Christmas Time

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Everyone has heard that song "My Favorite Things.' Especially at Christmas time. A few of my favorite things are potatoes, glitter, and lists. Thanks to an extremely boring night at work, I present to you some top 10 lists all about Christmas time.

Top 10 Christmas Songs:

10. 'Last Christmas'- Pretty much anyone can sing this, but my favorite versions are by Jimmy Eat World and miss TSwift.

9. 'Alone This Holiday'-The Used (For when you're in a not-so-cheery mood.)

8. 'Good King Wenceslas' (An underrated classic.)

7. 'Christmas, Baby Please Come Home' (Cher and Rosie O'Donnell do a mean version. And by mean, I mean awesome.)

6.'Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays'- N'SYNC (annoying my family for a good 11 years.)

5. 'Santa, Can You Hear Me?'- Britney Spears (even better with choreography.)

4. 'Song for a Winter's Night'- Sara Mclachlan and Jewell

3. 'All I Want For Christmas is You'- Mariah Carey (also annoying my family for as long as I can remember, They're traditionalists.)

2. 'Do You See What I See?'- Martina McBride (I wish I could sing just so I could sing this song.)

1. 'The Christmas Song'- The Raveonettes (If you've never heard this song, stop what you're doing and listen to it. It's everything Christmas should be. Happy, sappy, traditional, untraditional, and just plain amazing.)

*Honorable Mentions: 'Winter Song' by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson, 'A Valley Winter Song' by Fountains of Wayne, and 'Christmas Day' by Dido.

Top 10 Christmas Foods:

(In no particular order, because really? They're all just that good.)

10. Spinach dip (with or without the spinach, it's always delicious)

9. Lil' Smokies

8. Mashed potatoes

7. Turkey

6. Bubble Bread (made by my aunt, eaten by all, known for it's carmely, butterscotchy deliciousness)

5. My mother's peanut-butter fudge (locally renowned and extremely hard to make)

4. Apple Cider (made with that little box of goodness sold at Hallmark. Only acceptable form)

3. Munner Toast (Something I haven't had in waaayyy to many years. And kind of a family secret. And so it shall remain.)

2. Breakfast Quiche (Perfected by the Grandma)

1. Funeral Potatoes (love the crunchy cornflakes on top. Google it.)

*Honorable Mentions: Hot chocolate (should cider not be available), pumpkin pie, and rolls (with lots and lots of butter).

Top 10 Favorite Things About Christmas:

(According to me, of course. In order, but only according to my mood at the time the list was made.)

10. Shopping (Love finding the perfect present.)

9. Going Home (Love the Family. And the Friends.)

8. Sledding (See #2.)

7. The Smells (cookies, fire smoke, Christmas trees, oranges, and peppermint.)

6. Parties

5. Secret Santa

4. Presents!

3. Decorations (Especially lights. And candles. And anything with glitter.)

2. SNOW! (It's not Christmas unless it's a White Christmas.)

1. Going to bed with all the anticipation of a 12 year old. Waking up as a 12 year old. Spending the day doing pretty much the exact same things you did when you were actually 12 years old.

*Honorable Mentions: Christmas cards (sending and receiving), all the delicious food mentioned in the previous list, and my recurring Christmas dream.

Whew! I think we covered it all. With that being said, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good time!

(Please to stay tuned for the best of 2009. I know you can't wait.)

On 3-D Snowflakes, wooden stars, and sibling rivalries.

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I am not an art-and-crafty kind of person. That isn’t to say that I don’t like arts and crafts. Quite the opposite, in fact. I appreciate home- and handmade goodies as much as the next person. I especially love anything having to do with glitter, but that’s an entirely different post.

The problem with arts and crafts is that I suck at them. I have a feeling it’s my perfectionist personality, but put a glue gun or paintbrush in my hand and I start hyperventilating. Some people find it relaxing; I find it entirely too stressful and time-consuming.

Which is why you might be surprised to learn that I made this little piece of awesome at work the other day.

How long did this snowflake take me? Only approximately 2 and 1/2 hours. That’s nothing, right? RIGHT?!

Ok, fine. So it took me forever. And so it only took my assistant manager an hour or so to make hers. And so hers was approximately twice the size of mine. WHATEVER. My process was complete with tantrums, paper cuts, and utter confusion on why I couldn’t cut the paper the right way. Basically, mine was made with STYLE. (And at least it eventually got made, right?)

The whole debacle was very reminiscent of the time my grandma took my sister and I to paint wooden Christmas stars. Growing up in a town that was/is predominantly LDS, I was often given the chance to be arty and crafty. After the first few failed attempts, I quickly learned to say no. But who can say no to a Christmas-themed event with family? (Plus they had food, and let me tell you, those mormons make some delicious food.) And so off we were to paint a wooden star.

This star was cute. And it still is cute to this day. Definitely one of my all-time favorite endeavors. Basically, the game plan was this. Paint the star exactly like the model they provided us with. How could I mess it up? And really, I didn’t. It turned out exactly how I wanted it to. I was successful!

So what was the problem, you ask? The problem appeared when my star was compared to my sister’s.

A little background on my sister. She’s a pain in my ass. I love her to death and will forever jump off the end of the dock at the cabin in the summer time, but she somehow always manages to one-up me. And never on purpose, which always makes me feel that more inferior. Which is good, because she always challenges me to do more with my life, but is mostly bad because she’s always one step ahead of me.

But back to the star. My sister decided she was above following the directions. And so, she took some creative liberties. And came up with a star that kicked my star’s ass. Did anyone even notice that I had actually managed to finish a craft project and that it actually came out? Nope. They were all too busy ooh’ing and aah’ing over how my sister had managed to blend the colors in the hat so well and how her star’s face had so much more character than anyone else’s.

Obviously, I have sister-issues*, as most people with siblings do. I probably need therapy, and someday, I’ll probably actually go. And then I will probably be forced to burn my star and my sisters star as a metaphor that I have accepted our differences and truly let them go. But for now, I will always make sure that my star is on display instead of hers.

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*Like I said, I love my sister. This post was in no way meant to dredge up any drama. In fact, I wish she was here instead of Russia. Christmas won’t be the same without her.