Posted by KnittyMomma on 2004-11-30 08:52:09
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Well I'm in a t-shirt and shorts (dang Texas weather) but I am DEFINITLY in the Christmas mood. I'm about to drive my in-laws crazy begging for them to go get the tree already! I always get like this though. My kids and I have been reading the Christmas story as a bedtime story (the one from the bible) and the Hallmark channel seems to be stuck on my TV! Kinda funny...I have only started on one christmas present and I'm a slow knitter...this should be interesting
Posted by quirkygirl on 2004-12-20 15:39:41
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- decorating the tree
- shopping for gifts
- making mix CDs of christmas tunes
- wrapping the presents
- sending out the Christmas cards
- Drinking hot cocoa
- Watching A Christmas Story, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
- The scent of cinnamon and spices
Posted by acebeader on 2004-12-20 10:55:53
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I love the Christmas Sing A Long with Mitch Miller!!! The other year, my mom found it on cd for us. She grew up with it too, so it's a nice tradition.
I get into the holiday mood by:
Lighting pine and cinammon candles
Baking
Making and wrapping gifts
Listening to the Christmas Sing a Long
Watching A Christmas Story and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
I try to get my shopping done early, so I don't lose the holiday spirit, along with my patience!
Posted by redheadedali on 2005-11-27 00:49:39
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A new tradition is yelling at the cats to stop eating our tree branches. They're stupid.
(snort) That's hilarious. Our cat doesn't try to eat the tree, but we do tend to find ornaments in the weirdest places, like under the furniture.
Favorite holiday movies: Home Alone, A Christmas Story, those cartoons on TV - Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman - maybe they were a claymation type of thing, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon version).
Don't forget A Charlie Brown Christmas! Then there's Elf - I only went to see it to humor my mother, but I thought it was hilarious. And maybe I'm warped, but one of my very favorite Christmas movies is The Ref - I seriously think it is one of the funniest movies ever made. I am also a TV-on-DVD addict, so I tend to watch the Christmas episodes from the shows I have in my collection: My So-Called Life, Buffy, The Vicar of Dibley, Gilmore Girls, etc. Also, it's not technically a Christmas movie, but a big part of Desk Set with Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy takes place at Christmas time, and I love that movie.
OK, stopping now.
Alison, Christmas lover
P.S. Crafty Chica, that idea of giving ornaments out to random people is genius - now if I can just find the time to make some ornaments. ;)
Posted by Chelsea on 2005-11-26 16:35:11
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I love Christmas, I just started putting out our decorations yesterday..which I need to go finish, actually.
Anyway. I couldn't imagine living where it doesn't feel like winter. I love cold months, I'd die w/out snow!
Our traditions with decorating - we have this thing, it's a bunch of stuffed bears (not a teddybear, but just a stuffed oval w/ a bear's painted on) with different characters. They're attached to each other with a string. One end is a Santa bear. We always hang these on the hutch, wrapping the string around every other drawer knob.
Me and my husband always get so excited the first time it snows. If we're not together we call each other and yell into the phone "Look outside!" lol. It came up one day what his favorite romantic moment is - it was when we were 15 and watched the snow at night in the dark.
A new tradition is yelling at the cats to stop eating our tree branches. They're stupid. And then the next morning cleaning up cat puke with little strips of green plastic (maybe it's just a sad attempt at decorating?) Not very festive, but hey, it's a tradition now!
I used to always drive around for hours with my parents looking at everyone's Christmas lights.
Another recent tradition is that my mom buys my husband and I packs of razor blade refills in our stocking. The ones for the Mach 3 kind of razors. they're so expensive though ;)
We also get a bag of M&M's
I love to go to the mall and walk around with all the decorations and music and everyone shopping.
Favorite holiday movies: Home Alone, A Christmas Story, those cartoons on TV - Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman - maybe they were a claymation type of thing, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon version).
Posted by bessiemae on 2005-11-27 10:55:18
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Christmas with the Monkey Boys is now in High Gear.
We read the Jean Shepherd "Christmas Story" and watch the dvd at least a zillion times! Like others, we also imbibe in shmaltzy clay-mation marathons of "Drummer Boy" and various Santa movies.
We cut down our Christmas tree at the tree farm behind us. There is just something so cool and family fun about bundling up, saw in hand and traipsing through mucky or snowy farm land to find the perfect imperfect tree (crooked trunks and missing branches r us!), cut it down, haul it at least a half mile, and then secure it to the top of the Craptastic minivan. We rationalize this annual excursion and expense by claiming the cash stays in our local economy and it ensures more green space and fewer developments.
About 5yrs ago, to coincide with the arrival of a Lab puppy, we stopped using the fancy glass ornaments and started making our own. Paper chains. Popcorn garland. Recycled cards. Juice can lids. Clothes pin snowflakes. Glitter dipped pinecones. Scandinavian hearts. Our only caveat is that we use nothing fragile, in case the dogs tip the tree.
We bake lots of cookies and give them away. Consume way too many. Bake doggie treats for the many pups on our street.
Eat several crates of clementines and swill egg nog.
This year, we're making fleece blankies to give to the lone homeless shelter in our rural area. Donating various coats and outerwear, as well.
Kids both have Christmas Concerts- one for Cello Boy and some freaky weird Holiday hoo-ha for the younger. We all cram into the unheated auditorium, wet boots, tired siblings, and indigestion from hurriedly inhaled dinner to watch our kid sing off- key Culturally Sensitive holiday songs no one's ever heard, complete with goofy hand gestures. Awesome good time!
I got up at 4AM to be at Mega Retailer for the 5AM opening on Black Friday. It's a tradition and I refuse to even begin my shopping until then. Keeps me in budget. 4:30 AM, in line with Gal Pal, sipping a Poor Man's Mocha Latte (instant coffee with instant hot cocoa mix) in a travel mug, 8 degrees F in predawn dark,and shuffling in the Lake Effect snow to get my Star Wars Ultimate Light Saber kit for $21, because "Santa can do anything". Armed with cell phones and military precision, we were in and out in less than 36 minutes.
One of our favorite traditions is the Christmas Eve gingerbread house. Every year we would make a gingerbread house the long afternoon of Christmas Eve. Leave the creation on the dining room table and attend the Children's Service at church. Every year, No, No Bad Dog would eat it. No, No, Bad Dog passed into "doggie heaven", but we continue the Ginger bread house tradition.
We check out the lights and the Christkindl market in Akron, and do a bit of ice skating.
We do make some of our gifts, but not all. And we try to buy from other crafters.
Posted by acebeader on 2006-05-11 12:06:29
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Another vote for Emmett Otter and other Muppet favorites! I found Emmet on DVD and couldn't believe it!
I also loved....
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Caddyshack (my family is a little warped, but in a good way)
Willy Wonka
Pollyanna
Anne of Green Gables
Cinderella
The Little Mermaid
The Princess Bride
The Christmas Story
Posted by redheadedali on 2004-12-26 12:34:09
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I got:
*an iPod (squeee!)
*Stitch N Bitch Nation (squeeee!)
*some other books, including Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde and The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara
*a huge container of jewelry beads
*seasons of Buffy, Angel, and Gilmore Girls on DVD
* leopard print pajama bottoms and a pink furry leopard print watch
There were some other things (which I am very grateful for - don't want to seem like the kids in A Christmas Story who open up socks and throw them over their shoulders ;)), but those are the highlights. I also have a few gift cards, but I'm debating if it will be too much of a mob scene to go out and spend them today.
On a non-materialist note, I gave my grandfather a book about World War II in the South Pacific, and he told me stories about his tour of duty during the Korean War. That was pretty cool.
Alison, eating the chocolates she got from her grandparents
