My Favorite Things

I think I've said it once or twice before, but I love the season of Christmas. I got an e-mail from my cousin, George, the other day. It was the type that you are suppose to answer the questions and send it back to the person and, of course, on to 10 of your closest friends!! Well, being the dutiful person I am, I gladly replied, but it made me think of all the traditions of Christmas that just seem to happen that we don't intend on becoming "Tradition". Like the first question, Artificial or Real Tree? For me, its pretty much always been artificial. We had a live tree a couple of houses ago and I just never enjoyed the sticky, watery mess, but I did enjoy the smell. Now we have an artificial tree (pre-lit, of course) and I spray a Christmas smell throughout the house. Works for me!!

Anyway, I really stopped to think about these questions and it made me think about my answers, as well as why I do the things I do around Christmas. I owe every little thing that I do to my mom. She is a big kid at heart!! When I was growing up she would always let me open one present a night leading up to Christmas. I loved that. Last night we were at her house and she let Jake open one of his presents. (Anna was at a friend's house) He could not have been more excited! She enjoys watching others open presents more than she enjoys opening her own presents. She cooks for DAYS and loves EVERY minute of it! She loves that my kids love to cook with her and how they love to run out our back door and into hers as they smell wonderful food...made especially for them. Christmas is warm and fuzzy here and I love warm and fuzzy!!
But, back to my favorites....my favorite Christmas song is Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song) by Amy Grant. I love the words to this song. To me it exemplifies the true meaning of Christmas. My favorite "Christmas-time" thing to eat is anything my mom cooks!! I also love my mother-in-law's Christmas Punch. I have started making it for my family when Joe is on call and we don't go to his mom's house. Here is the recipe...

Here is another of my favorites...it is a wooden Santa ornament. I'm not sure where or when I got it, but I love his little face. So cute!

Another one of my absolute favorites about Christmas is going to the mailbox and finding Christmas cards!! We have moved a few times in the last 10 years and Christmas is sometimes the only occasion that we hear from old friends. I love getting the cards and seeing the kids of these families. When I go to the mailbox I TRY to stop myself from opening the cards until the kids get home from school, then they divide them up and we open them together. We smile and giggle remembering the times we shared with these families.

I will be mailing our 75 or so cards today. I hope they make someone smile when they arrive in their mailbox.
Something else that is a favorite of mine and DEFINITELY put a smile on my face today was this little package from UPS!!


If you've never had one of this little cookies, you don't know what your missing. They are Minnie Beasley's Almond Lace Cookies. I stumbled across them one year at Holiday House in Little Rock. They will be tied with a sparkly bow and sent to some pretty awesome teachers!! I plan on going shopping with my parents tomorrow...if the snow and ice will hold off. Its crunch time with only 10 days left til the big day. Anna and Jake get out of school Friday, so I don't have much time. Jake has been asking a lot of questions about Santa this year. Every day he questions me..."Santa isn't real, is he Mom?" "He's a fake, I just know it!" He couldn't be really alive, he would be OOOLLLLDDD!!" This will probably be the last Christmas that we put milk and cookies out by the fireplace...that is another one of my warm and fuzzy favorites!!!

Bye for now.