A clean Christmas slate

It seems most everyone's blogs have gone quiet lately, mine most certainly included. I hope that means everyone is filling up their time with Christmas festivities--and enjoying themselves thoroughly. Justin and I had a great time in Atlanta for Thanksgiving and then I stole away with him to Tampa, where he had to go for a few days for work. I just soaked me up some Florida sunshine. Eddie took the trip with us too and behaved himself for the most part.

Now I'm caught up in a few Christmas festivities, myself. I spent the vast majority of today in the kitchen, baking cookies for a cookie drive for the enlisted airmen living in the dorms on base. I must confess it was a great way for me to try out some new recipes. I wasn't a fan of all the flavors I chose, but I'm giving them away and, more than likely, someone else will be a fan of them! It's a win-win situation.

I was reading something today that got me thinking about what a privilege it is to be rather newly married and able to forge new traditions as a family. It's easy to be somewhere new and missing the old traditions I've always known--especially at Christmas--but I'm blessed to have the chance to build something new with Justin. I was fortunate never to really feel like I was waiting for marriage, but at the same time, I think not looking for marriage left me unprepared and even unappreciative of some aspects of it. Forging new family traditions is one of those aspects. I better not waste the opportunity, and if you're in the same boat, I hope you don't waste it either.

This year Justin and I are going to Williamsburg as our gift to each other. I don't think that will become a tradition...but anything's possible.

So what's a favorite Christmas tradition of yours: past, present, or one you're dreaming of beginning in the future?

And I shall declare this...the WEEK of Thanksgiving

No one is more appalled when stores start putting Christmas goods on the shelves in August than my dear dad. Mine is a family that likes things to be in their proper order, and for my dad especially, that means NO signs whatsoever of Christmas until Thanksgiving. And because Thanksgiving has always been the start of the Christmas season I revel in so much, Thanksgiving has long been far and away my favorite day of the year.

Growing up, the morning was special in itself as my brother and I fought over whether to turn the TV to football or the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. (Sadly, my brother does not appreciate those snippets of Broadway performances the same way I do. Okay, fine. He doesn't appreciate them at all.) I can't help it; there just simply seems to be an atmosphere of happiness and hope for the season to come on Thanksgiving morning that captivates me. Then of course there's the big meal itself to look forward to, which is even easier to look forward to when one has a chef at home as talented and dedicated as my mom. But my favorite part of the day was always when the meal came to an end and my dad would finally allow me to dig out the Christmas decorations and blare the Christmas CDs (usually kicked off with Miss Mariah Carey). I always had the house almost entirely decorated by the end of the day--with some help, of course, from the rest of the family.

For the most part, I still hold off on all things Christmas until Thanksgiving. But something set me off this morning, and you will never guess what it was. Well, I never would have guessed it anyway. Tony Bennet sang "I'll Be Home for Christmas" on the Today Show. That opened the flood gates. When I was in sixth grade, I saw Tony Bennett's Christmas show in Branson with my church choir, and, I'm not gonna lie. It was pretty magical.

So the Christmas spirit started creeping in on me before Thanksgiving this year, and I've decided I'm okay with it. I've been pretty bored (and boring!) the last couple weeks, and this change is refreshing. And besides that, Thanksgiving is pretty late this year. It's not even a full month before Christmas!! So I'm declaring this the week of Thanksgiving. I'm listening to Christmas music as I write this, thanking God for His son, and I might just start decorating at any moment. It is my own home, after all, and several states away from my parents.

Just don't tell my dad, okay?

Mooching ideas

Hey friends. Are you feeling creative today? I hope so. I'm in need of some creativity, and I'm looking to you to find it. I may be using you, but I use you because you're brilliant. :-D

I have too much time on my hands these days and am trying not to just waste my days away. Thus, I'm hoping to get a jumpstart on this year's Christmas list, but I'm also hoping for a little help. Any innovative Christmas present ideas--either for this year or for past years? (Is it too early to ask you all to answer that question?) And, as a somewhat unrelated question, anyone cutting back on gifts this year?