fill-in-the-blank friday

Hi there, ladies and gents (...mostly ladies, I get the feeling).

I hope you've had a wonderful week, and that you're enjoying an exciting Friday night, whatever that means to you.  To me, it means getting into my pajamas and drinking a laughably huge cup of tea.

Here are this week's blanks!

1. "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is..." by giving handmade gifts.  I LOVE doing this.  I think it means so much to give someone a little bit of yourself by putting time into creating something just for them.  And nobody else in the world will have quite the same thing!  But on a smaller scale, just smiling at someone when you cross paths and being a little extra-kind to people is a great way to spread the spirit of the holiday season.

2. The holiday season is one of my favorite times of the year.  I love when decorations seem to magically spring up overnight, and Christmas music is playing, and it becomes perfectly acceptable to walk down the street clutching a steaming mug of hot chocolate in mitten-clad hands--- ahem.  Can you tell I like the holidays?

3. When it comes to holiday decorating I go for cozy, rustic decorations with some subtle sparkle.  And twinkle lights!  Lots and lots of twinkle lights.  This is the first Christmas in four years that I haven't been decorating a dormitory hallway as an RA, which is kind of weird.  Although there also won't be anyone drunkenly pulling my peppermint-candy wreath off my door and throwing it down the hallway, so that's a plus.  

4. The thing I look forward to most about the holidays is oyster stew.  No kidding.  On Christmas Eve, we have (an amazing) dinner with my dad's side of the family, including oyster stew.  My dad used to be in charge of making it, and last year my brother took over (I cried, naturally.  Sad tears and happy tears.).  It is the most delicious food in existence, and even the thought of making it on a day besides Christmas Eve is totally baffling to me-- so I am super excited for Christmas Eve.

5. My favorite holiday tradition is spending time with my brother on Christmas Eve morning-- every year, we went to the diner in our hometown with my dad (while my mom finished wrapping our presents, in retrospect) and listened to Christmas music on the jukeboxes in every booth.  My dad and my brother always had French onion soup, and I had rice pudding, and then we went for a walk around the park.  Last year, my brother and I couldn't quite bring ourselves to go to the diner, but we did go have soup at the local Chinese restaurant for lunch and went for a stroll through town. 

6. My favorite holiday food is ...oh, I kind of took care of this one with the oyster stew answer... Well, my other favorite holiday food is cookies!  I love making them-- it's going to be the first Christmas making them without my grandmother, which will be rough.  It was our tradition to watch The Sound of Music while we made a zillion varieties of cookies and sometimes 'danced gracefully' to the musical numbers.  It was a blast.  Last Christmas, when my grandmother wasn't well, my mom and I situated her in a chair at her dining room table between us as we made cookies and she told us about Christmases when she was growing up.  It's such a special memory to me.  Anyway.  Cookies.  My favorites are oatmeal-butterscotch, chocolate with mint chocolate chips, and classic sugar cookies.

Have a wonderful rest-of-your-day!

♥