Second Favorite?

One of the many things I have come to love about Johnathan is his talent for giving me gifts. Now, if he never ever gave me a single gift in our whole relationship I would still love him, but his thoughtfulness and insight is the delicious icing on the proverbial cake.

The first gift I think he ever gave me was for the first Christmas we were together. We'd only been dating less than two months and I was working two full-time jobs and had just finished a semester taking 9 hours of school on top of it. That year, he gave me a gift certificate to get a massage. It was exactly what I needed, but never thought to ask for. Last Christmas he pulled out another brilliant idea for part of my gift. Knowing how much I love the show Mad About You and that the interactions between Paul and Jamie Buchman remind me of the way we are together, he bought me the first three seasons of the show on DVD. Again, it hadn't occurred to me to ask for them, but they've provided hours of entertainment and I couldn't love them more.

Johnathan isn't just good at giving gifts for special occasions either. He is thoughtful all of the time. He once saw a set of pearls that were modeled after ones that Jackie Kennedy wore and was so sure that I'd love them, he bought them immediately and gave them to me in October, even though he easily could have saved them for an anniversary gift the next month. On my first day at my current job, flowers were delivered to my office to offer me congratulations and wish me good luck.

Basically what I'm saying is that I feel incredibly lucky to have such a thoughtful, caring person in my life and the last thing I want to say about Christmas this year is that it was no exception. I could not possibly have ever imagined what he would come up with to give me, but I also could not possibly love it more. He gave me a tote bag with none other than my beloved dog on it. Granted, such a thing could have turned out to be really cheesy if it was poorly done, but the one he chose is beautiful and perfect and I couldn't be happier to carry it around. So, without further ado, here is my second favorite thing from Christmas this year:

My Favorite Thing This Christmas

There is just too much to write about in regards to my Christmas celebrations this year. Between Johnathan's family and the two sides of my family, the holiday lasted about five days. I loved getting to spend time with so many loved ones, but there were definitely some absences leaving a void as well.

If I had to pick my one favorite thing about Christmas this year, it would definitely be watching my niece, Alivia, really get into it for the first time in her life. At 14 months, she was able to unwrap her own presents (and try her best to open others' too), get excited over gifts and just look plain adorable. I took hundreds of pictures during all of the festivities, but here are just a few favorites photos of my favorite niece:

Ring in The Holiday Season

A questionnaire that Johnathan's mom sent me:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper
2. Real tree or Artificial? artificial - silver, in fact
3. When do you put up the tree? within a few days of Thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down? after New Years
5. Do you like eggnog? yummmmm
6. Favorite gift received as a child? not sure, maybe my turquoise and pink "Puppy Love" bike
7. Hardest person to buy for? hard to say, I love coming up with just the thing I think somebody will love and think I generally succeed, even if it took me a long time to think of something, that only makes it more special
8. Easiest person to buy for? Alivia
9. Do you have a nativity scene? nope, but if I could find one that went with my decorations, I would definitely buy it
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I have a habit of buying ones to mail, filling out about half and never sending any
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? can't think of a one
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I love so many, maybe Home Alone
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? as soon as I see something that strikes me, this year the first gift was purchased in October
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? not that I recall
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? a bit of everything
16. Lights on the tree? love them, but there aren't any on mine
17. Favorite Christmas song? We Three Kings and Baby, It's Cold Outside
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? be wherever the family is - usually within a couple hour's drive
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph...and Olive, the other reindeer
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Mine doesn't exactly have either, it's more like a star and that's what I'd choose of the two
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? both
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? I love the holidays, can't think of anything
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? anything beautiful or meaningful
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? squash casserole
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Johnathan moving back home

What's The Rush?

Christmas is one of my favorite times of year. I think I have only come to appreciate it more as I've grown up. Johnathan collects Christmas music like nobody I've ever met, so I knew he was just right for me, because Christmas songs are the only thing I like to sing more than show tunes. I grew up in a house that had a Christmas tree in every room. Literally! There were even little, fully decorated trees sitting on the backs of the toilet tanks come December. And every tree had a theme: the guest bath was seashells, the master bath was angels, my mom's room had an Elvis tree, the living room was decorated in all burgundy and gold, the office was a white tree with blue lights and fish ornaments, the game room was a candy tree. My mom's decorating style definitely wore off on me too, my tree is silver and the lights and ornaments coordinate with my year-round decor. Besides that, I also buy gift wrap to match the tree, so the presents don't clash when they are under it.

The point is that I love Christmas and the Holidays in general. I love to shop for the perfect gift for my loved ones and love to watch them open their presents, I love to gather with family, I love Christmas movies, I love to go to midnight candlelight service at church and hear the same beautiful story of Christ's birth that I've heard so many times and sing hymns by the glow of hundreds of little flames.

However, I cannot stand when I start seeing Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving has even rolled around. I get that stores need to sell Christmas items early. That is fine with me. But last week - two full weeks before Thanksgiving - I suddenly felt inundated by all of the hoopla way too early. First it was driving by the big shopping center near me and seeing Christmas wreaths on all of the columns. Then I began seeing lights and decorations on peoples' houses.

But the final straw was driving out to Johnathan's parents' house on Friday night. I was flipping channels on the radio and the local soft rock station was playing "Home for the Holidays." I thought it must surely be an ad. I remember Lowes or somebody using it in the past. As the song kept going on with no voice-overs I realized that it was, in fact, just the song that they were playing. I tried to excuse it. After all, it isn't strictly a Christmas song. There's no place like home for Thanksgiving, too. But then the next song was "Winter Wonderland." The station (which always plays nothing but Christmas music for the Holiday season) had already switched over its programming!

The thing is, as much as I love Christmas myself, when you start it so early, I feel like it takes away from the excitement and enjoyment of the season. By the time Christmas, or even December, rolls around, there will have been so much "Christmas cheer" about that it will have become more annoying than spirit-giving. Besides, if you are already celebrating the Christmas season two weeks before Thanksgiving, aren't you sort of overshadowing that occasion? It's un-American is what it is!