Merry Christmas

But the angel said to them,"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You wil find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in the manger" Luke 2:10-12. Merry Christmas! I hope everyone has a great day. I know I will.

Holiday Tradition Q&A

 I found this over at Kelley's blog Brixton Makes Three. I love the holidays so any excuse to share them them is exciting!

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate, hands down. I think I am the only person in my family who doesn't like egg nog.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?  Wrapped. Half the fun is the surprise.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?  For me, colored lights on the house and tree. But I love all Christmas lights.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope. But maybe I should...

5. When do you put your decorations up? I don't really have a set time. Right now the outside has been decorated for about a week, but the inside is not.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? I don't really have a favorite. 

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Every year my sisters and I would wake each other up and gather in one of the bedrooms, watching the clock until it was 8 am. That's what time we were allowed to wake our parents. 

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't really remember. I have always been a reader, so I feel like I might have read it in a book.Being the oldest, I just pretended like I didn't know. But we still get gifts from Santa under the tree.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Well kind of. We play a game on Christmas eve- we call it the present game. But that is a post for another day. :)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? With lights and ornaments... is there another way?

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Love, love, love. And we have hardly had any this year. It is so sad. :(

12. Can you ice skate? That is a loaded question. Yes, I can ice skate, but I am not sure if I can this year because of my knee injury. I am not sure if I'm healed enough yet.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? My most recent favorite was my nook that I got last year. It was such a surprise.

14.  What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? I love everything about the holidays. The lights, decorations, Christmas music, but especially spending time with my family. And I love buying gifts and seeing people excited when they open what I got them.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Cookies. Especially peanut butter blossoms (the ones with the Hershey Kisses). 

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I have a couple. One is the present game that we play on Christmas Eve. I also love making Christmas cookies, a different kind with each Grandma. With my Grammy (my mom's mom) we make cut outs and then frost and decorate them. We just did those today. And my Grandma on my dad's side always makes Cuccidatti's (Italian Fig Cookies). That is a tradition going back to my great grandparents, maybe farther. We helped out with those on Thursday night.

17. What tops your tree? We have three different tree toppers; a star that lights up, a snowman, and an angel. Which one we use changes each year.

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? I love giving gifts. It takes me forever to shop because I put a lot of thought in to what I get someone. But I won't lie, I like getting gifts too. Who doesn't?

19. Candy canes: yuck or yum? Yum! I like the regular ones, but there are chocolate mint ones my mom gets sometimes (I think they might be Hershey's) that are great too. I am not huge on the fruity ones though, they have to be minty.

20. Favorite Christmas show? I like all the classics- Rudolph, Frosty, the Grinch, It's a Wonderful Life. Every Thanksgiving we watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation- usually on Christmas too. It is so funny. Mikey hates it. But I do not like A Christmas Story.

21. Saddest Christmas song? Blue Christmas by Elvis

22. What is your favorite Christmas song? I have asked that question so many times in the past week or so. Julie and I are making CD's for everyone at daycare with everyone's favorite Christmas songs on it. I chose Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Cannon Rock for mine. But that is only one of my favorites.

23. Do you peek at your gifts? No, never! That's no fun, I love surprises.

Some of the best gifts...

...don't come wrapped.

This Tuesday was my birthday, and as birthdays go, it was pretty low key. But I don't mind it. I spent Saturday night with my family. My parents made birthday dinner (steak and baked potatoes) and my mom baked a cookie cake. I got some awesome gifts- very cozy sweat pants, some books, tickets to a concert, and the script from the taping we saw when we were in California- to name a few. But what was even more awesome was the time spent chatting, and my awesome spit take while watching something funny on TV (don't drink things while watching comedy- it doesn't end well).

On my actual birthday I worked. My morning didn't start well, but I don't even remember why because the rest of my day was awesome. My mom brought me to Manhattan Bagel, and we bought bagels for the whole staff (and I got a special one). We had my birthday lunch- I chose sandwiches and chips- and my mom made another cookie cake. I went back to the preschool room for the afternoon, and then I got two of the best gifts. One of my preschoolers woke up from her nap, and the first words out of her mouth were, "Happy birthday, Jenny!" And she ran across the room to give me a hug. I almost cried. I don't even know how she remembered. Later, another one of the preschoolers gave me his (half eaten) cookie that he was saving for his snack. Kids really know how to make you feel special sometimes.

I got out of work early to go to Kissmas Bash, which is a concert put on by our local Kiss (Top 40) radio station. My sister, Julie, got me tickets for my birthday.We had a great time together. We got to see Demi Lovato in concert for a second time, and I found a new band to love- We the Kings. I got a new Santa hat- it is blue with blinking snowflakes, and some tinsel in my hair. It is so sparkly and festive, and I may be getting more.

The only thing I didn't get for my birthday is snow. But it is coming. Soon. I hope.

P.S. No pictures today, but I may be doing a Christmas picture scavenger hunt. Keep a look out for it!