25 Christmas Things About Me

I'm finished wrapping and I'm starting my weekend with some just-for-fun holiday shopping with a friend. While I'm gone, enjoy this little list!

1. I open Christmas gifts (from immediate family) on Christmas morning. I cannot imagine doing it any other way.
2. I do not have the ability to sleep past 6:00 am on Christmas morning. When I was younger, it was 4:00 am. In fact I have always awakened before my children. As you can tell, I’ve improved…and yet I’m still a child.
3. I believed very strongly in Santa until the age of seven when my mother sat me down and told me to be sure not to “ruin it” for my younger sister.
4. When my kids were younger, I used to address their gifts from Santa with my left hand so they couldn’t recognize my handwriting.
5. For Christmas every year, we have Beef Wellington, which my mom has to help me prepare because I am so hopeless in the kitchen.
6. The song “O Holy Night” makes me cry whenever it’s sung well.
7. Then I heard this version…and I cried for a different reason.
8. The song “Angels We Have Heard On High” makes me impatient. The words should be Gloria in Excessive Deo. Seriously, that tune never ends.
9. I don't think I have ever wassailed. I have no idea what it means.
10. I never want to know what someone has given me before I have opened it. That would ruin everything.
11. When carolers come to our door (which they haven’t since 1972), at first, it’s cool. Then it’s just annoying. I have no idea what to do. It’s like standing directly in front of the band at a concert. I need personal space when someone is singing to me.
12. I still have a bit of Yuletide Greetingitis. I’m always afraid I’ll wish someone the wrong thing – i.e. Merry Christmas and they’re Jewish or Happy Holidays and they’re devoutly Christian.
13. I feel guilty writing “Merry Xmas.” I cannot do it.
14. I’m usually ready to take down our tree and decorations by December 26th.
15. Every year, I make a batch of Grandma Weezie’s Eggnog. (That’s my mother-in-law.) It’s amazing, dangerously caloric and so packed full of booze it should be illegal.
16. For me, it’s not about the gift, it’s about the effort. Not that you saw something and thought I would like it, but that you thought about something I liked and then went to find something related. Even misplaced effort is good. Really.
17. I admit it, I send out a Christmas letter thingy. In fact this year, there was just a letter and no card. I’m sure many hate me for this and I’m sorry.
18. The Vince Guaraldi Trio’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is the best Christmas album ever.
19. I think people that leave their holiday lights up past January 31st should be ticketed. Seriously.
20. Christmas is way more stressful and way more fun when you share it with little kids.
21. We have an artificial tree. The last year that we had a real tree, when Christmas was over, it was too wide to get through almost any of our doors, except the sliding doors to our deck. My husband finally launched the tree off the deck (from the 2nd floor) and it ended up upside down in a snow bank where it sat for a month.
22. My favorite Christmas move is “Elf.” My second favorite is “Home Alone.” Both are brilliant, in my opinion.
23. For the second year in a row, I have written a letter from Santa to my sister’s 2nd grade class. (She’s a teacher.) Apparently, I am very good at this. Now, if I could only turn it into cash.
24. Although I adore Christmas morning, nothing beats the anticipation of Christmas Eve, especially sitting around watching “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
25. On Christmas morning, like many American families, we like to watch the Yule Log on TV while we open our presents.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Holidays to you and your family!