.

Merry Christmas.

The 12 Days of Christmas: Christmas Cards

Thankfully, we got married in the digital age and have our address list still saved from sending invitations. In the last couple of years, we decided to send out Christmas cards to family and friends with photos from our travels over the year.

We started displaying our cards from friends and family clothespinned to a short-ish piece of garland. Right now, it’s tied to the curtain rod with the gold ribbon in the middle. Every day, we add more and more cards to the display, and it makes me smile every time I walk by. We’ve saved all the Christmas cards we’ve ever received, and thumbing through them each year is a touching review of our friends’ and families’ memories over the years.

I’ll update here with this year’s card from us once everyone’s had a chance to get it in the mail– if you want one, leave your address in the comments or send me a direct message on Twitter (@missleah26)!

The 12 Days to Christmas: Stockings Hung (Somewhere) With Care

What do you do if you have no chimney? Where does Santa come down to delivery presents? Well, you get crafty. Mum made a fireplace out of cardboard and construction paper in the wall under our stairs in the living room in our first house so my brother and I were able to hang our stockings by the chimney. Then, she explained that Santa could come in our front door since we didn’t have a real chimney and fireplace. Once we moved to our second house, we got the fireplace, but I’ll always remember the cutout version.

My Dad’s mom, Grandma Barbara, made my stocking just after I was born. It’s satin and lace and ribbon and buttons and rickrack and eyelet cotton… all the girliest, prettiest materials all rolled into one. She passed away when I was in kindergarten, so I love that I still have my stocking to remember her by.

Dan’s Dad’s mom, Mimi, made his stocking, too. She’s a blue-ribbon cross-stitcher, and she covered his stocking in all sorts of Christmas themes– a nutcracker, reindeer, Santa, holly, and more. She’s moved to Washington state now, so we love having a little piece of her in our place.

We both have our stockings from growing up, and I can’t wait to show our kids what their great-grandmothers made with their own hands. We use the stocking hangers I had growing up, and for the time being they’re in front of our TV on the console.

Where did you get your stocking? Do you have it at your place?

The 12 Days of Christmas: Nativity

Growing up Catholic, an integral part of the Christmas season was setting up our Nativity scene. Like a lot of other people I know, we set up 99% of the scene on the first Sunday of Advent, then waited until Christmas morning to set the baby Jesus piece in with the rest of the scene. Our set growing up was delicate, done all in pastels. My favorite figurine alternated between the angel and Mary. Funny… years later, I got a tattoo of the word “Grace” on the inside of my left ankle, primarily inspired by the Hail Mary.

When we moved in together, we found ourselves down a Nativity scene. It just didn’t feel right not to have one, so when I found a beautiful hand-painted glass ornament at Pier 1, I snagged it. We got an ornament display hanger for it and called it a day.

That same Christmas (2008), Mum started the short-lived tradition of gifting us pieces of our Willow Tree Nativity. We started with the Holy Family, then added on with the Wise Men, Shepherd & flock, then finally the Creche. At first, I wasn’t a fan of the fact that Mary’s holding baby Jesus, but I love it now– He might not go out on Christmas Eve, but He’s there every day leading up to Christmas Day.

Every year, I smile as we set up the whole scene, reflecting on my spiritual Reason for the Season. In the hustle and bustle as I go through my morning routine and come home from work, I love seeing the serenity of the scene in soothing neutrals colors.

The 12 Days to Christmas: Deck the Halls

Growing up, we always had a monster wreath on the side of our house lit with a spotlight. It was as tall as I was, and seeing it stored in the attic gave me the biggest thrill throughout the year. We also had swag underneath each window with a pretty bow in the middle and lit our front door with a spotlight. My favorite, though, was the candle in each window. Not only did it look beautiful from the outside, I loved having my bedroom softly lit by the big bulb.

We built two of my childhood homes, and my dad added a few special features that made the process of hanging the swag at the beginning of the season and turning on the candles each night super easy. There were eye hooks on each window at just the right spot for the swag– since we used faux greens, they were hung in the same spot each year. In each bedroom, there was an outlet under each window and a special switch just for that outlet. All we had to do was flip the switch, not dig around for the switch or pulling the plug.

Nowadays, we’re working with what we’ve got and making do with our rented living space. We’re trying to be creative and make it feel homey while at the same time realizing we won’t be in the space forever.

In our apartment, we didn’t really get to decorate outside much at all, save for a wreath on our door. We used battery-operated candles in the windows. Don’t use battery-operated candles in the windows– the lighting mechanism is so touchy we wound up running down the batteries since they weren’t 100% off.

In Our Old House, we really embraced decorating the outside. My grandparents had an arrangement of apples and pineapples over the front door, and I knew I wanted to do that at our house. As it turns out, that style of decorating is commonly associated with Colonial Williamsburg, so we knew we were in good shape. After a little Googling, I found a basic description of how to make over-the-door fans and the rest is history. This past November, I presented my method to a garden club– it’s almost like they thought I knew what I was doing!

This was essentially the extent of our 2011 decorations– imagine this times two. We had the fans over the doors plus some swag and some garland. We got a lot of compliments on it, so we knew we’d be sticking with it for this year and adding on.

And this is where we’re at this year– same as 2011 but updated with faux fruit and greens for the fans (stupid squirrels!), plus wreaths with bows and candles in all the windows. The effect is really pretty at night with the candles and lights along the paths to the front doors.

What are your favorite outdoor decorations? I’m a sucker for icicle lights even though I’ve never had them. I don’t do flashing lights, and you know my stance on colored lights… Icicle lights are fanciful enough without being too in-your-face. Definitely rocking those when we buy a house!

The 12 Days to Christmas: Trimming the Tree

So I told you about picking out our tree over the years… Now it’s time to tell you what’s on it.

Growing up, we always had an angel and white lights on our tree. Still do! I’m a white light snob, I’ll fully admit it. I like the soft lights playing off the colorful ornaments, and I think the colored lights get in the way of that.

And no, we don’t have a theme for our tree every year. We mix and match our ornaments from childhood with ones we’ve picked out together and we both love it.

The angel on top

Back to the angel: Mum gave us ours the first Christmas we lived together, 2008. You may recall that as an election year, one with a certain mavericky female candidate for Vice President. Well, our beautiful nature-inspired angel is called the Sarah Palin angel because we both immediately thought she (the angel) looked like she was from Alaska. What do you think?

Edit: Dan thought I should mention I’m really, really, really not a fan of Sarah Palin, which you may have not picked up based on the fact that we named our angel for her. Truth be told, she terrifies me and I think we’re so much better off without her anywhere near the White House. ::steps off soapbox::

The ornaments

Rather than t-shirts or magnets or shot glasses (though we have all 3) as souvenirs of vacations, Dan and I pick out an ornament to commemorate the trip. When we decorate the tree every year, it’s fun to recall the memories of where we’ve been together and how much fun we’ve had. Here’s a glimpse at a few:

Jackpot! This one has both our medals from the Marine Corps Marathon and MCM 10K this year, Whidbey Island (from our Washington state trip), Steamboat gondola from 2009, and the Enchantment of the Seas from our 2011 honeymoonaversary cruise.

The Mount Washington Hotel from our 2010 mini-moon after our wedding.

The Breakers mansion from our 2007 Newport, RI trip.

From early 2007′s trip to Lake Placid.

Another good batch! 2009′s family reunion in Waterville Valley, NH; early 2012′s ski weekend in Breckenridge, CO; and our first trip to DC in 2009 for our 5th anniversary dating.

From the hotel we’ll stay at someday, the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, CO. No date on this one (it was our most expensive ornament!) but I think it was from our 2008 trip. We try to make it to Colorado every other winter.

Don’t tell anyone I told you where the pickle was hidden!

What’s on YOUR tree?