Gifts
- I truly enjoy giving Christmas gifts ten times more than receiving them. It's fulfilling to me to be able to make someone smile with a thoughtful gift that I know (or hope) they will love.
- Sometimes my love for gift-giving gets me in trouble in the financial realm. If I've already bought one person a certain number of gifts (or reached a certain budget), but I see something that is just SO perfect for him or her, I have a really hard time not buying it!
- My immediate family decided to draw names for gift-giving this year rather than everyone getting everyone gifts, and I had to fight a LOT of urges to buy gifts for the people whose names I didn't draw.
- I volunteered to help stuff the stockings for my family this year so I could kinda "cheat" on the whole name-drawing thing and still give a few small gifts to each person. (Are you sensing the seriousness behind #1 and #2 here?)
- I haven't had a real tree for Christmas since I was a kid, because my dad gets really sneezy from the pine needles. I don't miss it at all! And if I ever want to smell pine trees, I'll just buy a candle from Bath & Body Works. :-P
- Joe and I don't really do much in the way of decorations for Christmas since we spend the holidays out of town and our place is already pretty crowded without adding a tree and tinsel and such. I'm okay with it for now, but once we get a bigger house -- even if we still spend Christmas elsewhere -- I am going ALL OUT with the decorations.
- My little brother had a collection of reindeer toys/stuffed animals that started with one from my grandmother, and I was always a little bit jealous of him for it. I think I may end up giving my future house a LOT of reindeer-themed decor.
- I would listen to Christmas music all year if it didn't drive the people around me crazy.
- Someday I really want to sing O Holy Night at a Christmas service or event.
- Joe absolutely abhors Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmas Time" and Elton John's "Step Into Christmas"...and while they're not my favorites either, I still can't help dancing a little and singing along to them when they come on the radio.
- In my college women's choir, we performed Vivaldi's Gloria -- the full choral version. Which meant some of us had to sing BASS. Granted, we kicked it up a few steps, but it was still extremely challenging and awkward. Still, that's one of my favorite memories from college.
- Growing up, my dad always read the Christmas story in Luke, and it remains one of my fondest childhood memories.
- One of my favorite traditions with Joe's family is driving around their neighborhood to see the wonderful lights...but I kinda wish we could stop and walk around to see some of them more closely (and for some great family photo ops!).
- This year I'm trying out a new tradition with my family which I'm really hoping will be a success. I can't wait to share it with them! And, if it's a keeper, I may try it out on Joe's family, too.
I still haven't finished writing our Christmas poem! Better get on that.