Thursday, December 1, 2011

Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Or so the song says. It is DECEMBER.
Wasn't it just January?
As another song says
What a long strange trip its been.
I always find it interesting now that I am a mature adult that when I look back on the year I see how far I have come and how life has moved on and changed.
Never noticed that much when I was a youthful and more immature soul.
Actually, I am still young and youthful but I now have a  bit of wisdom.
That is a good thing that comes with maturity.

*****
So here's a list I found on Balzer Design blog: http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/2011/11/25-days-until-christmas.html
She says she got this list in 2007 over at Two Peas. I love most of  this list, so let me post it and give you my answers. I love how there are 25 things (for the 25 days until Christmas) and since this is the first of December, and we have 25 days to go...
1. Colored lights or white lights on your house or not at all? No lights outside, but colored lights (and the big lights) on my tree
2. Hot chocolate or Egg Nog?  I love them both but it depends on the time of day-coco at night after dinner while you watch tv in your pjs or when you first wake up...eggnog is great but more of a non-alcoholic drink when you might take an alcoholic drink like late afternoon with some friends or when you're decorating your tree
3. What's your favorite holiday dish? An oldie that I don't get often, but my mom use to make this fruity eggnog pie (kind of like ambrosia in a crust) and spritz cookies.. and yeast raised waffles for breakfast...
 4. Does Santa wrap the presents or just sit them under the tree?wrapped, always
 5. Do you hang mistletoe? no
6. When do you put up your decorations? early...often Thanksgiving weekend or right after
7. What's your favorite holiday tradition? Well, I hang beady man on my tree-beady man is an ornament I made in nursery school or kindergarten when I was 5 years old. And Dave always says this is the last year we will put the tree in the place it is now...(since we have an addition going onto our house for the last 11 years which we'll never move into as it will never finish up) and we have a day at home in our pjs opening gifts and eating lots of food and watching dvd's and playing games and now we are into using British crackers...putting out gifts after Katie goes to bed like when she was little...I like to read a Christmas story like A Christmas Carol...and I like to watch some OLD Christmas movies like from the 1940's and 50's and I always give Katie a Snoopy as she loves Snoopy...
 8. What's on the top of your tree? an angel
9. Do you have a nativity displayed through the holidays? no
 10. Candy Canes, traditional or flavored? Or Chocolate Covered Cherries? I don't really like any of them but candy cames should plain traditional red and white ones. Now give me some Trader Joe;s British style toffee
 11. What's your favorite holiday goodie to make and share? lets see...gingersnaps...German stollen bread...occasionally fudge...sugar cookies...spritz...a fancy dessert I might try for Christmas dinner
12. What's your favorite Christmas song? Hmm...I am a fan of Christmas songs. I love oldies from when I was a kid and new ones... I like TransSiberian Orchestra- Carol of the Bells, White Christmas...I can keep naming them.
13.When did you learn the truth about the "magic" of Christmas? I think I was in the 4th or 5th grade. I remember I asked my mom how she could afford all the presents and she said we saved our pennies.
14. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Nope
 15. Is there a special ornament or Christmas decoration that you wouldn't feel like Christmas without? Beady man that I made when I was 4 or 5 years old...and I cherish some old angels that were my Grandmothers and Dave and Katie gave me a bunch of Santa's for a while and I have a pretty big collection
 16.Do you take neighbor gifts/treats to anyone, everyone, a select few? Nope, I live n the woods
 17. Is your big meal on Christmas Eve, Christmas morning or Christmas afternoon? Family big meal the day before Christmas (though not in the evening), big Christmas breakfast at home and nice dinner at home...not necessarily big though
18. How do you decorate your tree? Colored big lights, old fashion glass ornaments (the balls that came off my mother or grandmother's or mother-in-laws trees), memory ornaments you pick up on trips or some other event and lots of homemade items-even Katie's creations when she was 4 years old
19. Snow? Love it? Dread it? Tolerate it?  Love it for Christmas but after January 31 it can go AWAY!
20. Do you remember a favorite gift? When I was a kid I got a Barbie case with 2 Barbie's in it and it was full of clothes my Nana made for me, and I got this cool super cool 60's modern doll house and although not a favorite, one year my hubby thought he was being clever and stuffing my stocking cheap and he stuff it with 6 auto sponges...which has now become a tradition...who gets the auto sponge...and one year my mom got me a pogo stick and forgot to give it to me...and I got engaged at Christmas...my ring was hanging on a chain on a teddy bear
21.Do you have a family get-together during the holidays with extended family? Yes, both sides.
 22.What's the most important thing that you must do each Christmas season? I don't know... I have so many things I want to do every holiday season...I love do every Christmas like put up the tree and cut our own tree and put out my Santa collection ...I am a very predictable traditionalist
 23. Do you bake Christmas cookies? Try to get around to it, and if I have lots of time I do the roll of sugar cookies
24. Do you leave cookies and milk for Santa?  always
25.What's your favorite Christmas memory?got too many to list as this post is getting a bit long...maybe I should shar a bunch of memories with you as we go through month...
*****

So here is another card that I made from deconstructing an older card. I used these for Christmas 2 years ago and didn't want to send out the extras, just in case someone noticed...so I used an inchie punch to punch out these squares. Stamps on the squares are Oxford Impressions-Winter Snow set and a Christmas 12x12 set of clear stamps from Fancy Pants. I pulled the joy image off of a card too-it is also from Oxford Impressions, but stamped on acetate. Anyhow, I glued all this down on a piece of polka dot paper which I then attached to this interesting colored cardstock-pinky/plummy/red...Good thing I don't name colors for Crayola...and then outlined the paper with a silver pen. Then I put down some white Stickles and brushed them over the surface with a paintbrush. Let dry...finally I placed some cocoa colored pearls on the corners, but somehow I lost 1 see on the bottom right...wouldn't do that in this case as it adds nothing missing the pearl.
Anyhow...tis the season...for JOY.
Word of the day
JOY.
I pick that word since yesterday everyone seemed to be happy at work. Must have been the warm and sunny weather that made it feel like spring. And today I am going to a conference in Manchester with my co-worker and friend  Dee-it is a technology conference that I haven't been to for 2 years but it is always a good one...I learn a lot since I don't know a lot about new technology. Always an eye opener. Plus I don't have to fly out of the house at 6:25 ish in the morning since we aren't meeting until 8:30.
Boy that seems so late...but sleeping in brings me great JOY.
And yesterday I actually got caught up on my grading...at least until tomorrow. But right now, that brings me JOY too.
So today, spread JOY.


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