I Love Christmas!!

I love my Christmas tree, I must upload a photo of it, but this cute little tree to the left will have to do!! Don't you love Christmas?? I love the decorations, the hustle and bustle, the food, and the cards. I love the nostalgic feeling I get with a familiar Christmas smell or memory. I enjoy turning off all the lights in the house, except for the white trees lights and just looking at the tree.

What is your favorite Christmas memory?

My favorite memory is going to get our Christmas tree in PA with Man and our dogs. At that time we only had Cody and Zack (our Boarder Collie last passed away last December) and we would take them along with us. We went to a house near our local ski area (tiny ski area we called Slushy Mountain) that sold trees from the woods he owned. You just parked your car and he gave you a saw and you trekked out into the woods and cut it down yourself. It was so beautiful in the woods, especially if there was snow. Cody and Zack loved to go and run around the woods. Zack loved the snow!! He would push snow at your feet hoping you would throw a snowball for him to chase. We would search and search for the most perfect tree and then drag it back to the house. The old man there would look at it and say something like "looks good-how bout $25?". We would load it in the back of the truck and head home with exhausted dogs to decorate.

Worst Christmas memory??

I have 3 bad memories....

My aunt committed suicide a couple days before Christmas when I was 13 years old. It was a very difficult Christmas, lots of tears. No need to say anything else about it.

There was a Christmas when I was like 10 years old and all my Mom got me and my sister was $10 in a Christmas card. It wasn't the fact that all we got was $10, it was the motive behind it. I have always felt she did it just to see what kind of reaction she would get from us. We just said thank you, she got no reaction out of us. She never said anything like money is tight this year, so this is all I could do. I always knew money was tight, so my expectations were always low. I want to believe she did that because of lack of money, but there is something in the back of my head that keeps coming back to the notion of vindictiveness. My Mom had it rough at times and I wouldn't put it past her to do something like that to us. Let's just say growing up with Mom wasn't the happy go lucky childhood that most kids have.

My third bad Christmas memory was when I was around 11 or 12. Our Dad didn't have enough money for Christmas presents for us. He was able to get us a few small things, but then promised to take us shopping when he got paid. My parents divorced when I was 8 years old. Dad paid child support to my Mom and she tried to get him for every penny she could. She would take us to the doctor over a sore throat and make my Dad pay the bill. What kid doesn't get dozens of sore throats growing up?? You don't go to the doctors for each one!!! Anyways, I felt really bad for my Dad because he was so sorry that he could do more. I remember him explaining and dropping his head down and saying he was sorry. He felt so bad, but my sister and I were fine with it. Again-we always had low expectations! I think of this as a bad memory because I know how bad my Dad must have felt that Christmas. I feel bad that he was hurting.

Even with all those bad memories, I still love Christmas!! Man and I have made our own memories and traditions. This year I am still trying to decide if I should bake Christmas cookies or not. I usually give most of them away. Man and I certainly don't need them in the house and he doesn't want me to take any to his work! I am leaning towards no. If I do it, it would be this weekend. This weekend may be my birthday weekend, since our water problem ruined it the first time. Thinking if a movie on Saturday afternoon and then dinner. Any movie ideas?? I am leaning towards The Blind Side. We will see what happens...