Top 10 Things I Love About the Holidays

I was thinking about how much I love the holiday season. I know it can be very hectic and stressful, but overall I look forward to Christmas and New Years every year. I thought I'd write my list of what I enjoy most during this glorious season. What tops your list?

1. Pulling out all of my Christmas decorations and decorating the house. My mom always had my childhood home decorated in all it's Christmas glory. I think that is why I love digging through all of my goodies and putting touches of holiday sparkle throughout my house. It is also a treat to see what after Christmas bargain I bought last year and forgot about.

2. Listening to the Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan's version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. This song is so great. My kids LOVE it. They sing it at the top of their lungs and it makes me beam from ear to ear. If you have not heard it you must download it right now--it is that good! Here is a link--your toes will be tapping soon! http://www.ilike.com/artist/Barenaked+Ladies+Feat.+Sarah+McLachlan

3. Going to and/or hosting Christmas Crafting Parties. I love to get my craft on. I don't think I'm necessarily that creative but I am good at copying things. My mom taught me how to make a pretty decent bow and I enjoy giving ribbon a good twist! The holidays allow me to bring out my inner Martha.

4. Cookie Exchanges. I don't mind baking 6 or even 10 dozen cookies. Despite my earlier post, I really do enjoy baking for the holidays. Cookie parties are terrific--you walk in with 6 dozen of the same cookie and leave with a wonderful variety of cookies---most of which were more time consuming to bake then mine.

5. Holiday Cocktail Parties. Whether we host one or attend another, I enjoy celebrating the holidays with friends and a yummy Christmas Cosmo in hand.

6. Finding the Perfect Christmas Tree. We head into the Los Gatos mountains every year with friends to seek out the perfect tree. We arrive at the tree farm with mimosas, bagels and a good hand saw. The kids have a great time running up and down the hills. They are not that interested in finding the tree. I trudge around looking at this one and that. I usually find the perfect one but by the time I find my husband to tell him it is time to make the commitment, I can't find it again. Luckily there is always another perfect tree around the corner.

7. The Y-Guides Ice-Skating Party. The hot chocolate, the cookies, the scraping of the blades on ice---I love it! My kids are learning to skate. At the beginning of the evening they are hugging the walls for dear life but after a few laps they get their Wayne Gretsky on.

8. Watching A Christmas Story. "You'll shoot your eye out." That line never gets old. I LOVE this movie. It is so funny. I remember watching this in college with all of my girlfriends and roaring with laughter when Flick's tongue gets stuck to the flagpole. There are so many hilarious moments in this movie. If you have not seen it, run don't walk to your nearest Blockbuster! Or you'll usually find it running for 24hrs on TBS on Christmas Eve.

9. Wrapping presents with my husband on Christmas Eve. After the kids have all gone to bed, we stay up and have a cocktail or two and wrap the remaining presents. My husband is very good at wrapping presents--very precise and meticulous. I tend to cut too much paper and end up making it work. He would definitely win in a "wrap off."

10. Waking up Christmas morning. My husband always gets up extra early to light a fire and turn all of the Christmas lights on. I love how he creates that Christmas ambiance for us. If the kids wake up before 7 a.m. (and usually it is), we all gather in our bed and discuss what we think Santa brought us (I try to drag out this time as long as I can). The anticipation eventually becomes too great and they all barrel down the stairs squealing in delight to see what is under the tree.