10 Again

Ten Things I Love About the Holidays

1. Food, of course! Yay food! Christmas cookies, Christmas pudding, and all seasonal things like mince pies, or roast goose, buche de noel and peppermint bark.

2. Maybe peppermint bark deserves a special mention all its own. Yum, yum, yum.



You can buy it from here.

3. Carols and Christmas songs like this one, this one, and this one.

4. Ok, I admit it, I love getting presents. Especially if they are books, video games, or something for the kitchen.

5. I love giving them too.

6. The feeling of camaraderie everybody seems to get around December, as if they've suddenly realized that goodwill towards men includes everyone, and not just the people they like.

7. Christmas specials on tv. My absolute favorite is "The Night Before Christmas" with the mice, but this may be an opinion shared by no one but me.

8. Seeing our stockings hung by the chimney with care, and the house looking all decorated and Christmas-y.

9. Tracking Santa on NORAD's Santa Tracker with my daughter on Christmas eve. We also enjoy hanging out at this website around Christmas-time.

10. Seeing the myriad of fun new ways that others celebrate the holidays, and incorporating their traditions into our own family traditions.

How about you? What are your favorite holiday traditions?

An Advent-itious post

It may not be quite time for this picture yet, but it is time to start thinking about Christmas - or at least about Advent - that time of year when we start thinking about thinking about Christmas! So, for today's post, I thought I'd give you a collection of what I consider to be some of the most fun Advent calendars out there this year, to get you in the Christmas spirit in these upcoming weeks!

The first one is an Advent calendar, the kind with fun activities for each day. You can find it online at Smart Martha's blog at http://smartmartha.com/Documents/AdventCalendar.pub.pdf
My daughter and I will be starting the activities tomorrow. A few days late this year, but better late than never, right?

Or, in case you would prefer your Advent calendar online: http://www.smmp.com/Advent/Advent.php
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/Advent/Advent-Calendar.aspx
http://www.teachingmom.com/features/advent.html (This one gets my vote, hands down! It is chock-full of book and movie suggestions, information about how Christmas is celebrated in other countries, games, recipes, and all the holiday fun your little heart could desire, all in one convenient spot.)

And here is a neat one from Allrecipes - a cookie calendar. It's actually from 2007, but last time I checked, December has 24 days before Christmas every year, so that shouldn't really be an issue: http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Christmas-Cookie-Countdown-2007/Detail.aspx

And you can never, never, go wrong with the kind that is filled with chocolate: http://www.candywarehouse.com/adventcalendar.html

How about you? Do you use an Advent calendar? Do you have any neat holiday website suggestions?