25 days of Christmas: Q+A

Hey ladies!

Whoa, it feels like forever and a day since I sat down and blogged. With the holidays coming up and now that we are settled into our Dallas home, I figured now would be the perfect time to start back up. I wanted to start a little something called the 25 Days of Christmas this year, which will include an Instagram post on each day leading up until the 25 days of Christmas featuring these questions and topics. Basically, this is a quick Q+A with 25 questions about my family and all things Christmas! Here we go...

The 25 Days of Christmas

1. What Christmas means to you? Christmas means family to me... that, and thinking of others rather than self. I know. Some people will be mad at my response because Christmas represents the birth of Jesus. It does. And I think that is very important because it is a good reminder to be Christ-like by thinking of others. But if I am being honest, in present times for me and my family Christmas represents family and celebration! 
2. Favorite Christmas movie? Elf. I love Elf. It is a modern-day Christmas classic. I also really like The Santa Clause movie with Tim Allen. I was never allowed to watch Christmas Vacation so that isn't on my life. It's A Wonderful Life is boring to me. Sorry! People will be mad at that too. I love the story, but I don't like older movies.
3. Favorite Christmas food? Cranberries and mashed potatoes. Two things I only eat around the holidays, and when eaten together, are delectable.
4. Favorite Christmas cocktail? Hot apple pies. It reminds me of my mom. She would make them (when I was old enough to drink them). The are essential apple cider warmed up with Tuaca liquor and whipped cream on top.
5. Favorite Christmas dessert? I am a sucker for anything Pumpking. Maybe because I am holding onto Halloween and Thanksgiving.
6. What is on your wish list this year? Tangible gifts... I'd love an Apple Watch, but I don't think that is going to happen! I also want a bigger car, but don't think that one is going to happen either... at least right now. I love getting anything over the holidays.. I mean who doesn't! More clearly, I'd rather have a gift given that someone picked out for me, then to tell someone what to get for me. I feel like Christmas is a reflection of giving and what you decide to give another (not what someone tells you to get for them). There was a huge throw-down when my sister and I were in high school because she had told my mom all of the gifts she had wanted, when she opened her gifts at Christmas she already knew exactly what they were. I was so upset because I thought it was totally unrepresentative of the Christmas Spirit! From that point forward my parents agreed that there would be no picking out gifts pre-Christmas. I think the problem with that approach is if people tell you what they want, they might as well go pick out their own gifts. And heck, why not everyone pick out their own gifts for Christmas? I would be a heck of a lot easier and we would be sure to get everything we wanted. I think the point of Christmas is thinking of others before you think about yourself.
7. Winter items that you can't live without? A Beanie. So simple, but I love a good beanie to keep my head warm in cold weather. That and a good P-coat or NorthFace jacket.
8. Do you eat a big Christmas Eve dinner or a big Christmas dinner? We generally eat a big Christmas dinner more than  Christmas Eve dinners. Growing up, I remember going to family friends' houses for Christmas Eve parties, but almost always we had a big Christmas dinner with family - whether at our house or at my grandparents' houses. This year we are going out to eat at the Roaring Fork Club, a member's club where Ryan and I got married. It is a special spot and so cozy for the winter. 
9. Favorite place to spend Christmas? My parents moved to Colorado several years ago... to a town just outside of Aspen/Snowmass. They have a beautiful ranch property in the mountains pretty much in the middle of nowhere. This is my absolute favorite place to spend Christmas. Growing up, if we didn't spend Christmas in Aspen, we would travel here around the holidays. This place is not only nostalgic, but it is the perfect white, wintry Christmas! There is always fresh snow and we ski. We also do fun activities like snowmobiling or cross-country skiing to Pine Creek Cookhouse where they feed you freshly caught Elk, or lunch at Krabloonik, a place where they house all of the sled dogs. There honestly is no place more magical then Aspen and I hope and pray that our family will continue traveling there well beyond my years.
10. Snow or shine on Christmas Day? Umm.. snow! I grew up in California so I am not biased, but having now lived in states that have seasons, snow makes winter and especially Christmas magical.
11. How do you countdown to Christmas with your kids? Now that my kids, or at least Rhett, is getting to the age in which they can readily participate in Christmas, I really need to be more creative with this countdown to Christmas thing. My mother-in-law gave me a wooden house that has doors for each of the days that the boys can open. The problem is that they get into it and dump the drawers, so it's not like I can put all 25 goodies in there. I literally have to remember to put goodies in, then I have to buy stuff. So this year I may just buy one of those chocolate advent calendars. Get one for each boy and call it a day. Open to recommendations!
12. Favorite Christmas Decorations? Pine Garland! I buy artificial, even though every ounce of me wishes that I bought the real deal for the smell and vibrance. Anyways, pine garland is something that you can string mostly anywhere. I strong it above our fireplace, across our dining room table, along the stair banisters. It really is a jack-of-all-trades, and the fun part is that you get to add pizzaz to it. I tend to add pinecones, berries, bows... things like that.
13. Favorite kind of Christmas Party? I am a stay-at-home-mom so I pretty much live for any kind of adult Christmas Party, not going to lie! My absolute favorite Christmas party was in Nashville last year. Our neighborhood had an ugly sweater couple's party with a white elephant gift exchange. We each brought a dish of food and a gift. Ryan and I wore onesies, and there was a prize for the best-dressed. We ate, we drank, we felt like adults.. it was awesome. Aside from that, I love cookie-decorating or gingerbread-making parties for the kids, as well. Last year in Nashville, I threw a cookie decorating party. It was a hit!
14. Favorite childhood Christmas memory? You know those memories that keep flashing into your brain from your very early childhood? I have this one memory being in our Lido Island house in Newport Beach opening a present and it was a barbie. I don't remember the barbie but I do remember the pink plastic box. So random. Other than that, I can't pinpoint a specific memory. I often remember wanting to meet Santa so I would fall asleep on the living room couch. Every time I mysteriously ended up back in my bed. I also have memories of being at my cousin's house in Aspen trying to fall asleep as early as we could.. like 5pm.. because we told each other the sooner we fell asleep, the faster that our presents would be here! I also loved going to Christmas Eve church services and dressing up really nicely for it.
15. Favorite stocking stuffer? Hankie Pankies. I love getting new underwear and also think it is such a great thing to give! No one really wants to buy themselves underwear. I also think socks are fun to get. And lipgloss/makeup! Totally thinking about myself. For kids and since I have boys, it is fun to stuff Hot Wheels cars in their stuffings. They are cheap and always get a good response.
16. Favorite place to shop for Christmas gifts? Nordstrom and Target.
17. Do you give your kids lots of gifts for Christmas or just a few? This is the struggle that sums of parenthood. To spoil my kids or deprive them and teach them a lesson... I think we fall somewhere in between. I feel like the grandparents do a good enough job spoiling the kids with presents, so Ryan and I tend to keep gift giving within reason. Rhett is really starting to understand that Christmas means toys, which is becoming a little startling. Especially because his expectations and wants far exceed his understanding of monetary expenses.
18. Favorite Christmas song? Carol of the Bells. Hauntingly amazing and also reminds me of Home Alone (another favorite Christmas movie).
19. Favorite Christmas story? The Polar Express is a favorite. I also love the Grinch. 
20. Do you do Elf On the Shelf? I always forget! How bad is that? I remember for one day and tell Rhett that the Elf is watching.. and the I forget to bring it up or move him again. Fail. Any tips?
21. Do you send out Christmas cards? Ummm yes! This is like my specialty. I have always been into Christmas cards and often scheduled photos for my family (when I was the daughter, so for my parents). Not only did I schedule and orchestrate the photos/location/outfits, I also put together the cards and ordered them. Now that I have a family of my own, I take this very seriously. I LOVE Christmas cards.
22. Favorite Christmas-related item you own? My grandma needle-pointed me a stocking when I was young. This is one of my favorite things ever. Needle-pointing takes a lot of time and energy! She did one for my mom, dad and sister. We each have one with a unique color and picture on the front. Mine is crimson red with Santa on the front near a Christmas tree filled with presents. My grandma is in the process of making and finishing a stocking for Rhett, which is so special. His is blue with a snowman on the front.
23. Favorite Christmas Eve tradition? Church and opening one gift the night before Christmas. It is always pajamas :)
24. Favorite Christmas Tradition? No real Christmas traditions. We always wake up, open gifts, eat a nice big breakfast, call friends/family to thank them for gifts, then start preparing for Christmas dinner.
25. Favorite Christmas since having a family? Oh. Whoa. This is hard. And I'm going to disappoint and say that each of them has been special for different reasons. Our first Christmas with Rhett was celebrated in Kansas City, and thereafter we visited my parents in Colorado. It was a little bit of a blur to be honest. Our second Christmas with Rhett, I remember I was pregnant with Vance and we had the best time in Colorado visiting my parents. We did Gingerbread making and opened presents. Rhett spilled hot coffee all over my mom's robe first thing before we opened the presents. haha! That following Christmas was extra special because we had not one but TWO kiddos. Vance had now joined the family and was at the sweetest age of 8 months around Christmas time. I took the boys to their very first "Santa Photo" experience at the Bass Pro Shop in Nashville. We finally had a home to celebrate Christmas in! We picked out and decorated our very first Christmas tree. Rhett help hang the lights and the ornaments. We held a cookie decorating party at our house. It really was starting to feel like the holidays :) I guess I will revise my answer and say that Christmas with my family seems to be getting better each year. It also seems to be getting better the more kids I have in my house and with age. Can't wait to see what this year holds.