Fortunately I have friends to encourage and pester me to post... and when I don't respond to that they tag me! I've been tagged by two friends this weekend and I feel like I would be letting them down if I don't at least try to rise to the challenge. Tonight I will do the Christmas Hoopla and tomorrow I will return for 7 random things about me.
My wonderful friend Leeann at Is It Morning Already? tagged me to do this Christmas Hoopla.
She writes:
Ok, this is specifically not a meme. It's a HOOPLA. Got it?
Here are the rules:
1. List 12 random things about yourself that have 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.
So... Here are twelve random things about me that have to do with Christmas:
1 - I'm a Christmas baby.. not born on Christmas but pretty darn close. Having a birthday between Christmas and New Years stinks when you are a little kid but is pretty nice when you are over 40 and would prefer people just forget you have a birthday coming.
2 - I know all the words to just about every Christmas carol but I don't sing them.
3 - I like fruitcake.
4 - When I was twelve I made a Christmas present for our mailman but when I gave it to him he looked at me like I was a stalker.
5 - I love dorky Christmas sweaters and can't wait to wear them each year... from November 1st through January 15th.
6 - One of my favorite Christmas ornaments is a fish with giant sparkly lips.
7 - I have three trees this year. A traditional tree with lots of glass and white lights in the living room, a palm tree with colored lights in the front hall, and a small tree with great big colored bulbs on the upstairs landing.
8 - The tallest tree we ever had was 16 feet tall. This is a picture from upstairs. It was ridiculously tall.. we couldn't even decorate it properly!
9 - Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner is Chinese take-out.
10 - I have moved immediately before or after Christmas three times in my adult life. The first time we had an 18 inch tree in our hotel room, the second time we completely skipped Christmas at our house (but spent the week of Christmas with family), the third time was last year, we moved on Dec. 7th and decorated for Christmas the following weekend.
11 - Every year, at least once, I fantasize about just running away and not coming back until after Christmas.
12 - I always wanted to have a perfect Christmas.. you know, the kind where you bake all the right cookies, decorate beautifully, volunteer for important things, help the needy, give your kids the most excellent presents, cook the perfect meals, have every detail planned out so that there are no last minute surprises, and have everything done in advance so that on Christmas Eve all you have to do is drink eggnog and listen to Christmas music. I always wanted that until the year I finally almost got it right. Then, on Christmas Eve we got terrible news and needed to get in the car and drive twelve hours to be with family. We literally picked up the tree, ornaments and all, and set it in the garage. It sat there until February... I just couldn't face undecorating it because it had become the symbol of my failure. Not failure to create the perfect Christmas but failure to understand that none of it mattered. I learned that year that there is no such thing as a perfect Christmas and trying to create it distracted me from what was truly important. The important thing is loving our family because we just don't know how long we will have them.
I'm tagging the following people. I hope you all find time to join the hoopla.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
6 comments:
I think you're the first person I've heard admit to liking fruit cake! :)
I learned #12 the hard way too.
That shot of the Christmas tree is pretty spectacular. I have dreamed of having one this big.
Thanks for the tag. I will try and get to it this week. I have several tags stacked up, so I'm feeling a little tag guilty.
Have a great Monday, Gina.
Okay, that's it! Not that any of your other posts haven't been inspiring enough for me to leave a comment, but today I can't resist. Here I was happily sitting in the dance school parking lot, hot Dunkin Donuts in the cup holder. "Hey, I know - I'll check Gina's blog"
Now I have all these moms walking by with their little ballerinas wondering who this nut-job in the minivan is and why is she bawling her eyes out and flinging used kleenex everywhere?
Well, too bad for them, they don't have your blog address.
As the person who dialed the phone that fateful Christmas Eve, thank you for the memory. Your blogs (I have to get up to date with all the lingo - I know) are always inspriational, evocative and entertaining.
See you in SC!
ps: you owe me a box of kleenex!
Anne, I've been thinking all day that I should have posted a warning for you. I'm sorry I made you cry. I got through writing the post without crying but your reply turned me into a drippy mess. I'm going to have to buy a new box of kleenex for you because I used what I had..
There are always a few tears in our Christmas season but there are also so many wonderful memories. I see her every day in Taylor and Delaney and it makes me very happy.
See you soon! I can't wait... oh and btw.. you've been tagged so now you have to write something for Nantucket Dreamer (what an awesome title!)
Mrs. G,
The only time I really miss California is when we are looking for Christmas trees. However, today my 14yr old told me that he really likes our tree this year because it's not huge and it looks like a "real christmas tree".
No need to feel guilty. Tags are like cookies..eventually you get around to all of them.
I love your 12 things, numb er 12 is VERY NICE
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