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| Christmas lights on the tree in front of the capital building. Washington DC, United States. Picture taken by Jonathan McIntosh, 2004. |
10. Christmas Lights
I absolutely adore Christmas lights. There is something that wells up inside of me everything I walk by trees all lit up or a house twinkling in the night. Maybe it is because as kids my sister and I used to play the Christmas Light game, which meant we each picked a side of the car and counted all the lights we saw on our way to our country house; the 3 hour drive seemed to fly by. Now that I live in California it is fun to see Christmas lights on palm trees as well as Christmas trees; the lights are also a great reminder of the season, as the weather is not always chilly.
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9. Shopping
I love to give gifts. It is honestly one of my absolute favorite things to do in the entire world. Therefore Christmas shopping makes me absolutely giddy. The only thing I like better than finding the perfect gift, is wrapping the perfect gift.
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| Last year's Ugly Sweater Party |
Every year our friends Brian and Kelly throw an Ugly Sweater Party with White Elephant exchange at their house. This year's is on Friday. All my gifts are wrapped and my new holiday sweater is ready to go! Of course I will have to bring Ralphie the teddy bear in his ugly sweater along for the fun as well.
7. Red Cups at Starbucks
Red Cups make a girl really happy. I love the Starbucks Caramel Brulee latte that only comes around for a few months a year. My desk at work almost always has a red cup on it. What's your favorite Red Cup flavor?
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6. Winter Olympics Countdown
I actually cannot contain my excitement about the 2014 Winter Olympics. They only come around every 4 years and the summer games in London feel so much longer than only 2 years ago. Even with all the problems plaguing Russia and the infrastructure of these games, I cannot wait. There is something about the Olympics that makes the world seem smaller and for a little while all focused on the same events.
5. Holiday Movies
I have quite the collection of holiday movies, and for those I don't have, I find myself relying on ABC's 25 Days of Christmas.We watched Holiday Inn a few days ago with my family to start getting into the Christmas spirit and I can't wait to pop in Elf or Love Actually. My tried and true favorite though is still A Christmas Story. What is your favorite Christmas flick?
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4. Music
Does anyone not smile or want to sing along when listening to Christmas and Holiday tunes? I have my XM Radio in the car only set to Christmas tunes these days and every morning I take my shower while singing along to the Love Actually or Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack.
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| Dan and I at Queen Mary Chill |
3. Colder Temperatures
It's finally cooler in in California. I know I have said this already only to be disappointed when the temperature swings back up, but this week we are actually having average temperatures below normal for this time of year. I am doing happy dances all the time. I actually have a reason to open my coat closet everyday and I am just giddy with the prospect of layering. It also reminds me that it is actually wintertime!
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2. Wrapping Gifts
I may be one of the only people on this earth that gets tons of pleasure from wrapping gifts, but honestly I think it is more fun than buying the gifts a lot of the time. I love picking out wrapping paper patterns that compliment each other as well as all the ribbons and embellishments I can add. Last year I started assigning wrapping paper to specific families or friends so that it was easy to pull the gifts out from under the tree without having to check all the tags. I already have one family down, need to keep wrapping though!
I may be one of the only people on this earth that gets tons of pleasure from wrapping gifts, but honestly I think it is more fun than buying the gifts a lot of the time. I love picking out wrapping paper patterns that compliment each other as well as all the ribbons and embellishments I can add. Last year I started assigning wrapping paper to specific families or friends so that it was easy to pull the gifts out from under the tree without having to check all the tags. I already have one family down, need to keep wrapping though!
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| Christmas Night 2012 |
I love all the family traditions that come with the Christmas season. Dan and I get to celebrate Christmas with his family a little early every year and his mom is so great about trying to establish new and fun traditions as a family. This year we are heading down on Friday night to spend the night and go out to dinner and then spend Saturday opening gifts and hanging out. We are then off to NY on Sunday for a long visit. Since we don't see my family as often and Dan and I get Christmas Eve through New Year's Day off, we like to head to NY for some quality time. This year we are going to the Nutcracker ballet on Monday. Christmas Eve I then have lunch with two of my best girlfriends and then we are all off to Meme's house (my grandma) for dinner and gifts with my mom's entire family. We then drive upstate late that night 3 hours (very often in the snow) so that we wake up in Upstate NY for what we hope is a White Christmas. Finally we get to spend NYE with tons of our friends from HS and college. I LOVE CHRISTMAS and all the traditions that come along with it.
So that's my #10ThingsILove about the Holidays this year, what would make yours?
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