I thought I’d just cover a few Blogmas posts all at once in my title. Covering days 5, 6, and 7 here (Decorating, Loud or Quiet, Real or Artificial Tree).

First up decorating.

Usually, I do it all the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Like many others, I wasn’t really feeling it this year. All I accomplished that day was to put up my seasonal shower curtain. And put out my new night light in the bathroom. 

During the course of the week, one day after work, I brought up the tree. We did a bit of our usual re-arranging to make it fit.

Real or Artificial Tree? 

And then, the poor tree sat unadorned and lonely until Sunday. (It’s a pre-lit artificial tree so no worrying about lights except when the pre-lit ones don’t light. Grumble.)

Sunday, I finally decided to do a bit more. During the Chiefs football game, I added those special ornaments for luck. Worked, I might add as they ended the game with a win. Not their best performance but a “w” is a “w”.  Turns out a little bit of decorating turns into a little more and this morning, I kept going.

 Loud Or Quiet

Since Christmas for us will likely be quiet, just a few additional family members perhaps not like the loud over the top family filled Christmases of my past, I’ll give you all the grand (small) house tour in photos below.

And since I like to at least attempt to keep it real, I’m throwing in some “background” shots to highlight the “fun” of making room for Christmas in a smaller space.

As I type this, my husband is “cheerfully” putting up greenery on the kitchen doorway.

Now, I’m going to pause writing this post to go snap some photos of our Christmas decorations so far to share with you all. Perhaps, if you aren’t yet in the mood to decorate, you’ll be a bit more inspired. If not, that’s okay as well. And if you’ve already decorated, I hope your enjoying your season!

Come On In!

G thinks our wreath is ugly. However, my late mother-in-law gave it to me. I’ve toyed with replacing it with a real wreath for the front door sometimes. I don’t disagree with G but then I love the ugly thing because of the memories it provides. 

We spread our stockings on the sofa because no fireplace except the Netflix one around here.

Candles in the windows!

And a bit of a mess in front of them still. Area is a work in progress. Where to put plants to make room for Christmas? Still pondering…and those poinsettias? Why did I order so many?

Nativity sets are all out.

My mom’s old one, now mine, goes by the front door. 

The Christmas Nativity Angel, a gift from my in-laws the year my mother-in-law passed away, she’d already purchased it before her death, goes on the area in front of the window, where I’m still trying to figure it all out.

Tiny Precious Moments one goes in front of TV (bought on our honeymoon at the Precious Moments chapel in Carthage, MO as we passed through).

And my Party Lite one from our early marriage years (and my favorite) sits on the bookcase with a ceramic Santa on a tractor (used to belong to my husband’s grandpa) in the background.

It sits a top a bookcase we moved from the living room into the corner of the kitchen to make room for the tree. This is my current solution so we don’t stare at the open back of a bookcase during dinner:

Have you decorated for Christmas yet? Buddy the Elf has his coffee & is ready to listen to how you feel about it this year.

 

What’s that? We’re on day 6 now. Sorry, I’ve been off watching Christmas movies.

The category for day 2 was actually favorite Christmas movies. However, since that doesn’t change much year to year, I thought I’d share the movies I’m currently watching. This year, I decided to change things up and watch a movie every day until Christmas.

And I’m making myself chose things I’d normally pass. Did you know I think I’ve only ever watched one Hallmark Christmas movie? And that was with our late aunt in Oklahoma just two (maybe three) years ago.

We don’t have the Hallmark channel so I’m making do with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon plus our DVD collection. For fun, I thought I’d share the movies I’ve watched so far along with a short synopsis of my thoughts about them. With the exception of Die Hard, you can currently find all these movies on Netflix.

Random Movies

The Christmas Chronicles 2: I preferred this one to the first one. You might need to view the first one for a tiny bit of background (and it’s also good). My husband (sarcastically) listed all the things that were “bad” in it: violence, animal cruelty, etc. However, it’s Kurt Russell and as far as I’m concerned he always gets a pass. (Fun random fact about me: My all-time favorite movie is Escape From New York)

Jingle Jangle: This took me two days to watch because “life” but I really enjoyed it. Great story, interesting characters, and oh yeah, a few musical numbers in there as well. Reminded me a bit of Hugo. However, I thought this movie was better. Definitely, a great one for younger kids (especially girls!) and a watch again.

Romantic “Feel Good” Movies

Operation Christmas Drop: I really enjoyed it and Operation Christmas Drop is a real event (though the movie is, of course, fiction). Worth your time.

The Knight Before Christmas: This looked dumb. Was it dumb? I’m not sure. I just know it was much better than I expected and one I’d probably be willing to watch again.

The next two also starred Vanessa Hudgens of High School Musical fame. And again, I went into these with pretty low expectations.

The Princess Switch: Did I need crackers because the movie was so cheesy? Yes. Did I enjoy it anyway? Absolutely! It’s fun, sweet, and a great “Christmas” escape. Plus, not too long.

The Princess Switch: Switched Again: It’s a sequel. This one has a “villain” and a bit of a “Disney” vibe. I enjoyed 97% of this movie, the ending felt a bit redundant and lost my interest (think last 5 minutes) but I also watched it late at night.

CLASSICS

Seinfeld is on Hulu and we own all the Die Hard movie discs.

Seinfeld “Festivus” episode: Unpopular opinion but really how is the TV show Friends so popular right now when Seinfeld was so much better? Opinion from someone old enough to have watched both when they originally aired. I digress. I know this isn’t a movie but if you’re short on time and need a holiday laugh, this is it. A Festivus for the rest of us! Enough said.

Die Hard: Yes. It IS a Christmas movie. Bruce Willis with hair. Wow, it’s an old one now. Wait, does that mean I’m old? SIGH. Office Christmas party, romance on the rocks, bad guys (I’d forgotten, somehow, that Alan Rickman stars as the chief bad guy, Hans), and lots of explosions. Yippie Ki Yay!

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Before I leave, I’ll share that my favorite classic Christmas movies (saving them until later) are: The Polar Express, It’s A Wonderful Life, and Elf.

What are your new or classic Christmas favorites?

P.S.

Go check out Tamy’s Blogmas posts over at Chasing My Life. I’m just joining in when I can around here.

 

Since I enjoyed Blogmas so much last year, I decided to join in with Tamy over at Chasing My Life again this year. In keeping with the no stress theme of it all, I probably won’t join in every day. Already, this week (OH, this week. SIGH), I’m somehow working every single day after only planning (never make plans!) on a couple.

I digress. Today’s topic is Elf on the Shelf.

Buddy arrived at our house pretty late as far as the boys’ ages go. After over-ruling my husband on the matter, I brought Buddy home during J’s 5th grade year. His teacher had one for the classroom that moved each night and he kept saying we should get one. So, I went ahead with the idea using some Hallmark “bucks” and coupons to make it happen.

It was well after December 1st and so he’d been “lost in a snow storm” and since we’d just watched the movie Elf, his name immediately became Buddy. He moves each night sometimes getting into a tiny bit of mischief along the way.

And sometimes he brings small gifts. Usually around Saint Nicholas Day because why not mix up all the traditions. This year, I think that’s the day he’ll probably arrive along with a box of his very own breakfast cereal to share.

It’s now simply a tradition to find the elf each morning and my older teenager now sometimes helps with the moving of the elf. However, if I were starting this with young children, I’d definitely go the Kindness Elves route.