I realize we’ve just celebrated Halloween.  It’s evident with the amount of candy we have around our house.  Not to mention that yesterday, I found two big bags of candy that I forgot I hid….in hopes of it lasting until Halloween so we could fill up the trick-or-treaters’ buckets.  I hid it too well.  Because the LAST thing I need are two big bags of yummy chocolate bars around our house.  AND.  Please tell me I’m not the only one who hides things and then forgets that I even bought the stuff…anyone?

Well, today, I feel it’s only appropriate.  I need to share with you my enthusiasm for the holidays.  I. LOVE. CHRISTMAS.

Christmas…I absolutely love EVERYTHING about Christmas.  I feel kind of like Kristen Wiig (in this skit, her name is Sue).  Sue really loves surprise parties.  I get it.  I really love Christmas.  “I’m so freakin’ excited!”

Saturday Night Live’s skit…”Surprise Party”

Click here to watch:  Kristen Wiig Surprise Party  Kristen loves surprise parties like I love Christmas.

For starters, let me share my feelings about the glorious holiday music.  I’ve loved Christmas music ever since I was a little girl.  I have my mom to thank for passing on the love of Christmas songs.  My brother, my mom, and I would go in search of the “perfect Christmas tree” on the gravel roads around the New Sharon countryside.  Looking in ditches for that perfect tree and all the while, singing like Clark and Ellen Griswold of the movie Christmas Vacation.

I loved how our church always got in the Christmas spirit, singing Christmas carols about our Savior’s birth.   We would have Christmas programs, complete with tinsel-winged angels.  Not to mention that I have fond memories of our youth group going caroling.

I think my very first Christmas cassette tape was Amy Grant’s Home for Christmas.  OH.  I played that tape all the time.  I even recall teaching my little kindergarteners and first graders at Harrison the words to “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”.  Cindy Salat and I worked together at Harrison…Cindy, did you ever get tired of me playing that song over and over?  I’m so sorry…I tend to find something I love and listen to it over. and. over. and. over.  🙂

Home for Christmas ~ Amy Grant

I grew up working retail and I absolutely loved the holidays.  I have great memories… sixteen years old and working at The Brass Buckle in Penn Centre Mall jamming to “Last Christmas” by Wham! while I bustled around the racks, helping holiday shoppers find the perfect Lawman or Pepe jeans.  That song is such a classic that ten years later, “Last Christmas” still rang through the speakers while I worked at The Gap located in Westdale Mall.

I could go on about my love of Christmas music (Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, Burl Ives, Bing Crosby, Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift, etc…), but let me move on to movies.

I’m the gal who LOVES the Hallmark channel.  Because Christmas movies are on there NON STOP.

LOVE.

I have been known to DVR Christmas movies so I can watch them year-round.  No joke.

Remember my post when I shared that the boys and I watched our first Christmas movie of the season, back on October 10th?  Watching Christmas movies in October, yes. October.  Arthur Christmas is such a cute movie and we loved watching it back on that crisp fall night, though we hadn’t even celebrated Halloween.  Listen friends.  We are not ashamed.  Not at all.

Last night, I was telling Nate and Maxim about the Hallmark channel and ALL OF THE CHRISTMAS MOVIES.  That was all Nate needed.  He took the baton and ran with it.  After pleading to Daddy, we spent the evening eating popcorn and watching Elf. 

We LOVE Will Ferrell

It was a great way to spend a cold, rainy Monday night.  And I can’t agree more with Buddy the Elf…”The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.”

As I referenced to earlier, Clark and Ellen Griswold…they make us laugh because we all know the holidays can be stressful.  Christmas Vacation is a favorite around our house.

A funny movie with so many great quotes!

Probably my VERY favorite Christmas movie of all times is White Christmas.

The best ever.

You must love singing and dancing and imagining yourself staying at a beautiful Vermont inn.  Watch this movie and you’ll be like me and watch it at least five times over the Christmas season.

Last year, my parents and Hubby, the boys, and I went to the Des Moines Civic Center to watch a live performance of White Christmas.  Nate has once again carried the baton and loves this movie.  (Though he will admit that seeing it live at the Civic Center was not his favorite because “it wasn’t just like the movie”.)

Ready to watch the performance!

Handsome fellas…at the restaurant before the show

I would be amiss if I didn’t talk about another classic.  A Charlie Brown Christmas is one of my favs.  I just love how the children talk about the real meaning of Christmas and share the story of our Savior’s birth.  Linus does a great job of retelling Jesus’ birth.  Love it.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

I found a few other movies that I love.

I had no idea this post was going to be like Casey Kasem’s Top 40 Christmas songs.  Or a movie review post, similar to Siskel and Ebert.

I won’t go into other Christmas related topics that I was going to talk about.  Because I realize that you need to get back to work.  Or your laundry.  Or making supper.  And because if I did, it’d be another one of the longest posts ever.

But I do plan to blog about these topics in the near future:  Elf on the Shelf ideas, Christmas decorating, & Christmas baking…just to name a few.

In the meantime, get into the Christmas spirit.  Comment below and tell us…what is your favorite Christmas song or movie (or both!)?

And if you’re like me, you’ll have about ten songs and ten movies to share because INDECISIVENESS.  It may or may not be my problem.