Merry Christmas!

Hey Everyone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Christmas came very fast this year, and I wanted to talk a bit about my Christmas traditions!

Every Christmas Eve, my family gets together and goes to a movie at the theater! This tradition started when Polar Express came out and has continued ever since! We used to try to hit Christmas movies, but that rarely happens! It’s only so often a good Christmas movie comes out to theaters! So, we started going to movies like The Hobbit- we saw all of them, every year. Then it switched to Star Wars! Finally, Christmas movies like Disney’s Christmas Carol came out and we saw those as well! This year we went to Jumanji- we all had seen the new Star Wars. It was HILARIOUS! That movie could have gone south, fast and been lame- especially because the first one is so good! However, it was cast perfectly. The Rock and Kevin Hart banter was amazing, Nick Jonas was very dreamy to look at, Karen Gillan was the perfect amount of teenage awkward, and Jack Black stole the show!!! He was hilarious as always. His character was absolutely perfect! We had a great time at the show this year! A great choice by my brother!

So after the movie, we went home and ate a ton of appetizers! My dad made some extremely delicious appetizers that I think I will share in future posts! He tried a bunch of new things this year! We had home made pizza, chicken wings- spicy and maple, a couple of different wrap rolls that had different taco seasonings, sausage rolls, and then just chips for snacks! My mom had made a flapper pie as well, which is always amazing (Basically, it’s just a vanilla meringue pie!- maybe future posts as well). There was a ton of Christmas baking too. Different sugar cookies, ginger bread cookies, tarts, peanut butter cookies- so good! Also, we had a ton of Eggnog and good drinks!

Usually after that we play board games or cards games and my sister and I rage quit or my brother and I die laughing when were losing horribly! We watch some Christmas movies, and that is our Christmas Eve! Just a relaxing evening of hanging out and being together! My brother’s girlfriend and I LOVE puzzles, so we’ll build those! Tonight, I almost completed a 1000 piece puzzle- I’ll sit there for hours working hard at it! Love it!

SO For Christmas Day, we open gifts early! I love this time, because we’re all so thrilled about the gifts! It’s more about being excited about giving the gifts then receiving! Sometimes we’ll stop to watch someone unwrap a gift from us to see their faces! I love giving gifts and finding that meaningful and perfect gift for someone they weren’t expecting! I’ve received many thoughtful gifts too! I LOVED getting my record player with a brand new record! So amazing and I completely forgot I asked for it! I had briefly mentioned it and then my parents remembered and bought one for Christmas! Another favorite- my brother got me the Elder wand! I was so surprised! I didn’t expect that one at all! Last one I’ll mention, is last year my brother’s girlfriend got me Disney postcards to practice drawing! This year my sister got me a bracelet where the money is donated to an animal sanctuary! Each bead represents a meal given to a dog and the dogs are sent to live on a farm instead of being put down. They’re beautiful and it was unexpected! Any gift I receive is beautiful and every gift I give I’m thrilled about giving!

Usually after this we drive out to my Grandma’s house for a Christmas lunch. We’ve always had our dinners early so we can all sleep after and be extremely full! My grandma makes the best meals! There’s turkey, stuffing, and ham! Then 2-3 different kinds of homemade perogies-  regular, cheese ones, and one year my grandma made fruit ones as well! We also have cabbage rolls, and then some sort of veg! My grandma makes a lemon meringue pie and a carrot pie! So the carrot pie, I’ll talk about in future posts too I think, but basically it looks and tastes the same as pumpkin pie, but it’s just healthier! So good!

The rest of the day is us just hanging out and watching Christmas movies! My top ten favorite Christmas movies are:

1. Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation- AMAZING! SO FUNNY, We have been watching that since I was very young!
2. Charlie Brown’s Christmas- Love this, but so sad Charlie Brown is bullied!
3. It’s A Wonderful Life- ” You want me to lasso the moon Mary, I’ll lasso the moon for you!”
4. A Christmas Story- Again, another family favorite, and I have been watching it for years!
5.  Elf! Who doesn’t love Elf! So hilarious!
6. Polar Express- Kind of a slower movie, but I love the whole feel of this movie! Love Tom Hanks! I have to watch every year!
7. Mickey Mouse’s Christmas Carol- A CLASSIC! I love this movie! It’s only half an hour! I wish it was longer
8. Scrooged- love me some Bill Murray
9. A Disney’s Christmas Carol- Love this Jim Carey one! But seriously, there’s a theme going on here
10. The Grinch who stole Christmas- Cartoon and regular! SO great! “Maybe Christmas is a little bit more”
11. I’ll be home for Christmas- yup I added another 😁

Also, here is some of my families decorations- these pictures are from a few years ago, it’s changed even more now! My parents LOVE Christmas, especially my dad. They are constantly buying decorations. Also, it’s worth it to note that my mom hand stitched all our stockings! They’re beautiful and all individualized for us! Another thing too, that Christmas village is VERY small here! It has expanded like crazy, as in it takes up three tables! It’s amazing! We have workshops, houses, ski hills, skating rinks, mobile homes, and so much more!

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this is my list, and these are my traditions! I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, and if you don't celebrate, Happy Holidays whatever your religion may be!

Thank you all so much for being here with me, reading, commenting, liking posts! Let me know in the comments what your traditions or favorite Christmas movies are!

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RRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!