"12-Christmas-Things-About-Me-Hoopla"

1) I tend to be a little bit of a "Bah humbug" until about a week, week and a half before Christmas. After that I really get into the spirit.
2) I love that Chirstmas is a time to celebrate Christ's birth. I love seeing the nativities and how they remind us of that special night. That is my absolutel favorite part of Chirstmas. I really wish that all the chaos of Santa and gift giving could be gone and we could celebrate the true meaning of this holiday in the way that we should.
3) That being said......I love Santa. I love the idea that this jolly man has dedicated his whole life's work to bringing children happiness, just for the sake of making them happy. He doesn't gain anything from his generosity, he just does it because it's a good thing.

4) I love Christmas carols. Another one of my favorite parts of Christmas is the music. I just love all the Chrismas songs. I could listen to them everyday and not get tired of them. I look forward to December when we start singing the Christmas hymns in church and I'm always disappointed if they don't sing them on that first Sunday in December.
5) I really enjoy wrapping presents. I like to make them look pretty or fun. I love it when I get presents that are wrapped all pretty, too.
6) I not only want a white Christmas, (which I don't get very often) I want it to be snowing on Christmas. You know the softly falling snow that looks so pretty and makes you feel all warm and cozy. That's the kind of white Christmas I'd like.
7) I love Christmas lights. I love to watch them. There's certain types of blinking lights that I like, but not all of the blinking ones. I love sitting in the dark and watching the Christmas tree lights light up the room. It gives me that Christmasy feeling and I love it. I like the lights people put outside on their houses, too. We used to drive around on Christmas Even when I was growing up and look at all the lights on the houses. It was just such a wonderful feeling seeing them, especially if there's snow. Maybe that's why I like the lights so much now, because it brings back those happy childhood memories.

8)I enjoy making all the goodies at Christmas time. It's fun to make the candy and cookies and breads. And then share them with friends and neighbors.

9) My Christmas tree usually comes down the day after Christmas. I've had enough of it by then and I'm done with it. (maybe it's the bah-humbug thing coming back.....) All the other Christmas decorations stay up until after New Year's, but the tree comes down.
10)I love, no I mean, I LOVE watching my kids open their presents. There's just such an excitment and innocence and awe there. It doesn't matter what the present is or who it's from, I just love watching them. That's the joy I find on Christmas morning.
11) I have tons and tons of Christmas decorations. My house usually oozes Christmas.
12)This year we're going to try something new Christmas morning. I'm hoping that it will become a tradition. Vance gave me the idea the other day (which surprised me) and I really like it. We're going to have breakfast before we open presents. Vance asked for bacon and eggs this year, so that's what we'll have. I don't think it will be the same every year, but I like the idea of waiting until we have breakfast before opening presents. I was surprised that the kids were completely ok with this new idea. We'll see how it goes.

Ok, I'm suppose to tag specific people, so here goes.....Marie (of course), Katy(if you want to), mom2my6kids, and Life ticks on. Here's the rules........

1. List 12 random things about yourself that has to do with Christmas
2. Please refer to it as a 'hoopla' and not the dreaded 'm'-word
3. You have to specifically tag people when you're done. None of this "if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged" stuff is allowed...then nobody ends up actually doing it. The number of people who you tag is really up to you -- but the more, the merrier to get this 'hoopla' circulating through the blogosphere.
4. Please try and do it as quickly as possible. The Christmas season will be over before we know it and I'd like to get as many people involved as possible.
5. If you want to -- please give me, Andrea, some link-love as the 'Hoopla-Creator'. I love new blog-traffic.