Moonlight & Mistletoe

Tonight, the Hallmark Channel begins showing Christmas movies–EECK!!  Can I say I’m just a tad bit excited?!?!   I LOVE Christmas movies….I ADORE Christmas movies.

However….I must say this is a little early to start showing Christmas movies, but where will I be this evening at 8pm MST?!?!?  Sitting on the sofa, in my jammies, watching Moonlight & Mistletoe of course!  Now, this is not one of my favorite Christmas movies, and I’m not sure that I would have scheduled this particular movie as opening night for the Hallmark Countdown to Christmas, but I’ll forgive them this time.   After all, it’s a CHRISTMAS MOVIE!!

This week I sat down to make out my annual Christmas Movie Viewing Schedule.  Did I mention that I LOVE Christmas movies!?!?   Every year, I open up an Excel Spreadsheet, and map out when each of the major “players” schedule their Christmas movies.  (The major players being Hallmark, Lifetime,  and ABC Family Channel)   I know there are other channels that show Christmas movies, but these are the major ones that show back-to-back Christmas movies for the most part.   Usually the channels don’t bring out the back-to-back scheduling until about the week before Thanksgiving, so this year, I got wind that they were starting early, so I had to get to work!  And work I did!!   I put together a spreadsheet for November and December of all the movies these channels have scheduled thus far.  I say “thus far” because Lifetime has not released their Christmas movie schedule for December yet!  (What are they waiting for?!?!!)  Once Lifetime releases their December schedule, I will add it to what I already have for the month and I will be done for 2012!!  Whew!!  It’s a lot of work, but I LOVE Christmas movies!

Moonlight & Mistletoe features Candace Cameron Bure….do you remember her?!!  Little DJ Tanner on Full House?!?  Well, she’s all grown up and she is gorgeous!!    It also features Tom Arnold of Roseanne Barr ex-husband fame!  I actually like him, but just never imagined Santa Claus being like Tom Arnold!  Sure the movie is cheesy, but that’s what makes it FUN!!   So, tonight when I get home from work, dinner will be made, jammies will be donned and I will plunk myself on the couch and begin my Christmas rituals a few weeks early!

If you are interested in receiving a copy of my Christmas Movie Schedule, please let me know in the comments below, and I will get one to you!

Happy Christmas Eve!

I cannot even believe it is Christmas Eve!  All the planning, the sewing, the crafting, the baking, the shopping will all come to a screeching halt tonight!  I still have my Christmas Cinnamon rolls to make tonight, but I have nothing else to sew or craft!

This has been a crazy week at the Bryant household!  After the fun of our sledding day, things kinda went downhill!  I was awakened on Friday morning at 5am by daughter #3, that daughter #2 was laying on her bedroom floor, crying because her abdomen hurt!  I bundled her up, got her in the car and headed to the ER.  After almost 5 hours in the ER, it was discovered that she had a 2 mm kidney stone!  So they drugged her up, wrote out 3 prescriptions and sent us home to wait for the stone to pass!  As of this evening at 7:57pm, as I write this, it is still somewhere in her kidneys!

Tonight, we attended our church’s Christmas Eve service.  Daughter #1 and #2 performed a beautiful dance to “Jesus, Born on This Day”…yes, that is daughter #2 with the kidney stone!  She’s a trooper!  We sang all the old Christmas carols and our wonderful pastor gave a short message on the importance of the birth of Jesus.  I love the Christmas Eve service!

Today I baked sugar cookies (the recipe I shared the other day for soft sugar cookies is wonderful!!   Just pay attention to the part where it says to roll them out thin—they really puff up!), I made brownies and Uber Rice Krispy Treats!  The girls have opened their Christmas eve jammies and I just now put the cinnamon rolls in to rise while we watch “The Nativity”, which has been a Christmas Eve tradition since it came out on DVD.  We are settling in for a long winter’s nap!

I no longer have little ones that are excited and anticipating the arrival of Santa Claus, which makes me very sad.  There is no need to get the cookies and milk ready; no urgency to get to bed so Santa doesn’t pass us by.   Rudolph will just have to pass us by this year!

As I sit here watching “The Nativity”, I cannot help but think what an act of faith it was for Mary and Joseph to be the chosen ones.  Can you imagine having an angel come to tell your 13 or 14 year old daughter that even though she has not had relations with a man,  she will be having a baby?!?!  And not just ANY baby, but God’s only Son!??!   I have a 13 year old daughter and I would have a really hard time believing it!  What kind of faith must their families have had?  Can you imagine being the mother of God’s Son?  It’s a big enough responsibility to raise a regular child…I can’t even think what a responsibility it would be to raise the King of Kings!

God gave His Son…His only Son.  He sent Him to earth to die for sins, to be beaten so that we could be healed from any sickness and disease, and to become poor so that we might become rich.  What a sacrifice!  God’s gift to us…His Son.  Have you received this gift?  Have you accepted His love for you?  Although there are many gifts under our tree, the only gift that matters to any of us is the gift that God gave us in His Son, Jesus.  Will you accept that gift?

I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas….

As I sit here “writing”, a soft snow is gently falling outside.  Since I live in Colorado, most people automatically assume that we have a white Christmas, but in actuality, we hardly ever have a white Christmas!  Nothing puts me more in the spirit of Christmas than a snowfall.  I love when it snows at Christmas!  I hope that this year, we do have a white Christmas….but NOT TODAY!!!  There is still shopping to do!  There are still things to be done and I can’t be snowed in now!

I am starting to feel that Christmas “stress” come upon me….I have not made the cookies I planned on, I still don’t have my daughters’ Christmas Eve jammies done, I still have a few Christmas presents I need to make and I still have quite a few gifts to buy!  Not only that, but we just found out that 2 of my daughters will be dancing at the Christmas Eve service at our church, so I need to make 2 dancing skirts by Saturday as well!

Every year, I say I’m going to start earlier.  Then, things come up or finances are tight, and I’m not able to get it all together early like I plan.  So what should we do?  I think the secret is to just do what we can!  Do I really need to make cookies?  Do I need to make additional Christmas presents for my kids when I already have presents for them under the tree?  It’s all about figuring out what needs to be done and what can be scratched off the list!

This year I planned on taking the kids driving around to look at Christmas lights.  I planned on having a special night where I sent them invitations to a Christmas slumber party under the Christmas tree.  I planned on taking them to see the Electric Safari at the local zoo.  I planned all these things and now Christmas is only 3 days away!  So we go on to Plan B:

We will drive around and look at Christmas lights on the way home from our church’s Christmas Eve Service

I will invite them to a slumber party under the Christmas party one day next week since we will all be home

We will go see the Electric Safari one night next week

We will bake cookies one day next week while I’m on vacation from work

Maybe I will finish some of their gifts next week, and give them to them on New Year’s Eve

Sometimes we just put too much pressure on ourselves to do everything before Christmas…why not wait until after Christmas to do some of the special things?  If you are behind in things you wanted to do, do them next week instead!  Enjoy these last couple of days between now and Christmas.  Stop and watch a Christmas movie with your family.  Pull out a game and sit down to play with your kids.  Christmas is not about the presents and the food…it’s about spending time with your family and enjoying them.  If you are stressed out and worn out, just stop and figure out what can wait…and do the rest next week!!!  And by the way….I AM dreaming of a white Christmas!

Christmas, Day 3….

I am so glad it’s the weekend!  I had a long, exhausting week and am looking forward to a break. (Well, if you can call cleaning the house, doing laundry, going grocery shopping, finishing the decorating of the house, making some crafts, and writing this blog a “‘break”!)

Today, your activity is quite simple….tonight,  I want you to make some hot chocolate, make some popcorn, gather the family together and watch a Christmas movie.  It can be one that’s on TV or a rental or one you own.  Just pick a movie and spend the evening with your family.  There are so many wonderful movies out there for Christmas.  It’s a Wonderful Life is one of my favorites to watch with the family.  We all need a reminder every so often that our lives are important and have meaning.  Or if you’ve had a long week and just want to sit back, relax and laugh, pick up The Santa Clause or Elf or A Christmas Story.   Take the time now to sit down with your family before the flurry of activity hits.

Christmas Movies

Tonight, The Hallmark Channel will be offering another holiday premiere.  This movie is called A Princess for Christmas.  Who doesn’t love a magical tale of a poor girl that suddenly becomes rich and royalty (Kate Middleton?!?!  Nuff said!), then make it a Christmas movie and you’ve got yourself a magical evening!   Having 3 little princesses myself, we will be watching this movie tonight!  One of the stars is Roger Moore, best known as the dashing and naughty, James Bond (after the amazing Sean Connery and before the studly Pierce Brosnan).  I have only seen him as James Bond, so it will be interesting to see him as another character.  Hallmark will be showing back-to-back Christmas movies all day long, so check your local listings for times and movies.

Over on Lifetime Channel, they will also be airing Christmas movies all day.  I am looking forward to Nothing Like the Holidays starring Debra Messing.  Following Nothing Like the Holidays, is a cute little movie called A Boyfriend For Christmas.  It’s a corny little Christmas love story, but isn’t that what Christmas movies are usually about anyway?!  This is one movie I own and my girls and I love watching the love story between Holly and Douglas Firwood unfold!

ABC Family Channel is once again dedicating this weekend to the Harry Potter series, which is so disappointing to me.  ABC has the rights to an awful lot of great family Christmas movies, and yet they continually show the HP movies, as well as the Pixar movies such as The Incredibles.   For me, I will stick with the stations that air real Christmas movie fare!

Today’s Craft

This morning I woke up to a winter wonderland!  There was a nice dusting of snow on the ground and frost on the trees.  Nothing gets me more in the holiday spirit like a snowfall!  Today we are going to make snowballs!  No, not the wet, cold kind…the kind you can decorate with and they never melt!

The Cast of Characters

Epsom Salts, Tacky glue, styrofoam balls, and white glitter.  All of these items (except the Tacky Glue) can be found at the dollar store.  You don’t have to get the Tacky glue brand…any white glue will do!)  You will also need a bowl, a plastic cup, and a paintbrush.

To begin, mix some glue with water (about 2 parts glue to 1 part water) in a plastic cup and mix.

Then pour some of the Epsom salts into a bowl.  Pour a good amount of it…you want enough to be able to roll the styrofoam ball in it.  The larger the ball, the more you will need! Add some of the glitter to the salts.  The more you add, the more sparkly the snowballs will be.

Now, get a piece of wire or ornament hook, straighten it out and insert into the ball.  This is to keep your fingers from getting glue on them as you add it to the ball!  You could even use a toothpick!  Once you’ve inserted the wire, start to paint the glue mix onto the ball.  You want to cover the whole ball (even around the wire).  If it’s glopping, thin it out a bit. Glopping will cause the salts to glop onto the ball and then fall off in one chunk!

Next, you just roll the ball in the bowl of salt and glitter!  I will roll it around, and then with my fingers just start adding the salt/glitter to bare spots.

Once it’s all covered…this is what you will have…

A snowball!!  Isn’t it pretty?  The picture doesn’t do it justice….(and no, as you can tell, I did not get the aforementioned manicure since my last craft!)

Lay the finished snowballs on a plastic plate or ice cream bucket lid like mine!

Can you imagine a tree filled with snowballs? Or….

This is what I plan to make this afternoon with my snowballs!   Can’t you just imagine all the things you can do using this technique?

You can even use this technique on candles and other things!  You can also paint the styrofoam a different color (like blue) and then put the salts on it and the blue will lightly show through.  If you want to put the “snow” on something that is colored (like this pillar candle) but you want it to be white, you will need to paint white on it before you add the salt.  Use a piece of tape or a rubber band to mark the edge before you paint.

Now…who wants to make some snowballs?!!?

Let the Christmas Season Begin!!

Well, the turkey has been eaten, the dishes done, the turkey soup is on the stove and thus the “official” Christmas season begins at our home!  We already have one and a half trees up….one more to go!  Today I am trying to concentrate on getting the other decorations up, but wanted to get a couple of crafts made to share with you!  Unfortunately, the first one I tried ended as an epic fail, and the other is drying on the dining room table as I write!

I have been combing the internet for fun, pretty and easy decorations to make.  I found these darling ornaments and since I have a large collection of toilet paper rolls, I thought “These would be so easy, cute and cheap to make!”.  Well, they were cheap, and could be cute, but they weren’t all that easy!  I was all prepared with my spray paint and glitter, had a place in the garage to use the spray paint and when I started to spray, I learned that spray paint doesn’t always stick to toilet paper rolls!!  I tried and tried, but ended up with a plain toilet paper roll, sitting in a pool of pretty white paint….

So, when that failed, I made another one and hand painted it with acrylic paint and it turned out much better….

I thought I was home free and victory was within reach!  Next it was time to add the glitter so I began to dust the “snowflake” with the glitter….and the glitter just fell right off!  The acrylic paint apparently dries way too fast!  So, my lightning quick brain said “Paint each side again and add the glitter before moving on to the next side!”  I did that and it just didn’t look too pretty as evidenced here:

I am not giving up though!!  My next try at it will be adding white glitter, which is probably what I should have done to start with!  I think the multi-colored was just not forgiving enough….any mistakes would clearly be identified!   Soooo…being the kind of person I am, I just HAD to give it one more try!!!  This time, I hand painted each surface with white paint, then immediately sprinkled white glitter, then did this for each surface…..

Victory is mine!!!  White, glittery toilet paper roll star!  Next time, I will paint it red and make it a poinsettia!  (That is IF there is a next time…lol.)

What this taught me is that sometimes, things don’t always work out the first time, but if you try, try again, you might just succeed!  Another thing I know about crafting is that sometimes things don’t work out the way the instructions are given, but if you just take the time to think about it, you might come up with a better (and easier way) of doing it! 

Movies I Recommend

Tonight, both Hallmark and Lifetime channels are premiering brand new Christmas movies.  The Hallmark Channel will be premiering Debbie McComber’s Trading Christmas, which as far as I can tell, is a little bit like The Holiday, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  It starts at 6pm MST/8pm EST.  It is preceded by two other movies by Debbie McComber, which have already begun as I sit here!  I would tell you to check the Hallmark site online for times, but I just looked over there and they were not posting the same times as the TV Guide Channel on my TV!  So you might want to check your TV for schedules and times!

Lifetime will be premiering a movie called Dear Santa, about a lonely young woman who decides to be Santa’s gift to a little girl and her lonely father.  I really want to see both movies tonight, so will most likely watch Dear Santa at 6pm and the repeat of Trading Christmas at 8pm.

Tomorrow night (Sunday, November 27th), Hallmark will be premiering the movie Holiday Engagement, which looks like a really cute movie as well.  It starts at 6pm MST/pm EST. 

 

Books I Recommend

As I said before, I think everyone should read Christmas books around Christmas time.  One of my favorite books to read at this time of year is The Paper Bag Christmas.  It’s a beautiful story and please, have a box of kleenex on hand when you get to the final chapters!!  It is a MUST read, in my opinion!

 

Question of the Day

Have you ever made a craft that ended in an epic fail?  If so, what was it and what went wrong?

We Interrupt This Christmas to Bring You…THANKSGIVING!!

Happy Thanksgiving!! 

(Or as my former mother-in-law used to say, “Happy Gobble, Gobble Day!”)  I LOVE Thanksgiving!  To me, it is like the door that opens into Christmas!  From about now until January 2nd, life seems to be one big flurry of excitement….turkeys to defrost (Yes, I defrost mine in a sink full of water all day long and all night long.  I do it; my mom has always done it and my grandma did it…we are still alive and no one has ever gotten sick on Thanksgiving day except from overeating, so I guess it’s OK to do it that way!), meals to plan, goodies to prepare, presents to purchase, crowds to shove your way through, decorating the house…oh, my, I get exhausted just thinking about it! 

Tomorrow as you sit down to eat your Thanksgiving meal, take a few moments to think about what you are most thankful for.  Here in America, we have so much to be thankful for.  Most of us have homes, a hot meal every night, clothes on our backs, a warm bed to sleep in every night…let’s be thankful!  It’s easy to look at all things we don’t have or wish we had.  It’s easy to slip into that “I want” mentality, but just for a moment, think about all things that you DO have and be thankful. 

This has been a particularly hard year for my daughters and I.  We have had so many things happen to us that we could complain about (and I admit, there have been times we’ve complained!), but we have also seen God do so many wonderful things in our lives!  I don’t want to be a complainer; I want to be thankful for everything I’ve been blessed with.  Do I have extra money to take a nice long vacation like our neighbors do?  No.  Do we eat filet mignon every night for dinner?  No.  Do we have the latest and greatest computer/software/video stuff?  No.  Do I drive a brand new car?  No.  But what I DO have are:  3 beautiful, healthy, Godly daughters; friends that have loved us and blessed us; a beautiful, heated home with warm beds; food in our bellies every night; a decent car that gets me where I need to be, a job that I love and most importantly, a God that loves me no matter what!  For that alone I should be thankful….I am thankful….are you?

Movies to Watch
Tonight, on the Hallmark Channel is showing The Gift of the Magi at 4pm MST/6pmEST.  I have not seen this movie yet, but I adore this story!!  I’m a little sad that it starts so early…I doubt I’ll be home from work in time to watch it, but hopefully it will be on again!  Following that is November Christmas, which is a classic Hallmark movie (have tissues nearby!).  There will also be some Thanksgiving movies on all day Thanksgiving day (starting at 4am MST/6am EST).

Over on the Lifetime Channel, starting at 6pm MST/8pm EST is a cute little movie called 12 Men of Christmas.  This movie features Kristen Chenoweth, whom I think is cute as a button and so talented!  It will also be airing again at 10pm MST)  Following that will be Christmas in Paradise, which is about 2 single-parent families that meet while on vacation.   On Thanksgiving day, Lifetime will be showing back-to-back Christmas movies all day starting at 7am MST.

I’m not tuning in too much over at ABC Family Channel.  I don’t think they deliver on excellent Christmas movie fare….too many showings of Harry Potter (what does HP have to do with Christmas?!) and Pixar movies (The Incredibles) for me.  If you’re going to call it the 25 Days of Christmas, you should probably be filling the schedule with Christmas movies!  They own the rights to one  of my all-time favorite Christmas movies, Three Days, but they always show it at obscure times…this year, it will be on at 7am MST on a Friday!  So, I won’t be able to watch it because I have to go to work!  It’s a little upsetting…lol…

Have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving Day!!

 

Question of the Day

What are you thankful for today?

A Season for Miracles…

Tomorrow night(8pm MST) on the Hallmark Channel is one of my favorite Christmas movies.  It’s called A Season for Miracles.  It’s about a woman who “kidnaps” her niece and nephew when her sister goes to rehab/jail.   When the state tries to take them away from her, she takes the kids and ends up in a little town called “Bethlehem”.   The townspeople mistake Emilie for the niece of an old woman that had passed away and left her house to the niece.  With a little help from an angel, Emilie falls in love with a cop and the children finally get their “miracle” of a stable home.

I love this movie because it shows that even in the most dire circumstances, God is there to help us.  This year will truly be a “season for miracles” for me and my family.  You see, my ex-husband lost his job in August and so I have been supporting my children all by myself on my meager salary, and when I say “meager” I mean meager!!  For the past three months, we have seen miracle after miracle on our behalf by God.  My meager salary has been added to by caring friends who bought me a gift card to Wal-Mart so I could fill my pantry with food for a few weeks.  It’s been supplemented by a new friend that I spent one evening with that has a heart for single moms.  I’ve gotten called at the last minute to shoot a high school dance, which brought in just enough to finish paying my mortgage payment.  God IS good!  I am always amazed to see how He will provide for the next bill that is due.  Right now, I have a big bill that is due on Saturday and I am just waiting to see how God is going to provide.  My faith in God is very real.  I do sometimes struggle with the walk, but I know that no matter what, I will serve God.

Miracles happen every day.  For some of us, we count on miracles and have to be humble enough to accept them; for some, miracles are rarely needed so those are the ones God will use to provide the miracles to those that do need them.  If you are lucky enough in this day and age to have extra, please remember those less fortunate.  There are many wonderful organizations out there that can use your help this time of year.  For years, we have participated in the Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child . This week is the week they ask people to put together shoeboxes with small gifts for children all over the world that NEED a miracle every day.  Fill the box with hygiene items, school supplies, toys, clothing, etc…  Look around your community to see where you can help out.  Here in the Springs, the Springs Rescue Mission could use donations to help feed the homeless and less fortunate for Thanksgiving and Christmas (as well as every day!).   There are so many less fortunate people out there.  I at least have a roof over my head, food in my pantry (thanks, JD and Tracey!), a job, clothes, and so many other things!  I encourage you to find a place or a family that you can help out this year.  Teach your children to give.  At our former church, we had an Angel Tree every year.  My girls would each pick out one Angel off the tree and I ‘d let them pick out a gift for that child or person.  It teaches children to be gracious and giving.  That’s what Christmas is all about…God giving us the most precious gift ever!

While we are all in different seasons of life, I choose to believe that I am in a season for miracles….

Movie to Watch

A Season for Miracles, Hallmark Channel, 10pm EST/8pm MST.  Be sure to check your local listings…I have found that the schedule on hallmarkchannel.com isn’t always accurate.  Don’t miss this one!

Question of the Day

What is the biggest miracle you have ever experienced?

Let’s Get Ready for Christmas!

Hi, all!!  Thank you to all of my new followers!  I’m so excited to have you all join me.  I hope I can live up to the hype- 🙂 .

First of all, let me say this….even though I love everything about Christmas, the main reason to celebrate is the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!  Without Him, we would have no reason to celebrate!  The greatest gift EVER given was from God.  As you go through the days leading up to Christmas, take time to remember what it’s all about.  Back in the 80’s the big quote was “Jesus is the Reason for the Season”.  Let’s keep that in mind as we go through the next 6 and a half weeks (Yes, 6 1/2 weeks until Christmas–eeck!).  If the stress of the season starts to get to you, stop what you are doing, take 10 minutes to relax and meditate on the birth of Christ.

Books to Read

I highly recommend reading a Christmas book or two during the season so that you have something you can do to just relax and unwind.  One book I try to read every Christmas is the book “Two From Galilee” (found here).  It’s the beautiful love story of Mary and Joseph.   It’s always incredible to me to see the faith and trust that Mary and Joseph had when they found out they were going to be the parents of the Messiah!  Can you imagine?!  I can’t.  That’s why I need to be reminded every year….

Movies Worth Watching

With all that being said….this weekend is kind of the “kick-off”, if you will, of the holiday movie season on the Hallmark Channel.  I’m a big advocate for waiting until the dishes are done on until the day after Thanksgiving day, but as I was thinking about it today, I realized that sometimes the month of December is so busy with parties and activities, that we don’t have time to sit down and watch Christmas movies.  So, being able to watch some during November is perfect for those of you that are busy during the month of December!

This weekend begins the Countdown to Christmas on the Hallmark Channel.  Christmas movies will begin at 6am EST (4am MST!!) and run all day Saturday and all day Sunday!  There will be two premieres: Lucky Christmas at 8pm EST/6pm MST on Saturday night, and then Cancel Christmas at 8pm EST/6pm MST on Sunday evening.  Both will re-play immediately following their debuts on the same evenings.  Since they are new, I haven’t had time to review them so we’ll be seeing them for the first time together!  I’m not a big fan of Elizabeth Berkley or Judd Nelson, but maybe the years have mellowed them out a bit!

Other Saturday recommendations are The Christmas Card at 4pm EST/2pm MST and November Christmas immediately following at 6pm EST/4pm MST.  The Christmas Card is a lovely little love story, and November Christmas is sure to bring those big Hallmark tears!   The Santa Clause (one of my favorite, fun Christmas movies) starring Tim Allen will be airing on Sunday at 6pm EST/4pm MST.  All 3 of these movies are great movies to watch! 

Things to Do

While this is not one of the “fun” activities I have prepared for you, it’s an important one!  Right now, grocery stores are starting to put things on sale that will be needed throughout the holidays.  It is a great time to start stocking up on all those necessities without breaking the bank!  If you go to the grocery store once a week, add just 2 or 3 items to the cart that you will be needing in the next 6 weeks or so.  A lot of the recipes I’ll be sharing require flour, sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, etc….add a bag of this or that every time you go to the store and then it’s not such a huge cost at one time.  I was a Girl Scout, so I believe in “being prepared”.

Now is also a great time to stock up on crafting supplies.  Michaels, Hobby Lobby and places like that are already reducing their items to 50% off.  A few of the items you will need for some of the crafts we will be doing are glue guns/glue sticks, spray paint, glitter, regular glue, Christmas fabric, scissors (I’m amazed at the people that don’t have a good pair of scissors!!  These are my favorites!  Get some–today!)  Oh, and start saving up the empty cardboard toilet paper and paper towel rolls—you’re gonna need them!!  I will try to put together a list of things you will need to make all the fun Christmas crafts I have in store for you!

Well, that’s all I have for today!  Thank you so much for the visit… I would love to have your thoughts, ideas, comments, etc….  And please….share your answer for the question of the day!!

Question of the Day

What is your favorite Christmas movie of all time?

Is It Christmas Yet?!?!?

Welcome to my blog!!  I am so excited about getting this thing started.   I have loved Christmas ever since I can remember!   I love the sights, the sounds, the food, the smells, the cheesy movies—everything!  When I realized that I have so many ideas to make Christmas special and memorable, I knew that I could not keep it to myself!  I just HAD to share it with you.

Think of this blog as a “virtual” Advent calendar.   I have crafts for you to do alone or with your children, recipes that will make your mouth water and activities that your family will enjoy doing together.

I also have a vast knowledge of Christmas movies!  At the beginning of November every year, I start compiling my spreadsheets of Christmas movies.  I visit the websites of all the major TV/cable stations to see if they have put out their Christmas movie schedules.  Once I have all that information, I make a spreadsheet with all the dates and times they are showing.  After that, I make a master calendar that lists what movies are on what days!!   This is sheer craziness considering I own almost every Christmas movie ever made!!  I could just put on one movie a night and hopefully make it through my library of Christmas movies by December 25th, but there is one problem—every year, new movies are made!  So, I just go through the madness and make the spreadsheet.  I will be sharing this vast knowledge with you!!

What am I going to do with this blog after Christmas, you ask?  Well, there are other holidays throughout the year, aren’t there?!?!  I plan to help you make ALL your holidays memorable!  So, sit back, make yourself comfy and tune in every day to see what wonderful things I have in store for you!!

On deck for tomorrow:  This weekend is a kick-off of Christmas movies on some of the cable stations.  I will give you a run down of what’s on, when it’s on and give you my recommendations.  We will also start getting prepared for crafting and baking!

Let’s do this!!

That's me at about age 2 (almost 3) in front of my grandparent's Christmas tree....most of my Christmas memories revolve around my grandparent's house!

What is your favorite holiday?