It's because of my MOM that I am so enthused

Finally! My Christmas vacation begins!

Christmas Movies:
The Apartment
It's A Wonderful Life
A Christmas Story
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Crosby Films:Holiday Inn and White Christmas
Various Classics: The Women, The Philadelphia Story etc....
Rankin-Bass Toons, The Grinch!

Christmas Foods:
Tamales
EGGNOG and rum!
Collin Street Bakery-Fruitcake (I swear this stuff isn't nasty)
Green Bean Casserole
Ham
Turkey
Gingerbread and pralines, fudge, divinity and sugar cookies
Cheeseballs and dips


Christmas People:
You all know who you are, you lil devils ;>

Christmas Music: I have an extensive collection of Christmas CDs, jazzy, traditional, lounge, Latin, Rankin-Bass tunes, Sinatra etc...... In fact they make up half of my cd collection. I don't have Jingle Cats though. No Manheim SteamRoller either.


My mother is the one who is responsible for my Christmas cheer. She isnpired my tree decorating habits, Christmas house decorating habits and every year she would bake 7 different types of cookies, 3 different cakes, candies, various appetizers, dips and all sorts of yummy things. She would take care of us and our whining and make new decorations and sew us new dresses or pjs and pageant costumes and do her Christmas shopping , took us to church so we didn't miss Advent, and did all her visiting and soirees all in one month with a full time job and a smile. I can't do all that, but every Christmas I think of Mommy and the fantastic stamina she had for the season and how important it was to her to give us sweet Christmas memories and not have us turn into jaded holiday people. Now she takes her Christmas' on the road making a few of her holiday recipes along the way and still loving the season. Thanks, Mom and Feliz Navidad!