As the song goes…’the most wonderful time of the year’.  Thought I’d jot down some many of my favorite things / traditions.

• Christmas Lights – we didn’t have outdoor lights at our house growing up.  I picked it up when I move to Dallas.  I guess because it is so warm down there everyone puts lights up and there are some amazing decorations.  Each year in NJ I see more and more lights…I just love driving around and seeing what everyone has done.
• Christmas Movies / Shows):  A Christmas Story, It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street (the original), Bishop’s Wife, Christmas Vacation, Thin Man (starts off during Christmas), All Creature’s Great and Small (Chrismas Show), The Year withouth a Santa Claus, Rudolph and of course the Grinch.  I’m sure there are many more…I watch a lot of them in December.
• Toys for Tots:  I love going shopping and buying gifts for kids in need.  A great way to give back.  Click on this link for more details:  http://www.toysfortots.org/
• Baking Christmas Cookies:  I love doing this but haven’t done it the last couple of years as I like to make a lot to give to friends and family.  Here are the list of family favorites:  Choc Chip, Snowflakes (cream cheese press cookies), Oatmeal (the dough is better than the cookie), English Shortbread, No Bake Cookies, Hershey Kiss, Coffee Bean.
• A blazing fire and my Christmas Tree
• Midnight Mass – I haven’t been to a midnight mass in quite a few years as I’ve been going Christmas morning.  I may get to go to Midnight this year…I just always enjoyed it at home.  Maybe I’ll even make myself a grasshopper after mass (a tradition from my Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop).
• Decorating the Tree.  I love looking at the ornaments and remembering where I got them or who gave them to me…each one has a memory.  Many of the ornaments on my tree were hand made by my Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop (I split their ornaments between my brother and I with my Mom-Mom supervising making sure it was a fair split 🙂 ).
• Christmas Dinner at my house.  This will be the third year at my house.  It is very low key – just the 7 of us.
• Hanging out with my niece and nephew while their parents go out shopping.
• Christmas Candles – just love lots of the wonderful scents.
• Finding that perfect gift (I dislike wrapping)
• Buying my brother and I the Swarvoski Annual Christmas Ornament – it has become a tradition (I try to find a fun way to wrap it each year).  Check out this year’s ornament: http://tiny.cc/mi6ql (I purchased mine from Amazon and in the past e-Bay).
• NYC at Christmas time…just love seeing all the sights and people watching
• Christmas Carols – and yes as a kid I went caroling – even as an adult when I lived in Texas.

What are your favorite Christmas / Holiday traditions?