I caught the holiday bug when I finally decided I was excited about participating in the Dunford family Christmas stocking tradition. (We all have a certain number of stocking presents and sit in a big circle and open them one at a time over the course of a few hours.) Last year it was not very exciting to know everything I was going to get already (because I had bought them myself) and so I was pretty discouraged about continuing the tradition this year, but I have thought of some ways to shake things up and this year should be much better!
But with Christmas comes the very obvious fact that I am OCD - Organized Compulsive Disorder. I have a set budget and have been tracking my spending in an Excel worksheet (which I do with our finances each month anyway). I have already figured out the 15 stocking presents I am going to get for my husband, and have already purchased more than half of them. In fact, by today I only have about 5 - 8 things left to finish up. See? OCD.
I have done a lot of my shopping online this year and as gift packages started arriving my holiday bug just got worse. I convinced Jake to help me set up our Christmas tree and decorations this past Friday evening since we are leaving WEDNESDAY to go to Arizona. Seeing the decorations made things even WORSE and I now have all of the presents in my current possession wrapped, and under the tree.
I have had so much fun this year keeping things a secret from Jake. He compiled a Christmas list to give me an idea of what to buy him, but he doesn't know exactly what I have and haven't gotten and there are several things I so proudly thought of on my own that he doesn't know about. He is the most adorable man EVER!!! He has been picking up the packages with his name on them, feeling them, shaking them, and trying to get me to tell him what they are. Sorry honey! My lips are SEALED!
I saw this "Getting to know your Christmas Traditions" list on another blog and liked it so much I wanted to do it as well! So here we go...
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I'm not usually the kind of person who likes wrapping things at all, but this year I have really had fun with it. I just love being able to make people excited and happy!
2. Real tree or artificial? Definitely artificial. I would probably be allergic to a real tree and think they are just a big hassle to put up, keep clean, and get rid of.
3. When do you put up the tree? Usually I am a big stickler about waiting until after Thanksgiving. It really bothers me when Christmas things go up earlier and earlier each year just so that businesses can make as much off of the commercialization of Christmas as possible. But this year the holiday bug got to me and I wanted to enjoy it for more than just one month!
4. When do you take the tree down? Usually after New Years. Right after.
5. Do you like eggnog? Of course! I love it! It is so wonderful and I like it straight up without any diluting whatsoever. This year, however, I made the mistake of looking at the nutrition label. I have had a hard time since then convincing myself that 18 g of fat per cup is worth the sacrifice.
6. Favorite gift as a child? Oh boy. I really don't remember a lot of the gifts I got. I remember a ton of the feelings and traditions and the family all around, which is what Christmas is all about anyway, right? My parents gave me my car for Christmas one year (I only had a little bit left to pay off and they wiped the debt for me). I woke up to find my car, parked in its regular spot, wrapped in a gigantic bow!
7. Hardest person to buy for? Definitely my brother Jeremy or my dad. If they want something, they buy it themselves!
8. Easiest person to buy for? Probably my husband. He has so many things that he likes and he is so easy going that it isn't hard to find something that will make him happy! The hard part has been limiting myself to only 15 things...
9. Do you have a nativity scene? I wish that we did. They are so expensive!
10. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? Mail is the best for Christmas. I love hanging Christmas cards on the refrigerator!
11. Worst Christmas gift you have ever received? My family is very good about getting things that I like. I don't remember ever getting something that didn't hold some sort of excitement.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? There are so many! I love What a Wonderful Life, Muppet's Christmas Carol, and White Christmas.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I do my shopping in November and December.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I did once. But it was a special circumstance.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? AH! It is so hard to say! I LOVE Christmas breakfast! My mom makes a HUGE breakfast on Christmas morning and it is one of my favorite traditions. Seriously, every good breakfast thing you can think of is at this breakfast! Later in the day we have cold cut spiral ham, shrimp and potatoes at my grandparent's house and everything just tastes so good! Don't you think things just feel and taste better during the holidays?
16. Lights on the tree? Of course! It just isn't a tree without lights. Ours are blue and white.
17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night. I am so excited for my gorgeous and talented husband to sing it this year! Real men sing High Tenor!
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? ON Christmas it is imperative that I be with family at home! But my family has spent so many years going to Disneyland instead of having Santa brings us presents in the weeks before or after Christmas - I just love the tradition! It is so great to spend a week bonding with family and having a great time.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Ruldolph.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We actually don't have anything on top of our tree. There is a silver B with crystal embellishments NEAR the top. I would like to have an angel or star at the top but, again, Christmas decorations are so expensive!
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We do a sibling gift exchange on Christmas Eve right after reading the Christmas story in Luke 2. It is a great preview to Christmas and gives us the chance to talk about what Christmas is really about. My parents have always been wonderful about pointing out how the gifts are special thoughts that we have given to each other and sought as something our sibling and friend would really enjoy.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The commercial and materialism of Christmas. There is really no reason to have the Halloween decorations replaced with Christmas ones in the stores.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I'm not a theme person.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? I love ham!!! It is so great!
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I've been so excited about the gifts that I am giving, that I haven't thought a whole lot about what I am getting. But I am hoping that I get a camera so that I can take pictures of our little girl! Because... we don't have one at the moment and I am going to get brutally beaten by angry return missionaries if they don't get pictures!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! May this holiday season be the best one yet!
Love from the Bentley Family
2 comments:
That's RIGHT! You will be brutally beaten by return missionaries if you don't send pictures to us. We will all do it individually, and then all together once we're all home. :)
It's good your husband isn't like mine. For his birthday I bought his a gift early and wrapped it up and put it out. The minutes he saw it he went over, picked it up, and guessed exactly what it is. For that reason I'm not buying him gifts early every again and I'm beginning to understand why had random things like washers put in the bottom of his gift boxes last Christmas, to try to throw him off.
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