Announcement: I love all things Christmas! Christmas music, Christmas decor, Christmas movies, (sigh)…
But first let me just say… FINALLY!!! It has been a long and emotional road trying to get HERE! Here, where I begin blogging consistently again; here where I maintain a routine and I’m moving forward, not backwards; Here, where I don’t feel like I’m all over the place, working on 10 things at once but not getting anything done; here, where I’m at a comfortable place on my new job and adapting to it’s specific set of demands; here, where I’m not battling sickness back-to-back for weeks on end; and here, where 6 months in, I’m satisfied with the progress of my home. Ahhh, (deep breath).
I am not one to procrastinate at all. But I am most certainly a creature of habit, routine and regimen. And when the routine is disrupted, it’s difficult for me to simply carry on, but I’m learning, carry on is what I must do. I said that to say this… I have not been sitting around lazily putting off getting back on my blog grind by no means. Click here to take a look at my message to my gracious subscriber friends at the end of October when I thought I was “back”, but then life continued to happen (surprise, surprise), and I dealt with sickness and a couple emergencies over the next several weeks. It felt like everything including the kitchen sink was being thrown my way. But I am a keep it moving kind of girl so that’s what I did.
Now on to the season at hand….
I am so excited and happy right now for Christmas. It has always been my absolute favorite time of year. Not because of anything commercial by way of gifts or the extraordinary hustle and bustle, but because it’s the time of year we celebrate the birth of Christ, (the real timing of His birth not withstanding… I’ll save that for another post), and the romanticism of it all; the decorations, lights, music and traditions; the peace, love and joy it exudes.
Do you have Christmas traditions? I’m sure you do, so please list them in the comments. I’d love to hear how everyone enjoys this beautiful season. And maybe I’ll be inspired to adopt some! I definitely have Christmas traditions. Starting the day after Thanksgiving, I blast my Christmas music, make some egg nog Chai tea, pull out all my decorations, and get to decorating. While an abundance of Christmas decor is extremely beautiful, I’m just not into a lot of decorations. (I may be eating these words next year, lol!!!) And this year in particular. I re-purposed last year’s gold-themed items, because I’d just bought most of it, all more suited to my then-home decor. Fast forward to this year, I was determined to find a way to make it work with my new white / silver / chrome home, having spent sooo much money on… well, everything! Geesh! Houses are expensive. But more on that in coming posts
No trees. No wreaths. I know you’re saying, how can you really love Christmas and not have at least one tree? One wreath? I have no answer for that, but one day, I hope to have at least three; one in the living area, one in the Master Bedroom and one at the top of the stairs. But for now, and the last 18 years, haha, I simply love to add touches of decorations to tabletops, counter tops and other surfaces, and I always hang tree ornaments from door knobs.
On to music… For the rest of the year after Thanksgiving has come and gone, I only play Christmas songs, in my house, in my car, because I love, love, love Christmas music. Some of my favorites are A Motown Christmas, Handel’s Messiah: A Soulful Celebration, Boyz II Men’s Christmas Interpretations, The Carpenter’s Christmas Portrait, Sandi Patty’s The Gift Goes On, Christmas with Babyface, Chris Botti’s December, Kirk Whalum’s The Christmas Message, Alexander O’Neal’s My Gift to You, Peabo Bryson’s Christmas with You, Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas (released 23 years ago, wow) and Kem’s What Christmas Means. That’s a lot I know, but these are the ones I will ALWAYS play throughout the season.
Let’s talk about that egg nog chai. If you’ve read a few of my blog posts and seen a few of my Instagram posts, you know that I love chai tea. I especially love it during the Christmas holidays because I get to put egg nog in it. Yum! I love egg nog too. So much so, that I can easily go through a quart a day, and I have! I even plan for the extra poundage I’ll pick up behind drinking that much by fasting prior to Thanksgiving to lose 10 pounds. Crazy, right?! Yep. I’m not particular to any brand, but I really don’t like the flavored ones, like pumpkin and vanilla. Really? Just leave a good thing alone already! The Chamba Chai (pictured below) you can find seasonally at Costco, but I keep at least six of these to have year round. I make mine with half water and half nog. Anybody else Chai and egg nog?
Then there are the holiday movies. So after I finish my decorating, usually late, around 10pm or so, I’ll grab another cup of egg nog Chai, and watch The Wiz. This is my kick-off holiday season movie. Throughout the season I’ll watch Dreamgirls (yeah I know it’s not a Christmas movie but it came out on Christmas so when I think of it, I think of Christmas), An Affair to Remember, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Family Stone, Black Nativity, Best Man Holiday, The Perfect Holiday, The Preacher’s Wife, The Holiday, and my all-time favorite that I will watch at least twice over the holidays…. This Christmas. Oh how I love that movie!!!
Christmas scenes around my house…
In my home office…
On the media cabinets…
At the counter…
On the coffee table…
Dining tablescape…
And I celebrate New Year’s Day, by playing the music, drinking the egg nog chai, and dismantling everything; taking down and packing away the decorations and memories for the next 11 months. The Christmas love affair ends and it’s on to the goals and pursuits of the New Year.
One tradition that tops my list I’ll miss this year… Usually my brother and his family are in town, and on Christmas morning after breakfast we take our annual themed family Christmas portraits, like this one from 2014.
The Broski, @bodyonemedia is the gifted photographer behind many of the photos in my blog posts. This year he and his family will be celebrating in Nashville, but Mom and I will be sure to at least snap a Christmas usie
So this Christmas, I hope you will take the time to really be present with loved ones, family and friends, sharing the spirit of the season; all the love, peace and joy that you can with one another, and that you’ll experience an extraordinary holiday season to be remembered and cherished forever.
Singing: “Merry Christmas, with love,” from my home to yours.
