Christmas Tag

Kirstin over at 909 Cherry blogged this Christmas Tag and I couldn't resist doing it myself. I'm a sucker for these kinds of things and I'm also killing some time since my mom decided 8am was a suitable time to wake me up to tell me that she had a dream about Amy and I opening a bakery. Anyway, here you go!

1. What's your favorite holiday movie?

It's so hard for me to pick! I love all of the classic claymation movies, especially Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Of course I can't forget about the "classic" from my childhood, The Santa Claus.

2. What's your favorite Christmas color?

I'm a big fan of the standard red and green. In fact, I just painted my nails red and green yesterday to be festive! Metallic and glittery colors are also my go to colors this time of year.

3. Do you like to stay in your PJs or dress up for Christmas?

Both! For present opening with my mom I always wear my "cutesy" pi's. I skip out on my usual sweat pants and t-shirt and put on actual pajamas. Lately I've been a fan of the footie pajamas my mom got for me a couple of years ago. I also always have a Christmas dress of some sorts. I'm still a 5 year old at heart and believe I should have special attire for my family gatherings.

4. If you could only buy one person a present, who would it be?

My mom or my grandparents (even though they're technically two people). They all do so much for me and I'd love to get them the perfect gift to show my appreciation.

5. Do you open your presents on Christmas eve or Christmas morning?

Both. For the last 13 years we've opened gifts with my mom on Christmas Eve and would open gifts with my dad on Christmas day. This year we're doing things differently so it's still up in the air if we'll open presents with my mom on the 24th or 25th. But, we always open gifts at my grandparents on Christmas Eve. My brothers, cousins, and I are spoiled.

6. Have you ever built a gingerbread house?

Yes, but not in ages! When I was little I went to my godparents house every year to help my godmother make holiday treats for everyone and we would always make a big gingerbread house for me to take home. I've been tempted this year to make one, but haven't yet.

7. What do you like to do on Christmas break?

I love reading for pleasure! I spend so much time during school reading what's assigned that I rarely have time to sit and read a book that I actually want to read. I also like spending time with my friends and family. One of my favorite things that I get to do during break is spend a lot of quality time with my grandma, she's awesome.

8. Any Christmas wishes?

Just for a stress free holiday and to have a good time being surrounded by everyone that I love!

9. Favorite Christmas smell?

I love the smell of pine, but I'm actually really allergic to real Christmas trees so I don't get to smell that smell too often. The smell of fresh baked goods is something I always associate with this time of year too. Of course that is definitely one of my favorite smells. I also really love the smell of peppermint.

10. Favorite Christmas meal or treat?

I love the food we have at my grandparents on Christmas eve. It's nothing fancy and my grandma only cooks a few things and has the rest "catered", but for some reason we all look forward to it. There's Pizza Hut wings, meatballs, mini sandwiches on buns, plus my grandma's snack mix and famous deviled eggs then some random snacks things. Oh, and Cookie Cottage cookies. Those are the best! I also really like a good buckeye. 

11. What are you doing for the holidays this year?

This is my and Joseph's first time doing all of our family together so it's going to be a little busier for me than normal. Friday night we're doing our little Christmas exchange. He's making me dinner and we'll exchange gifts and hopefully watch a Christmas movie! Christmas Eve my family will go to my grandparent's in the afternoon for food and gifts then Joe and I will go to his aunt and uncle's in the evening for their big get together. Christmas day I'll open presents with my mom and brother's (if we don't on Christmas Eve morning) and my mom always makes a big breakfast while we watch movies and listen to music. That afternoon I'll go to Joe's mom's house for her get together and hang out for the afternoon. Then next week my dad and his girlfriend and her kids are coming in to town and getting a hotel room for a day or two and we're going to go up to Pokagon State Park to go tobogganing. 

12. What's your favorite holiday drink?

Can I go ahead and admit that I HATE egg nog? Because I do. I love hot chocolate and I also enjoy anything with a peppermint flavor to it.

13. Candy cane or gingerbread men?

Candy cane all the way.

14. What's your favorite Christmas song?

This is embarrassing, but I've always been a fan of "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey. When I was little that was my mom's favorite song to blast through the house and in the car during the holidays, and who am I kidding, she still does. We would dance around sing it at the top of our lungs. Now when I hear it I just get really excited about Christmas! I also love "Carol of the Bells". When I was in choir in high school it was my absolute favorite song to sing for our holiday program. When you get the right mix of voices and balance it sounds so beautiful and powerful!

15. What's the weirdest gift you've ever received?

The first year Joe and I were dating I went to his family Christmas when his grandparents from Cincinnati were in town. It was the first real family thing I ever went to with him. Everyone else got their gifts and obviously I wasn't expecting anything but his aunt said she got a little something for me. When I opened it there was a bear holding a "2008" banner (it was 2009 when I got it!) and some broken candy canes and a coffee mug with 2008 also printed on it. It was sweet of her to try and throw something together for me and I laughed about it but no one has ever really let her live it down.

16. Have you ever made a snowman?

I live in the midwest! Of course I have!

17. What's your winter fragrance?

I don't really have a winter fragrance. Should I?

18. What is at the top of your Christmas list?

I've really been looking for a pair of black riding boots. I don't ride horses or anything, but I love how sleek and effortlessly cool they look. I also asked for a stand mixer and food processor. Obviously those can get really expensive so I'm not expecting them, but I would be really excited to get one of them! But, in all honesty, I get really excited about getting funky tights and socks and I always put them on my Christmas list.

19. What is most important to you about the holidays?

Spending time with friends and family. I love being home and getting to spend real quality time with everyone. I don't feel rushed because I'm home from school for 3 weeks rather than 2 or 3 days. I just love spending time with the people I love and even though sometimes it's a little sad in a way that it takes a holiday to bring people together all at once, I absolutely look forward to it.

On Holiday Anxiety

I love Christmas time. I love the music, the weather, the cheer in the air, how people are a little more friendly, the lights and colors, the treats, and so on. It's probably my favorite time of year. However, with every Christmas season comes Christmas anxiety for me no matter how in the spirit I am feeling. Being a child of divorce I've spent years worrying about holidays and how time is split between both parents, with Christmas being the hardest for me to cope with. Even though my parents have been divorced since I was 8 and I am now 22 I still grapple with the stress of making sure all of my love is spread and no one is alone or left out or feeling bad. Add to the fact that my dad now lives two hours away and Joseph and I go to both of our families festivities and you have a hot mess of Christmas anxiety right here.

Luckily this year my dad has his girlfriend and her family to spend Christmas with so I don't worry about him being alone, but I still wish my brothers and I could be there. Even though we'll celebrate a couple of days later I can't help but feel my usual anxiety rise. Only during the holidays does the little 8 year old girl in me come back wishing her parents were back together so Christmas was easier. When I was younger I always felt so bad on Christmas. Either my mom was crying because we were leaving to go to my dad's, or my dad was upset that we weren't spending the day with him. I could never win, even though it really wasn't my fault, and it's been something that's followed me throughout life.

It probably sounds petty being in my 20's and still juggling a sense of sadness and frustration about my Christmas family predicaments. I'm trying my best to not let it ruin my cheer. This year is going to be one of the best and most friend and family Christmas' I've had in awhile. It will be the first Christmas Joseph and I will spend 100% together (our first Christmas we had only been dating over a month so we didn't do all of the family stuff and last year I was in Florida until Christmas day). It is also the first Christmas since I stopped working that I've been able to afford to get people good gifts (I REALLY saved a lot and went without a lot of groceries ha!). Gift giving is one of my favorite parts of the season, mostly because I love picking out wrapping paper and giving to other people. This year I have gotten something for everyone in my family, plus Joseph, plus everyone in Joseph's family, plus my closest friends. It's a wonderful feeling! Not to mention I've gotten in so much holiday music and Christmas light looking already!

I'm learning more and more how to shake it off and am hoping that someday I'll no longer even have Christmas anxiety at all! Just like everything else, it's a process and you have to focus on the positive!

Let the Christmas Shopping Begin

This Christmas season I'm on a roll. If you recall from my previous post, one of the 12 things I want to do before 2012 is accomplish all (or at least the majority) of my Christmas shopping without a trip to the mall. So far I am doing really good and have accomplished getting the majority of people I've shopped for thus far a wonderful gift without dealing with traffic and tons of people. It's been great, and an eye opener! But, this is for another blog post.

Right now I want to talk about one of the gifts I'm the most proud about so far and wanted to share.  Joseph's brother Paul is hard to buy for. He's into music, comic books, movies, toys, etc... which should be easy but he's one of those crazy picky people that I constantly worry about getting the wrong thing. So, when I was thinking about looking for him one of the first places I checked out was Society 6.  Society 6 is an online gallery of sorts where artists can submit their artwork and have it turned into gallery quality prints, iPhone cases, t-shirts, and much more. It's really cool and I have browsed and bought from it before. While I was looking I came across a slew of Bill Murray prints. Paul loves Bill Murray and when I found a print titled "Murrays" that featured a mini Bill Murray outfitted in some of his most famous film attire I knew I had found just the thing for him.

I would highly suggest checking out Society 6 if you're shopping for an art/culture/fun lover. They have so many awesome artists contributing and a lot of the things are reasonably priced. I'm pretty excited about this find though!