Today’s topic is what Christmas means to you. So, since I don’t know how to start, how about with a song?

On a more serious note, Christmas means lots of things to me. Sometimes I get into a bit of a Grinch mood at this time of year, for 53 years now….LOL.

However, I often find little reminders of the true reason we celebrate Christmas throughout the season. While Christmas is certainly about food, family, and gifts, I believe the true meaning is to embrace and remember the greatest gift. The birth of Christ.

Keeping it super short tonight as lots to do including a bit of a mad dash cleaning of the basement. One of G’s friends is in from out of town (on leave from the army) and may stay over with us later.

So, I’ll just flip the question and ask what does Christmas mean to you?

Don’t forget to visit Tamy, the host of Blogmas, over at Chasing My Life.

It’s day 23 of Blogmas and I show today’s topic is childhood memories. Don’t worry I won’t break out into my very off-key Ellen Page version of Memories, all alone in the moonlight... Okay, well not out loud anyway.

Way off topic, I was watching the Cats movie on HBO Max the other night. What did they do to that? Ugh, barely made it through the first two songs or so. Now, I’m feeling the need to find the proper musical to watch it somewhere.

Where were we? Oh, right childhood memories minus stories of Cats and off-key singing.

One of my favorite things pictured up above, my mom’s Nativity set. Definitely a little worse for wear lately. Poor angel’s wing broke, Joseph’s staff missing, a few animals gone (my mom actually gave one of them to a nephew many years ago because he was obsessed with animals at the time and loved it so much!).  I looked long and hard at a Nativity in a thrift store last week because it’s the only other one I’d ever seen with an angel holding the “Gloria” sign like that.

Playing with the Characters

While I don’t remember necessarily playing with the above Nativity, I do remember playing with the other decorations. And I should take this quick opportunity to say that Batman and Spiderman action figures were known to visit Baby Jesus in the Nativity when my boys were younger.

I can remember we had a very neat Santa claus sled, his bag, and reindeer, all plastic I think, that all the kids myself included loved to play with as the Christmas decorations started appearing around the house.

Then there was the girl with the sled, though best to be very careful with her…one you did NOT want to break it. I’ll have to share a photo sometime. Not sure why I didn’t put her out this year.

Seeing Family the Week Before Christmas

Because our family was larger or more likely my dad “put his foot down”, we stayed home on Christmas. I can remember we’d go visit all my aunts and uncles the week before Christmas and my mom would take them plates of cookies and pumpkin bread. We’d often visit my grandparents (my mom’s parents, my dad’s parents passed before I was born) on Christmas Eve. They lived in Kansas City, Kansas. And I remember us driving across the big, long bridge to get there. I think it was this one (could be wrong, I was young): Central Avenue Viaduct. 

I’ve spent way too much time this afternoon trying to figure out which bridge. And why my dad went that way. Of course, he always took a different route no matter where we went. And I must remember some of the highways (670) weren’t there back in the 70’s and 80’s.

Moving on…one more before I get back to doing Christmas chores. Regular Saturday chores but close to Christmas?

The Donny and Marie Morning

Just something silly but Oh, how I remember the excitement of going down the hall and seeing that Santa had not only left me the Donny and Marie dolls but the entire stage!

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I could share lots more but am stopping here.

Today is all about ideas for wrapping Christmas presents. Oh boy, Um, not one of my strengths. At all.

I do personally prefer to open wrapped gifts as opposed to simply pull items out of gift bags. However, of course, I appreciate any gift someone took the time prepare for me. And living surrounded by men, most my gifts are in gift bags.

Funny thing there is that, my husband can actually wrap presents beautifully. Of course, he must have the table and the scissors and everything set up just so to do it. I’m more of a wrap presents on the bed or floor kind of person. The kind of person who loses the scissors. And the tape. Then, has to cut paper more than once or add more.

So you can probably guess what packages I wrapped might look like compared to ones my husband wraps And of course, who wraps most of our packages? Yep, the lose the scissors/tapes/sloppy lady.

Not much to share on this topic today as I’m a pretty straight-forward buy my wrapping paper. Usually, I buy it at Hallmark.

Funny Story About Attempting To Make My Own Wrapping Paper

You know those people who are crafty and everything they touch just looks beautiful? Could wrap a present in yesterday’s newspaper (well, back when they were more common) and it look like the world’s most special present? Yeah, not me.

When the boys were very young (probably preschool/early elementary), I read one of those what I refer to as “guilt-trip” parenting magazines. And it was all about recycling (not a bad thing) and how to make our own wrapping paper out of newspaper. Oh, and of course, a fun craft activity for the kids! So, we attempted to cut christmas tree shapes in potatoes or maybe it was apple stars. Stamped it on the newspaper, wrapped some gifts in this “masterpiece” paper. Trust me it wasn’t the kind of paper you save because it was so pretty or even so overdone ugly it was pretty.

I’ll never forget my husband coming home from work and looking at me puzzled, asking, is our budget so bad we can’t afford wrapping paper?  Yes, the packages looked that bad. The kids didn’t wrap them and honestly, weren’t over enthused on the whole make our own wrapping paper idea either so it didn’t bother them. They probably don’t even remember.

One Quick Tip If Santa Gifts Come Wrapped

Borrowed this idea late in the game (kids were pretty close to knowing just how much Mrs. Claus helped with things) but sometimes at our house, Santa leaves the roll of the different kind of wrapping paper he used on his gifts so we can wrap presents with it next year.

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Be sure to go check out Tamy’s post over at Chasing My Life, she has lots of great wrapping ideas over there.

I think doing this is starting to slowly get me a bit more in the Christmas spirit. Took sometime this morning to finally make a list so I could see what I needed to do. Helped a lot. Sometimes, I think I need to do so many things and the truth is I don’t.

My current mood:

Can’t believe I forgot to include that song on my favorites list!

Onto the topic of the day.

Favorite Family Traditions

Pretty much an evolving category for us as our boys are now older and our families look different than just a few short years ago.

In Our Personal Family: Christmas Eve Pajamas and a Book

Stole this idea from somewhere when the boys were very young. Had visions of them wearing the pajamas and picture perfect Christmas morning photos. Reality: They didn’t always wear the pajamas so our photos weren’t always so “perfectly perfect” (to quote Mr. Mooseltoe).

The books were usually a big hit with the occasional miss (middle school years are tough!). Originally, I always did Christmas books but in the last few years, I’ve just picked books I knew they’d enjoy. Reminds me I need to get a book suggestion or two from G.

One unexpected bonus of this tradition: When they were younger and not excited for clothes, the Christmas Eve presents proved a good opportunity to practice saying “thank you” no matter what was inside the gift. Ha.

Old Tradition/New Tradition (I hope)

My in-laws used to always have a Christmas Eve party. Basically, we just went over there and ate snacks/appetizer foods/drank perhaps some slushy wine and hung out a bit. My husband’s family is not large so think more like maybe 6 people and 3 kids plus a few extended relatives. Their neighbors would also usually just stop by. This was more when the boys were a bit younger and our family from Oklahoma would sometimes come up for Christmas.

My FIL/new wife tried to carry on the tradition but honestly it just wasn’t the same without the warmth of my late MIL. And since the kids were older, it sort of fell to the side. I’m not sure if they still do this but we haven’t been over there on a Christmas Eve in many years.

However, for the 2nd year in a row now, the band J performs in with his brass instructor (they mainly play at the church) is going to play the accompaniment to the hymns at the candlelight Christmas Eve service.  I loved going last year and am excited we get to do this again. Certainly, hoping this becomes a new family tradition.

If you’re wondering about my side of the family, with so many of us, Christmas Eve kind of became the day/night everyone did stuff with their in-laws so that’s why we don’t really do anything with my side around Christmas Eve.

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So not a lot of family traditions at the moment besides the pajamas, books, and church. As I said, a lot of our traditions are evolving as the boys are now young adults. One tradition I’m not so sad to let go is the tradition of my oldest getting up around 4 or 5 in the morning each Christmas! Of course, now I wake up at that time so maybe I wouldn’t mind it so much now.

What are some of your favorite family traditions?

Don’t forget to go visit Tamy over at Chasing My Life, the host of Blogmas.

Whoa, day 20 already? I had to look at that number twice. Then, remember that Tamy over at Chasing My Life started Blogmas prior to December 1 this year. So, hopefully, seeing “day 20” in that title didn’t give you too much of a start.

Christmas is still 11 days away, not 5. Still, 11 days! Yikes. Ready? Not in the least over in these parts.

Today’s topic is favorite characters: Snowmen, Angels, Reindeer, and Gnomes. Wouldn’t be the Christmas season without these characters decorating our homes would it? Though gnomes are an old/made new again tradition around here I think. Can’t think of seeing a single gnome outside of maybe some of my grandmother’s old decorations (and I called them elves) even 5 years ago.

Snowmen

The nice thing about snowmen (and women!) is that for me, they are more an all winter long decoration. I usually set out a couple snowpeople my late mother-in-law made after I’ve put all the Christmas decor away. And I don’t set them out for Christmas.

That said, one of my favorite Christmas ornaments is a Hallmark Keepsake Millennium Snowman. Normally, it’d be on my tree.

Funny story regarding snowmen decorations: I used to have a snowman wreath that I’d put on the door after Christmas as well. Or maybe for Christmas but then leave on it because Snowmen said winter to me more than Christmas. And my husband and I would argue all the time about whether that stupid wreath was a Christmas decoration or a winter decoration. He was always wanting to take it down after Christmas.

What do you think…are snowmen winter or Christmas or both?

Of course, everyone’s favorite is definitely Christmas since Frosty is indeed magic because he’s made from Christmas snow.

Angels

These are probably my favorite in the Christmas area and over all. Yet another story, when my husband and I first got together/were married, my late mother-in-law decided I needed to collect something I guess. Maybe I had an angel decoration and she just went with it? Sadly, I’ll never know the reason. However, I have lots of angels that I love thanks to both her and my sister-in-law. Some of them I keep out year-round. 

I do need to put some more of my angels out and about before Christmas. This is another ornament that I usually have on the tree that’s suddenly feeling a bit bare this year.

This last picture I’m sharing is one of my very favorite angels and super special as it was the last one my late mother-in-law (and FIL) bought for me before she passed away. I actually got it the Christmas after she passed. I also happen to love Nativity sets so aside from the sentimentality, that’s also what I love about this one.       

Reindeer and Gnomes

Reindeer aren’t really my thing though of course, I love the Rudolph special each year.

I like the idea of gnomes but they just seem to be everywhere anymore. We do have gnome Christmas sheets on the bed down here and I have my one little gnome my hairdresser gifted me back in 2019, I think. And of course, somewhere I have my late grandmother’s little elves/gnomes, never could decide if they were Christmas or not.

That said, I did enjoy reading about the Nisse in my Christmas Island book that I re-read last week. Here’s an interesting you-tube video I stumbled across explaining them a bit more:

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Which one is your favorite?

P.S.

Did we forget about the jolly fat man? I know a lot of people who collect Santas. Here’s my favorite Santa decoration:

I really need to move that peace sign to its proper Christmas location.

Good morning from a rainy Kansas City! All back on track with Blogmas so on to today’s topic of Inspirations and Stories. Tamy who is hosting Blogmas over at Chasing My Life has some good ones so be sure to go check those out when you finish reading this post.

I’m going to go a slightly different direction with my Inspirations.

Inspirations

This is sort of an Advent but she states right in the beginning you can start reading it at any time during the season so that’s what I’ve done (mainly because I couldn’t find it on December 1, ha!). I find Simply Christmas to be so motivating. It reminds me where I should focus during this season.

Note, it is geared to moms with younger children. However, I still find most of the context relevant even with young adult children.

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The next inspiration just popped up in my inbox today and I fully plan to follow along with it. I needed to get back to this anyway. Faithful Workouts is doing a 12 days of Christmas countdown with motivational Christian messages plus there’s a link in the e-mails to the fitness calendar days.

I really enjoy the messages and the fact that the workouts are actually indeed 10 minutes long. No this is a 10 minute workout after we have 10 minutes of warm-up and 10 minutes of cool down. Um, that is a 30 minute workout. And even my lazy self feels it when I do the beginner chair workouts.

Christmas Stories

I’m not sure what to share here. Christmas stories makes me think of books. I’ve put out all the Christmas books every year since we’ve had kids, need to do that still this year. One of the board books in our basket is Carl’s Christmas.

This book used to aggravate my husband to no end. Seriously, they left the dog in charge of the baby while they went Christmas shopping? Ha! No imagination, I suppose.

I’ll go ahead and end the post by sharing my all-time favorite (how odd that we don’t own this in book form!) Christmas short story:

It is a very short story. You can read it here if you’d like.

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Tell me, what keeps you inspired at this time of year? Any favorite Christmas stories?

Well, I started out so good on this. And then, work took off in a crazy, busy direction. Somehow (whispering), I’ve managed to avoid the plagues going around there. Even my other “black elderberry” devotee teacher succumbed last week.

I think forcing myself to go to bed early has really helped. And the black elderberry. Managed to stay healthy for my birthday and enjoy a handbell concert that evening.

Enough of all that, let’s play Blogmas Catch Up.

Day 14: Stocking Stuffer Ideas

Well, I’m surrounded by boys over here aside from the cat. And now the boys are young adults. Here’s a snippet picture of what I have for the stockings so far this year. None of them read this blog (that they’ve mentioned to me so I think I’m good). This is a collection of different things for everyone.

Catnip mittens are clearly for the cat. J gets the pfeffernusse cookies each year. Bob Ross page clips are for G. Hunter’s soap is for my husband. Everyone gets a new toothbrush (just one pictured) and batteries. I’m undecided on the t-shirts. They might get wrapped as gifts or I’ll throw them in stockings. I see now I need to focus a bit more on some stocking stuffer items for this year. 

Day 15: Goodies For Others

I’m not good in this category. I remember my mom would spend the weeks leading up to Christmas making all those cookies, pumpkin bread in coffee tins, and who knows what else. Then, we’d drive around to all my aunts and uncles to deliver them sometime the week prior to Christmas. I get hung up when I think of doing this for the neighbors/friends because I start worrying about food allergies/restrictions.

Day 15: Wish List

Hopefully, we all wish for peace on Earth and kindness to spread around the world. Aside from that, I have a fairly long wish list this year that I posted on the fridge. I made us all fill out a paper. Instead of boring you with mine, let me show you what I get to work with from my husband: 

He’s getting a new blanket for the naps/more sleep answer. Maybe some lottery tickets for the more money answer. SIGH. The boys lists aren’t much better. Underwear for all! And when I threatened that, G told me he actually needed some. At least, it’s an easy item to buy, right?

Day 17: Party Food Likes/Dislikes and Ideas

Sigh, it’s been awhile since I’ve been to a proper Christmas party. Is this where we all mumble: stupid COVID!? Anyway, back when get-togethers were more taken for granted..our two go-to appetizers to take to a party were: bacon wrapped little smokies (or you can use the grocery store crescent roll dough but the bacon is better!) and/or a homemade cheeseball.

super easy recipe:

take two 8 oz packs of cream cheese, soften, beat in one package of Hidden Valley Ranch dip mix. Form into ball, roll in chopped pecans. Or sometimes I’ve done parsley. It’s best if you can let it chill several hours in the fridge.

Serve with crackers. For me, it’s not official unless served with these Sociable crackers but it’s good with any crackers. P.S. amazon link for reference only, please don’t pay $10 for said crackers, they aren’t worth that price!

I like pretty much all party foods with the exception of olives. YUCK. Also, not a huge fan of salmon though I can get through smoked salmon.

As far as ideas: I’ve always thought it would be fun to host a Hot Chocolate Open House party around the holidays. Just make up a bunch of hot chocolate, have toppings, and a few sugar cookies. Do it on some Saturday and have people stop by and say hello while they’re out running around. Maybe someday I’ll manage to be together enough to do that.

Day 18 Favorite Christmas Food and Drink

I also love most appetizer foods like the summer sausage/crackers/cheese spreads. I’ve been trying to stick to water as much as I can lately but would be happy to find some cranberry sprite somewhere.

Hot chocolate.

Might have a glass of Prosecco on Christmas Eve.

I don’t know.

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Kind of a short post but I think it gets me all caught up and ready for tomorrow’s topic. What’s your favorite holiday food and/or drink?

Don’t forget to check in over at Tamy’s blog, Chasing My Life where she’s hosting Blogmas! Lots of great food/drink ideas over that way.