Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About....

...how we celebrate Christmas, but didn't care enough to ask 
(Taken from another blog that you'll find here)

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? hot chocolate with Peppermint or crushed candy canes.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa wraps! But he leaves them on the table in the living room for the boys alongside their stuffed stockings.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? white. Always white. Maybe someday I'll be crazy and mix it up one year and do colored.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I have 2 children and animals - it'd get eaten or yanked down. No way!

5. When do you put your decorations up? Usually soon after Thanksgiving. It's a crime to put them up any earlier.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Hmmm...dessert! Cheesecake of any sort. This year it was peppermint cheesecake-mint Oreo's as the crust....need I say more?!

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Hearing the bells before Santa came to our house Christmas Eve night back when my cousins from Milwaukee would come up for Christmas.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? That's a good question...don't remember the trauma. Must have blocked that one out...

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Usually, yes.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? I take an ornament, a put a little hook on it, I hang it on the tree. Ha! This year Austin helped me on a snowday, and we (I mean, he) only broke 3.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? It's wonderful when I'm inside sipping on my cocoa and can gaze out my window to see it blanket the Earth....but I dread driving in it.

12. Can you ice skate? At one time, yes. I still have skates and have been tempted to blow the dust off the box and lace them up.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? As a child, a camera...I must have been 10.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? The love of family

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? see #6

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Decorating the tree and listening to Christmas music.

17. What tops your tree?  A star. I still long for an angel, but I am sooo picky and haven't found the perfect one to adorn the tree yet. Still looking.

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Giving.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? All Christmas hymns make me tear up. That's a tough question, to single out one song.

20. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Yum, just not the peppermint ones. They belong crushed up and in my hot cocoa.

21. Favorite Christmas Show? It's a Wonderful Life. Gotta be!

22. Saddest Christmas Song?  Rudolph - I always felt sorry for Rudolph. Poor guy...

A Few of...

...Austin's favorite Christmas gifts:

a new combine from Santa on Christmas morning

a pirate ship from cousins

a sled from Uncle Kyle and Whitney

12 Months = One Year

Mr. Ethan on his one year birthday. . .

He continued to enjoy his balloons he got from school..

...he loved his birthday cake...

...and his new Handle Hauler!

♥

Right now...

Outside my window... wind, snow, cold, drifts, Christmas lights

I am thinking... so glad the flu bug is gone!!

I am thankful for... a warm home on a cold day like today

I am wearing... fuzzy socks, jeans, long sleeved black t-shirt

I am remembering... how last year this time I was anticipating the birth of baby #2

I am going... to try and get to bed early tonight

I am currently reading...Christmas (shopping) lists

I am hoping... for some "me time"

On my mind... someplace warm

Noticing that... as soon as I clean up the house, it's a mess again. Why is this so??

Pondering these words... "Mama I don't need any more toys or jackets" -Austin last week (!)

From the kitchen... pizzas!

Around the house... toys, books, boots, jackets, mittens....

One of my favorite things...good music!