It seemed like an appropriate time for me to do another Three Things post since my last one was a year ago. Plus, I also had nothing else planned for today and I was in the mood for something light and sentimental. Funny how things work that way, right? Anyway, without further ado, three more things about me with a holiday flair.
3 Things I Love about Christmas
1.) Wrapping presents. While I’m not the best present wrapper, I love getting my inner Martha Stewart on. My frugal friends would roll their eyes but high-quality wrapping paper, bows and various accoutrements that add some sizzle are my jam.
2.) The decorations. I sadly do not decorate my apartment since I don’t celebrate in California and Max would destroy the tree.
3.) Seeing my family (I go home to Minnesota, don’t cha ya know).
3 Things I Dislike about Christmas
1.) The pressure to make everything perfect.
2.) Busyness of the season (I enjoy having lots to do but not necessarily every day).
3.) Shopping (sort of). I actually like Christmas shopping because finding the “right” gift for my loved ones gives me a thrill. I just hate crowded malls and parking lots. But I do love the scent of cinnamon almonds roasting at the mall, like a moth to a flame …
3 Favorite Christmas Movies
Elf, White Christmas and Love Actually.
3 Favorite Christmas Treats
Homemade caramels. I make them every year and love them! Shortbread cookies and hot Cocoa with whipped cream and candy cane sprinkles.
3 Favorite Christmas Traditions
1.) Decorating my family home on Black Friday. In my small hometown Black Friday wasn’t anything special so instead of shopping, my Mom and I would decorate the house and my Dad would put up all the outside lights and decorations.
2.) Christmas Eve at my grandparent’s home. Grandma always served oyster stew, which most of the kids did not like. We (my cousins and I) made fun of my brother for eating those gross, slimy things. My Grandma eventually added chili and sloppy joes to the menu to accommodate the non-oyster stew eaters.
3.) Waking up super early Christmas morning to see what Santa brought me. My parents would not allow my brother and I to open presents until they got up. And they would not get up before the sun came up. I pretty much stood over them and breathed on them until they finally gave up and got up. 😀
3 Favorite Christmas Songs
For a long time, I loved almost everything about Christmas except for Christmas music, outside of what you would sing at Church. But rocking Christmas music 24/7 was not my jam. It’s still not, although I actually play Christmas music during December since becoming an old coot. 😀 I still refuse to wear the ugly Christmas sweaters though.
1). Christmas in the Car by Mulberry Lane.
2). Baby, It’s Cold Outside by Lady Antelbellum
3). Christmas in Heaven by Scotty McCreery
Weirdly all these songs are by Country performers and I don’t like country music. But my Mom does. And I make holiday mix tapes for her so … yeah, I like Christmas music by Country music performers. Now I’m positive the end is nigh.
3 Favorite Christmas Gifts Received
1.) Barbie! Barbie! Barbie! Old Barbie meet New Barbie. Old Barbie warns New Barbie that I will her brush her hair until her head pops off.
2.) When I was 14 or 15, I wanted a big, fancy boombox with a dual cassette player AND a CD player. I begged and pleaded. Showed my parents the exact one I wanted at the store. They bought it for me and hid it plain sight. I walked by it every day and never noticed it and was an anxious wreck Christmas morning when there was no big box under the Christmas tree. They still laugh about it. 😀
3.) I wanted a telephone like most teenage girls did. My parents were less enthused so I convinced my brother who worked at Radio Shack to buy me one. But he didn’t just buy me a telephone, he bought me the one that lit up with hot pink florescent lights when the phone rang. He is also wrapped it in a bath towel because apparently Scottie doesn’t wrap gifts.
3 Gifts I Want to Give the World
Some days I say a little prayer before seeing what’s going on in the world since almost every day brings bad news. It’s not an easy way to live but I refuse to give up hope. This world is imperfect, full of imperfect people of which I am one. It is also an amazing place, full of amazing people who are capable of doing amazing, kind, generous, loving things every day. I chose to focus my energy on being amazing.
1.) Compassion and empathy. The world would be a much better place if we treated one another with compassion versus the need to be “right”. To recognize that people have hidden truths and secret pains that deserve compassion versus ridicule and suspicion. To want to help each other thrive and succeed versus be the one to get ahead at whatever the cost, even your soul.
2.) Appreciation of diversity. Diversity is a strength and not something to eradicate or evil. Intolerance, hate and fear are what makes us weak. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.
3.) Peace and serenity. As someone who at times lives with an almost intolerable amount of anxiety inside of her, I wish deeply for peace in every single one of us. To feel at peace with who we are, our place in this world and those around us. To not feel threatened by others because we appreciate our own greatness and see how we interconnect and thrive because of each other’s individuality and greatness.
Your Turn
Tell me 3 things about Christmas or the holiday season that you love.
Tanya
Christmas isn’t a big thing for me. I do decorate my apartment but just a little bit. I do like all the Christmas lights in the neighborhood though and El Segundo goes all out. We have a candy cane lane here. I also remember wanting to get up at like 3 in the morning because I was so excited but my parents “dragging their feet.” lol Have a good trip to MN!
I don’t decorate my apartment, which makes me feel a bit Grinch-like but I’m lazy. I don’t celebrate here, so it feels like too much work for just me. Plus, Max is a wee bit mischievous. He would attack the tree and knock it down. He’d probably feel bad about it afterwards! 😀 Parents must have some universal rule that they cannot get up early on Christmas morning and have to torture their kids by making them wait until they get up.
I love Elf! It is a family tradition of ours to watch it every Christmas. I think my favorite Christmas gift was my Cabbage Patch doll! And yes, my parents also wouldn’t let us open presents until they woke AND we went to church! Talk about patience.
Elf is the very, very best. It’s so silly and sweet and it just makes me smile, especially when Will Ferrell gets so excited to see Santa at the mall. Do you remember how parents would fight and punch one another to get a Cabbage Patch Kid at the store? Whoa. That’s almost inhumanely cruel to make you wait until after Church! At my Grandma’s house on Christmas Eve, we had to wait until after the candlelight service (which was at 6 or 7 so not a midnight service) to open gifts from them and my Aunts and Uncles. But Christmas morning, it was just until I could guilt my parents to get up. LOL!
I love White Christmas and wrapping presents, too! I know most people hate the chore of wrapping everything, but the perfectionist in me loves it!
Your traditions are so sweet 🙂 During Xmas my aunt & uncle used to visit so I’d sleep on one of the bunk beds in my brother’s room. We’d usually wake up at 4:30am, creep to the top of the steps (we were NOT allowed downstairs on Xmas until everyone was up, and then creep back to his room to discuss what we saw under the tree. Then around 6am we’d go wake the parents up. Hahaha!
I love the boom box story ;D Hahaha! I got a cell phone one year, too! I was SO happy.
White Christmas is such a great movie. It just makes me feel good. I love making gifts look fancy, although I can’t claim they are wrapped perfectly. My corners aren’t necessarily crisp and cannot cut wrapping paper in a straight line for the life of me! LOL! Once I woke up my brother at 3:00 AM to go sit out by our presents. I was pretty young and read the time wrong and thought it was like 6 AM. He wasn’t really happy with me and went back to bed. 😀
What a fun post! I do really love Christmas, but it can get stressful. I like having things to do (because there is a LOT to do) but you’re right about not having something everyday. I think I’d get burnt out really quick.
I’m such a bad gift wrapper. Like, seriously. I do like shopping for other people though, except for all the big crowds. I try and shop mostly online or go at weird times.
Lauren
Thanks, Lauren! It can get super stressful, which is so annoying because it’s such a fun time. I’d get so burnt out if I had something going on every day, which seems like that’s the case for so many people. I shop at weird times too. It’s no fun when the stores are insane but going at an off-peak times helps put me in the Christmas spirit.
I love this post Tanya!
I like traditional Christmas songs by people like Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, etc… And I am one of those people that starts listening to it sometime in September/October because Pandora makes that possible, lol… 🙂
I remember getting a phone for my room for Christmas as well! #childrenofthe80s It was a HUGE deal to have a phone in your room 🙂 The phone I got was black, red, and white, and it was the coolest thing ever, ha, ha, ha…
Thanks, Mackenzie! I’m pretty sure my Grandma rocks Christmas music year-round. 😀 I think every girl our age remembers getting her first phone, probably not to the delight of her parents. I spent hours on the phone and have no idea what important things I had to talk about for so long. But I did!
I totally need ot do this – I love it!
GIRLLL – I remember those boom boxes with the cassette players. SO RAD 😉 haha
I have a love hate with wrapping presents. Its so fun to see them all under the tree, but man, I get so frustrated getting those crisp corners 😉 haha
I’m so glad you played along and I loved seeing your answers. Boom boxes were so freaking awesome! I remember feeling very suspicious about CD players and MP3s when they first came out. Well, I can’t claim that my corners are necessarily crisp but I do like wrapping presents. I even used to do them up in a theme of some sort too, although these days I’m actually lazy with my gift wrapping but still love it in my own weird way.
I’m going to answer all these questions in a post next week because I have much to say, particularly from the perspective of only having celebrated Christmas for half my life.
I hate holiday music, though, so answering that one will be a stretch.
Fantastic! I can’t wait to see your responses. 😀 I used to have more of a love/hate relationship with Christmas music. As a kid, I absolutely loved it while adult Tanya only liked the traditional hymns during Church and would never chose to listen to Christmas music on her own. Now, I must confess that I do rock it a bit. And that’s when I knew that I was officially an old coot!