My favorite Christmas things

CHRISTMAS!....It is my most favorite Holiday EVER!!! Of course I get excited about getting all the loot...Who doesn't like presents, right?!?! But presents are not the reason I like Christmas, Christmas in our family has always been special, even when money was tight...My mom made all kinds of fun traditions!

• We are a baking family. You name it, we can make it turn out perfect. Every year though there are specific things we bake and give away as little gifts to those that mean lots to us (and of course snarf as we bake!) Cookies cookies cookies, Special chocolate covered Toffee (a very secretly guarded family recipe...could win a contest against anything out there--hands down), Peanut butter balls covered in chocolate, Fudge, and Great-Great Grandma's secret Butter Rolls...Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
• Christmas Decoration Rides in the car: Exploring all the fancy and not so fancy neighborhoods with all their cool decorations...Growing up it was Peacock Lane in Portland, Oregon for our family. LOVE LOVE LOVE all the pretty lights...
• The Christmas Pickle...a controversial German-American family tradition of sticking a pickle ornament in the tree and whoever finds it gets an extra present. Being an only child most of my life I never had much trouble fighting my way to the tree to find it. It still was always fun to get a little something extra and spend the morning looking for it hidden in the tree!
• CHRISTMAS MOVIES! I absolutely love Christmas movies! My yearly must-sees are: White Christmas(I wanted to be a Broadway singer when i was little and I know EVERY word to EVERY song!), Holiday Inn(I just love the old classics!), Home Alone, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, The Family Man...I know there are more i just can't think of all of them at the moment
  (I'm at Lar's parents place and have yet to watch all of them...usually my parents and I do a whole marathon of movies while we bake and wrap.)
• Christmas songs: It wouldn't be Christmas without Amy Grant's first Christmas album...it was my favorite when i was 5 and somehow i still for some reason like it, however 80s it sounds. Mariah Carey and Bing Crosby along with many others are staples in our household.
• The Nutcracker. Every year growing up my mommy and I went to see it. I absolutely LOVE it!
• Christmas Carols: I love love love to sing Christmas songs in church. Some of my favorites are: O Holy Night, O Come all ye Faithful, It came upon a midnight clear, and Angels we have heard on High.
• Last but certainly not least is spending it with family and friends. Growing up, most Christmas' were spent with our very very good family friends(practically family), The Adams'. The last Christmas we spent with them was in 2000. They moved down to California and a year later my parents moved out here to the Midwest to be closer to my grandparents. I miss Charlotte's Apple Pie and most most favorite: her amazing, one of a kind, mashed potatoes. Mainly though, I miss them all and cherish all the fun memories growing up!

This year I'm spending Christmas with Lar's parents, his brother, his sister and brother-in-law and 18 mo. old nephew. With all the stockings hung, presents wrapped beneath the tree, and me in my Pjs the only thing left between me and Christmas morning is a good nights sleep.

to quote Jimmy Stewart and my best friend who mocks him in his raspy garbled voice:

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

I Got Tagged!

Alright...Amanda tagged me with this...shame on her...but i did it...crazy how the songtitles actually work themselves in quite well with the questions...others...well...they kinda leaving ya scratchin your head a bit...haha.

all in good fun...

MEME Rules:

1. Put Your itunes/ music player on shuffle

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER WHAT

After you’ve answered all of the questions, tag 5 other people and then let them know they’ve been tagged to do the meme themselves!



IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?Rise and Fall--Craig David


WHATWOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? My Immortal--Evanescence


WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL? Happy Ending-- Little Mermaid Soundtrack


HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY? A winter romance--Dean Martin



WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE? All she wants to do is Dance--Don Henley



WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?I'll grow old with you-- Adam Sandler


WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU? Can't get you out of my Head--Kylie Minogue



WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS? I love you always forever-- donna Lewis



WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? Toilet Tisha--Outkast (bahaha...how weird!)



WHAT IS 2+2? Amazed--Lonestar


WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND? Changes --Three Doors Down



WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE? I am aware--Seether



WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY? inaudible melodies--jack johnson



WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? Fighter--Christina Aguilera



WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?Never Gonna Let Go--Caedmon's Call



WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU? Come Clean--Hilary Duff



WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?To you lover--Savage Garden



WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL? Return To me--Dean Martin (Creepy!)



WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?You Can Fly You Can Fly You can Fly!--Disney Classics



WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET? I wanna know--Joe



WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?I Could not ask for more--Edwin McCain



WHAT SHOULD YOU POST THIS AS? YOU--the afters



Im not tagging anyone since Amanda already tagged most of the people that read my blog...maybe i should try to expand my networking within my blogging as well...
hmmm....

A-WOL

Alright...so i've been gone for what...like two weeks!?!?! what the heck happened to me?
ANSWER: EVERYTHING
--shit has hit the fan with g'rents...Lar and I are trying to find a place for ourselves sometime soon....it it just getting to be too much!
--I'm now DESPERATE for a job...I feel so worthless not working. Everyone says my resume looks great...what am I missing? I spend most of my online time(which hasnt been much) combing through the crap on job search engines and mulling over WHY ON EARTH I live in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! I NEED NETWORKING!
--Lar and I drove through a storm Saturday night with 30 mph winds, sleet, snow and freezing rain...all so he could get to work on time Sunday morning at 8am...(which he had forgotten he was working and we had gone to visit my parents...) no prob...we returned to berrien...at 3:30 am....and after 5 hours of driving (which normally takes just over 2 hrs)
--Thanksgiving was interesting. It was my first one out at the University. My grandparents really really really like to eat at Andrews...the meal was ok...better than the cafeteria food, thats for sure...hard to believe it came from the same room. I'm really just not one for buffets though and i HATE HATE HATE boxed mashed potatoes...EW. There should definatly be a crime against them....ugh...they just Grossssssss me out!
--Lar and I FINALLY bought our tickets to go to New Hampshire to see his family. SO SO SO excited! We will be there the 19th through the 28th! Nice long trip should be exciting! And the Northeast is soooooooooo QUAINT!:) CANNOT WAIT!
--did I mention im desperate for a job and my own place????!?!??!?!?!
Hope all is good with everyone else...
I promise I shall return with more rants and raves soon!
BISOUS A TOUS!