Christmas Babblings

I totally blame Susan for the following babblings as her blog got me thinking about this and so much more.....

Anyone that knows me, knows I love Christmas. I love everything about it. The decorating and the light hanging, even if I grumble while doing it... Sending out Christmas cards (which I have yet to finish, think it's too late?). Christmas songs, almost all of them! And for that I'm blessed to live in California with the KOST playing non stop Christmas from Thanksgiving to Christmas day! Christmas carols, I'll sing as many as I can remember whenever I'm in need of Christmas cheer. The Christmas tree. Mom's baking. Christmas movies, just about any I can catch. I even like the shopping, so long as I am able to get gifts for loved ones.

I've gotten a little obsessive over the years. I used to be just the Christmas Elf (on speed) and now I've become the Christmas Nazis, so says my Mother. Decorating has got to go just so. Lights are always properly tested. There's a system to Christmas cards. Searches are done to ensure we don't miss a favorite Christmas movie. On the flip side, I have fun decorating everything I can manage to hang tinsel or some other holiday decoration on! This year even the fan and the water bottle cooler got decorated.

I'm the girl you'd hear before seeing. I'm rarely without a bell around my neck and matching bell earrings when I'm out and about. And once you do see me, see if you can't smile at my red antler head band or ridiculously long Santa hat. And as it's my favorite time of year, I'm most often smiling when out there and singing Christmas Carols to myself. I love it. The kids look up and smile and it's the one time of year I don't wish they were locked up someplace. The adults get a kick out of it too. Imagine I used to go to work like that too. Co-workers loved it and expected it every year.

I used to be in chorus as a kid and since then I've loved singing. So when I got a copy of Christmas Carols from my mother one year, I carried it everywhere so I could memorize those songs. I wore those papers out so bad I had to retype them up! My last year at the bookstore, I was offered a chance to go out carolling, sorta. We were making specific stops to our bosses' places. It was still fun.

Though gifts were never the most important thing, there were fun moments throughout the years. The year Josh was so anxious to open gifts, he and I were waiting out in a dark living room waiting for Mom to wake. And when that took too long, his constant attempts to quietly wake her. She gave in, a little, and let us each open a gift without her. The years I was able to surprise my Mom with a big or special gift that led to "how'd you hide this from me?" for the big gifts and "when'd you even go out shopping?" for the others. The year my brother gave me a laptop. I was in shock that year. First time since I was a kid that a gift actually surprised me. Everyone said I was looking at it like I didn't know what it was. I think it was disbelief. Last year was awesome too. I got me my Firefly and Farscape. But mostly it was nice, cuz we spent the morning at my Dad's. So it was just a nice casual little family moment.