I'm riding the Tuesday Train.
(If you can, please take a moment to post a comment. I have been getting emails and phone calls from people who have not been able to comment and I'm not sure why. I changed some settings this morning and am interested in seeing if my comments are working now. I really appreciate your help in testing it.)
Well, we are officially heading into my favorite time of year. I love October through the end of December. There is much going on and lots to look forward to. My top 10 list this week are my 10 favorite things for the last quarter of the year. See how many of my items are on your list as well:
1. The changing colors of fall and the fallen leaves: I love the smell of fresh raked leaved and the smell of leaves burning.
2. Trick-or-Treat: I love helping out in our Trunk-or-Treat at church. There is always something fun going on. I usually bake and donate candy so I'll be free to enjoy the evening. I also love actual trick-or-treat night. I love seeing the children from the neighborhood come by in their various costumes. Of course, most of the neighborhood children are now teens and we only get a one or two to come by on Halloween. I'm very excited about this year because our new neighborhood will be more accessible and there are more children around that area. Not to mention, I will now have a front porch I can sit out on to hand out candy.
3. Once Halloween is over, we get to look forward to Thanksgiving. The big turkey hubby fixes every year, the multitude of side dishes guaranteed to tempt your taste buds. We always make enough to have left overs for the four day weekend. I go crazy with baking because I never know what anybody will be in the mood for. Thanksgiving is also a time for celebrating my daughter-in-law's birthday. So one of the desserts is always her choice. Her birthday is close to Thanksgiving so we celebrate it when we are all together that day.
4. Of course, the day after Thanksgiving is one of my absolute favorite shopping days in the whole year...Black Friday. Bargains galore. Thanksgiving evening after the dishes are done, the food is put away, and the families have returned to their own homes, I sit down with some no-bake oatmeal cookies and a cold glass of milk and go through all the Black Friday sales papers and make a shopping list and itinerary for the big day. (If you are aware of my love for lists, this shouldn't surprise you).
5. Putting up the Christmas tree ranks right up there on my list of favorite things about this time of year. I love getting out all my Christmas decor and deciding what is going to go where. I'm one of those "multi-lights, assorted ornaments, tinsel and icicle type persons", as you can tell. There are certain things that are very sentimental to me and they get put in a prized location. One is my little poinsettia basket Mamaw Eden bought me. One is a ceramic Christmas tree that my oldest grandson painted me years ago. It always sets with a ceramic reindeer that my mom made for me about 25 year ago.
6. The next big excitement comes somewhere between or around December 10th - 13th. My twins (aren't they just adorable) and I celebrate our birthdays together since their birthday is just 3 days before mine. That is one of the main reasons I like to get my tree up early. I love having the house decorated for my birthday. I always have. I may get a real tree this year. The discussion is still up in the air between me and hubby. I think I will probably win this battle. He seems to be softening. Although, to be honest, his main stand on the issue is "Whatever you want.", which sometimes means it doesn't really matter one way or another to him. So I'm apparently the one on the fence about it.
7. Amidst all the family functions, I also have our church functions to look forward to. There is the church Christmas program, the church dinner, our Sunday School class dinner, and Secret Sister Christmas exchange. Lots of fun and tons of great food.
8. Then comes the magical night of all time. Christmas Eve. Our family gathers together for a feast of sauces, dips, cheeses, bread stix, just tons of good stuff. Not to mention, as always, a variety of desserts. We exchange gifts and just enjoy being together. I normally track Santa on Norad Santa Tracker. It's cool. You can see where he's been and exactly where he is. The grandkids are usually pretty excited that night so it just brings magic to the night. Of course, I'm always a little let down when they leave because it makes me miss all those years when my children were little.
9. Christmas Morning. Unfortunately for my hubby, I'm still one of those that gets excited and can't sleep good on Christmas eve. I'm usually up bright and early the next morning. But I try to lay in bed until a decent time so he doesn't wake up. It usually doesn't work. We have maintained many family traditions, even after the kids got married. Santa always filled stockings and put gifts under the tree. We never went into the living room until everybody was up and we would go in together. Hubby and I still exchange stockings and gifts and we still wait and go into the living room together. Over the years, the gifts have gotten less expensive and we don't buy as much as we used to, but it's just the thought of keeping up our family tradition.
10. New Year's eve is another tradition that we do every year. Our first year as husband and wife, I pulled my back out trying to move a couch by myself. I was hurting pretty bad and had never been one to party on New Year's eve so we opted to stay in. My mom wanted the kids for the night, so we tried to think of something fun to do to make New Year's eve special. We got out the Monopoly game and decided on a nice friendly game. We fixed fruit and cheeses for a snack. Hubby had a glass of wine and I had chilled grape juice. It was so much fun that it became "our thing" on New Year's eve. Thirty years later, we still ring in the New Year the same way. Of course, I'm ashamed to say that it is also a tradition that he wins the game....every year. I think I won one year, but I'm pretty sure I acted pathetic enough that he let me win that year.
Well, that's my top 10 for Tuesday. Hope you have an awesome day.
