5 Things I love about the Holidays

You've all heard my shpeel on how I feel about Christmas decorations being put up earlier and earlier each year (did the department stores even celebrate Halloween??...we're in trouble when major holidays like that are overlooked.) However, this year, I thought...why fight it? And so I found myself singing Christmas songs before Thanksgiving, and planning what my Christmas tree was going to look like, and making lists of people to get gifts for, and send cards to. I couldn't help it. Was the Christmas spirit taking over me? I really can't say. All I know is, I was super excited to show LiLi everything that goes along with Christmas this year. Because this year, this year! she would notice things besides the awesome metallic wrapping paper that the gifts were wrapped in. Although, metallic wrapping paper is never to be under-valued. And so I've made a list of some of the things that I love about this time of year.

5. Holiday Baking


Last night I made THE best cookies ever! They are White Chocolate Truffle Pecan Cookies. And I will put the recipe on my cooking blog, because I love you all and that's what Christmas is all about...sharing amazing cookie recipes that would make choirs of angels sing. It turned Don and I into cookie Grinches. We really did not want to share them with the neighbors I'd baked them for.


I have been baking like a demon this holiday season, and I made a gingerbread house, for the first time in a long time...I was thirteen the last time I even attempted to put one together, I think. I will post this loverly, and I mean loverly, recipe as well, in case you want to stretch beyond the average kit and graham cracker cottage. I can respect it if you don't. I didn't for about 10 years. To find the recipe you can click here, or on the side link to my cooking blog.

4. Trimming the Tree


I love Christmas trees. What is about a Christmas tree that makes it so magical that after you set one up it instantly feels like Christmas? Our house is still torn apart from construction, our pantry is only partially sheet rocked, and I've painted our once brown and tar speckled sub-flooring a shocking dark blue. But in the corner that I've set the Christmas tree up, our house is a home. Yep, it's Christmas here, too.


3. Christmas crafts

Like I said, I began the Christmas season early this year. At the very beginning of December I started stitching this with a vengeance. Last year Adelei had a generic stocking, so I decided to make her something a little more special. It goes with the two other stockings I made for Don and I. I began this tradition due to Aubrey, who introduced me to the Shepherd's Bush stockings. They are gorgeous, and if you feel like making something heirloom, you really can't go wrong with these. This is just one of the few Christmas projects I've been doing. Making something by hand is like giving someone a little piece of you. I know that that sounds a bit cliche, but it's true! Try it next time you think about stepping into a crowded store.

2. Flowers that bloom in Winter


I honestly believe that there are some things that are set apart just to fight the depressing gray that winter brings. For me, that's why there are so many holidays in winter. Anyway, my sweetie-poo brought these home for me. And I can't tell you how much it lifts my spirits just to have something green in the house! I love these amaryllis bulbs so much. Almost as much as I love...

1. Family
LiLi really has made Christmas twenty bazillion times more fun. I spent hours setting up our Christmas tree. I did it while she was asleep. And when she woke up the next morning, she walked into the living room with her little sleeper on, and disheveled hair. She looked at the tree with her big, sea-blue eyes and said, "Ooooh." That made it all worth it. I love my Bugs. Sometimes before I put her to bed, I'll grab a stuffed animal, a fluffy blanket, turn off all the lights in the house, and turn on some soft Christmas music. Then we'll cuddle as we watch the lights twinkle and dance on the Christmas tree. This was something my parents always did with us. If I can think of one, single, honest-to-goodness, Goodwin family tradition that we observed year-after-year, this would be it. Family, tree, lights, music. Magic. It's Christmas.