Christmastime is comin

It's the day after Thanksgiving now, so I can start thinking about Christmas! But first, I must give thanks for everything the Lord has blessed me with.
I'm thankful for:

• My family. My mom and dad who have raised me the past 20 years in the way I should go and have helped me to always be a better, God-glorfiying woman. They have always provided for me and been strong. I love them dearly. My sisters who even though one is close and one is far away, I know I can always talk to them about anything. We have our fun, goofy, sister moments, and our serious discussions too. I so can't wait for Christmastime together again! Love you, my dear sisters! My brothers who even though I may find them annoying at times(Josiah) I still do love them all. My older brothers are very protective and just what big brothers should be. We always have a good time when they're home. My nieces who are the three sweetest little girls. I love my auntie time! And my little nephew of course too.
• My boyfriend. He's such a wonderful guy, who's always so encouraging and patient and a great listener. He's incredibly sweet and loving and respectful of me. We can talk about anything and everything and even when I tend to get a tad goofy(what? me?!) he still loves me for me. He's a strong Christian and we share the same beliefs which is of utmost importance to me. I love him so.
• My friends. Whether I've known them for 13 years or 3, they're the best. I know they're always there for me whether it's to just listen or give advice or just have a good time with. I love all my girls! And my guy friends too!
• My possessions. This may seem shallow, but yesterday we helped with Meals on Wheels and saw some people who are just living in the worst of conditions and it really made me thankful for all I have. For living in a warm and clean home and good food to eat every day and nice clothes to wear and all the other little luxuries I have.
• My faith. I don't know how people can live in this world without having true faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Just knowing that all is in His Hands and that everything will turn to our good and that at the end believers in Him shall have eternal life is the most comforting thing. I'm forever thankful that He brought me to know Him and covered my many sins with His blood.

I am so incredibly blessed with everyone and everything I have.

Now on to Christmas! As I sit here there's Christmas music playing in the waiting room(I'm at work) and I love it. Just puts a smile on my face and gets me so excited to decorate our house soon! Hopefully tomorrow we'll be putting up the tree! Yay! :) I found this survey over at Talia's and thought it might be fun!

Egg nog or hot chocolate? This is a tough one. I love hot chocolate on those cold, snowy days. Especially Starbucks signature. But Christmas day we always have egg nog with our dinner. So I can't make a choice.

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? I wrap all my presents. I just love that part. Buying pretty paper and ribbon and bows and tags and doing them up all nicely and seeing them under the tree all pretty. I like it. :)

Colored lights on tree/house or white? When we put up lights on our house, they're always colored. And we do a mixture of the two on the tree. White are so classicly lovely, but yet there's just something about the colors I love. So I can't say I have a preference on this one either.

Do you hang mistletoe? We never have. Although once I'm married, I'm pretty sure this will be a must. hehe.

When do you put your decorations up? Oh right after Thanksgiving. I love seeing them all up for the whole month of December and sometimes even some of January. haha. I can't properly start Christmas shopping and everything without the tree up, where would you put the presents anyway? So the sooner, the better! Although definitely not before Thanksgiving, that's not allowed at our house. :P

Favorite holiday memory as a child? Let's see. Well whenever we went to Grandma's for Christmas I always loved the red and green jello with whipped cream on top. It just always seemed like the perfect Christmas food to me as a kid. Who knows why. And then there isn't a specific memory with this because it's basically every year. But just when as family we all hand out our presents to each other and sit down on the couches and the floor and we all take turns opening one up, from youngest to oldest. And we take turns until each present if opened. I like that better than just the crazy everyone ripping off the paper at the same time ordeal. We get to watch everyone else and see what they all got plus waiting in anticipation to see what they think of the gift you got them. It seems like the perfect present opening system to me. :)

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I never believed in Santa as a kid. Although I do remember the times at Grandma's when we would all watch that Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Christmas movie, can't remember the name, but my dad would always wear a Santa hat and coat maybe too? And that's pretty much as Santa-y(new word) we got.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? We have absolutely no theme when it comes to our tree. We just put all our lights on and then get out the boxes of ornaments and then we all just grab a few and place them on the tree wherever we see fit. From pretty new ornaments my mom gives us every year to the old ones we made as kids they all go up. With the exception of the few ugly ones we do have. Lol.

Snow! Love it or dread it? Love it! Some of the best memories I have of Christmas have to do with some snow. Like when we lived in Nebraska and it snowed on Christmas day, all the neighborhood kids and us went down to the hill near the highway with our sleds and we would have the older kids stand at the bottom and stop us so we wouldn't get to the highway yet(although it was a teeny town so there wasn't too much traffic). We sled out there for hours. Such fun. And last Christmas, it snowed the 25th as well! There's just something about waking up in the morning in winter and running to the window to see if it snowed that night. And if it did, I would run downstairs yelling all excited. I still get excited to see snow outside in the morning, just a little less energeticly. haha. I love the look of the fresh, white snow covering everything and just glittering. So beautiful. I'm so glad we live somewhere where we do get snow for Christmas.

Do you remember your favorite gift? This one is extra tricky. So I'm going to be boring and just say I love all the gifts I get. The ones that have special memories behind them or even the practical ones I may get!

What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Getting to celebrate the birth of our Savior and learning about the true meaning of Christmas. But also, spending time with all my family and giving presents and building snowmen and making snow angels outside in the snow. I love everything about Christmastime!
What is your favorite holiday dessert? I must say I love my mom's fudge puddles and family recipe sugar cookies! Yum yum yum!
What is your favorite holiday tradition? Like I can pick just one! I already said the opening of presents. But also when we make sugar cookies and sprinkle them all and our dinner with the special bread, not even going to attempt to spell it. It's Swiss. I love every little tradition we have and all the memories we make!

What tops your tree? We can't have a tree topper, because our tree is so tall it touches the ceiling. But we used to have this big like 3-D star deal that went on top.
Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Oh, giving! Just going out shopping and trying to find that perfect gift for everyone. Trying to make the present as fun and meaningful as I can. And then seeing their reaction to my present. I love the whole gift-giving process.

What is your favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night is definitely up there as one of my favorites. It's so beautiful. And I must admit I like Feliz Navidad too. I always liked singing Good Christian Men Rejoice too and God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman. I love all Christmas music really. All the hymns but also some of the secular ones.

Candy canes? I do like to eat a candy cane once in a while. But they're also fun to decorate with. And they do make great stocking stuffers.

Favorite Christmas movie? I love the classic It's a Wonderful Life. But also I like the Santa Clause ones. And I need to see Elf, never have.

What do you leave for Santa? Well, since we never believed in Santa, nothing. Just plenty of Christmas goodies for us! :)

Now, it's your turn to fill it out. I had fun with it and you might too! :)

I hope you all had such a wonderful Thanksgiving! I did. And that you are getting ready for Christmas! Only 27 days away, yikes.