Internet, it is no secret that I just haven’t been feeling festive this year. There’s just been so much negative and so little snow, that it’s been hard for me to find that Christmas feeling.

Yet, as I sit here on the couch, in my Christmas pajamas in the middle of a snowy Christmas afternoon, I have to say, I’m pretty content.

Christmas morning was celebrated after sleeping in until 10am (after being woken up at 6am by a very, very sick Jinx. And in my rush to get him downstairs to let him out, I managed to step in dog barf TWICE. Merry Christmas!) and we made tea, sat by the tree and opened up stockings.

It was a small Christmas, without much money, but really, money doesn’t make Christmas. Love does. Yet, our tree was still surrounded by stuff all cheerily wrapped.

Oddly, we got each other very similar cards. They were the same colour, the same sparkly, had eerily similar wording and we wrote pretty much the same things inside to each other. About how all our struggles have actually made us stronger together, when stuff like that often drives people apart. If we ever needed proof that we were meant for each other, I think these cards are it.

I got Shawn some pretty fun things, if I do say so myself. He seems to be very happy with them. It was all about a Geeky Christmas for him.

My husband will have the best desk accessories in his entire office. No one had better steal them!

I am also very happy with all my Christmas spoils! I even got the BOOKBook iPhone case I was lusting after! I thought that was going to be my very bestest Christmas gift of the year, but I was wrong. I got something even BETTER.

I am now going to make you suffer through many photos of the pages inside this book. It made me tear up. I’m not posting all of the pages, but a few. Deal with it. This is super wonderful.

I have the best husband ever. And now I know why he came to bed at almost 3 in the morning the other night.

The dogs had their own Christmas celebration. Jinx is extra sucky today since he’s obviously not feeling well, and he stood or sat right in between us and the tree the entire time we were unwrapping things. Sophie, not one to enjoy Christmas anything, hid around the other side of the couch and only snuck in between us a couple of time to see if anything not scary was going on. Mostly they just enjoyed the falling snow which I was also thankful for. A white Christmas! Santa DID grant my wish!

I think I got some pretty neat shots. I love my iPhone camera. It’s not the most professional, but it takes pretty darn cool action shots!

In about an hour we’ll be heading off to my in-laws’ for dinner. Tomorrow night I’ll have my parents over for dinner (I still don’t know what I am making yet though). I suppose I should go get out of my jammies and get dressed to head out into public. Hopefully the roads aren’t too bad – the snow is coming down pretty hard now.

Thus ends what I think will be part one of my Christmas updates. I hope you’ve all had lovely Christmasses, too!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I have been a bad blogger this month. Forget the fact that we have no idea what to do for a Christmas Finnegan video apart from the trailer I made, I have not had time or energy to even write a post! I haven’t even READ ANY BOOKS this month so my book blog has fallen silent as well. Oh, dear.

I saw this Q&A on my friend’s book blog and though I’d answer the festive questions to at least post something on here so that you don’t all forget about me.

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?

I don’t like either, to be honest. But if I had to choose, I’d choose hot chocolate. I think. Sometimes I have eggnog cravings, but that hasn’t happened yet this year.

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?

I have no idea. I think he has the elves wrap them. If he’s as poor a wrapper as I am, he should have elves do it. I’d have them wrap presents for me if I had elves. They’d also make wallets and t-shirts in my basement. Oh, wait, that’s what young children are for…

Colored lights on tree/house or white?

WHITE! I hate coloured lights. Though I will admit that occasionally I have seen some tasteful red & green lights strung up outside of houses in my town. I can accept red & green lights, but not the multi-coloured ones with all the other colours. The ONLY time I have thought this was ok was on my grandparents’ tree. Somehow it just worked on that sparse, fake tree.

Do you hang mistletoe?

Nope. I’m not really sure why mistletoe is a thing at Christmas. I am sure I could google the origin of this tradition, but I am lazy. My grandparents always had fake mistletoe up in the archway to the living room though. For some reason I am very nostalgic for Christmas at my grandparents’ house even though it has been a good 8+ years since that has happened. Sigh.

When do you put your decorations up?

December 1st! Normally. This year I was somewhere around December 4th and the decorations are still not all up. Festive fail this year.

What is your favorite holiday dish?

I’m a sucker for the big turkey dinner with all the trimmings – sausage&bread stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, mashed turnip, peas and gravy. Yum.

Favorite Holiday memory as a child?

Christmas day afternoons and dinner at my grandparents’ house. I really miss that apparently.

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?

I’m not sure. I will have to let one of my parents tell you the answer to this in the comments. I think they said I came home from school one day and asked because kids were talking about it. Maybe in first grade? I don’t remember anything about this. I guess it wasn’t all that traumatic to me. Santa or no Santa, the presents under the tree were always a surprise when we would come downstairs on Christmas morning. THAT to me was the best part.

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?

We never did that when I was growing up, but we would wake up to a gift at the foot of our beds and we got to open that before we went downstairs. I think that was my parents’ attempt to keep my sister and I from waking them up before the sun rose. It didn’t work. Now the tradition is a little different as I fit in Christmas with Shawn, my parents and his parents. Shawn and I always try to have Christmas just for us. We sometimes do it Christmas Eve but the last few years we’ve been able to find time Christmas morning. Used to be that we’d do our Christmas before the 24th too because we couldn’t wait to give each other gifts, but then our schedules got so hectic we were only able to shop & wrap on the 24th. ha! Er.. I guess the short answer would be no, then.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree?

I am not sure what this means. Maybe what do I put on it? We start with lights (white, only!), then all the ornaments which are a mish-mash of old and new, second to last is The Severed Head of Potter and last is the angel – er – now it’s a star since my angel died two years ago. We normally do an ornament exchange the day we put up the tree, but we were sort of strapped for cash and time what with the strike and all, so that part didn’t happen this year.

Snow! Love it or Dread it?

Love it! I used to love it for the entire winter, but I am getting old and crotchety so I only love it for Christmas and then it can leave after my birthday in January. Sadly, this is the greenest Christmas I’ve ever had. We’ve only had snow for one day so far and that was November 23rd! Grass is green and streets are clear. Makes me sort of sad.

Can you ice skate?

I used to be a figure skater. It’s been ages since I’ve skated now and the last time I put on skates I fell on my head twice. Thankfully I was in a thick hat and hood so no injuries occurred. I have not been on skates since. How embarrassing.

Do you remember your favorite gift?

Yes. It was a bargain kid’s book about Goldie Locks and the Three Bears that had finger puppets with it. Shawn (before we were together) pasted my old dog’s face (KewpieDoo) on all the Goldie Locks faces and re-wrote the story so that the character only spoke in pants and hacks. The entire book was re-written this way. I think the book is in a box right now, but even the finger puppet of Goldie has Kewpie’s face on it. Best. Gift. Ever.

What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?

Part of me wants to be shallow and say – a week off from work! Another part wants to say – spending time with family. Though I hate having to traipse all over town from one place to the other. Family & friends though mean the most to me.

What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?

Mince Meat tarts! Like my Nana used to make. Yum. Plum pudding is a runner up, but it’s hard to find the cake part without nuts in it so since I can’t eat nuts anymore, this makes me sad.

What is your favorite holiday tradition?

Used to be going to my grandparents’ place. Now,  I think it’s the ornament exchange with Shawn the day we put up the tree. Also new: participating in the Virtual Advent blog tour. I really love reading about how others celebrate Christmas!

What tops your tree?

The last two years have seen a sparkly silver star at the top. It doesn’t light up though, so I am not sure how long it’ll be the tree topper. My silver angel holding a “candle” died last year so we had to run out and get a new topper. I had her since the first Christmas I was in my own place in 1998!

Which do you prefer giving or receiving?

Giving. Though I LOVE receiving Christmas cards.

Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum?

Most of the time yuck. I don’t like candy that I can’t chew.

Favourite Christmas Show?

A Muppet Family Christmas. It is not available on DVD which makes me VERY SAD. I have to watch it on YouTube now. Runners up are The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas – both of which I have on DVD and make sure to watch every year. That time is NOW.

Saddest Christmas Song

The Cat Carol. I cannot listen to this without crying my eyes out. I was introduced to the song on the Nettwerk Christmas Songs CD and I make sure it is NOT active on my iPhone because I can’t handle it. Ugh.

There you have it. Christmassy questions answered by moi!