A Holiday Meme...

Okay, so my good friend Erin tagged me for this meme. It's supposed to be 15 things you love about the holidays. Erin only came up with five, so let's see how many I can come up with. I love a challenge!

1) Christmas music. Yes, it's utterly annoying, and yes - there are only so many versions of "The Christmas Song" you can hear in one 8 hour period, but c'mon - admit it! We love it when that Christmas music comes on (at least initally - after seven weeks of it, you may want to throw your radio/TV/DVD player/sattelite radio out the window). But it all comes down to the memories they evoke - which are mostly positive. Well, the first fifty times you hear it the memories are usually positive. Then you just want to gag.

2) Sledding. Here in Colorado (where I grew up) it has usually snowed a couple of feet by Christmas, and that means sleds come out! Granted, all the good sledding hills we used to use when I was a kid are gone - mostly have new buildings in their place. So there aren't any really good hills here anymore unless you go to a ski area. Okay, that's just depressing.

3) Christmas cookies! I loved it when my mom would bake ALL weekend and made about 75 different varieties of cookies, turtles, cakes and breads. But I still want to lose the last few pounds of baby weight, so I will lay off of them this year. Damn, that's depressing too.

4) Here's one that isn't depressing: holiday volunteering. Every year I volunteer somewhere and try to do somthing good for others and focus on others for at least a full day. Didn't do it last year because Aimee was the only person I could focus on. But this year I volunteered to coordinate a food/clothes/everything drive for one needy family here in the Springs. It was a mother with five children and a niece (neice's mom is in jail) and we got them EVRYTHING - hundreds of dollars of stuff - all from my office and coworkersand some neighboring companies. I love doing stuff like this over the holidays. I think everyone should do this at least two or three times a year. Who can be depressed when you see how good you really have it - family, friends, enough food, a roof over your head, clothes to wear - you have everything you need. Don't take it for granted.

5) Vacation. Who doesn't love the time off over the holidays? I am taking a week and a half off for XMas. I am really looking forward to it.

6) Shopping. I do love the shopping that the holidays trigger. Although, since I have less time, I have done a lot of shopping over the internet. Gotta love the uprising of internet shopping. Especially for toys - stuff that your local Wal Mart (which is CRAZY crowded from the end of Haloween until the end of January - hell, it's nuts all year long) is sold out of. And it comes to your door with no shipping costs. How divine!

7) Holiday movies. It seems appropriate for this time of year. I love getting cozy with a blanket in front of the TV watching "It's a Wonderful Life" or "Miracle on 34th Street" or one of those movies. Did you know that the Family channel is having 25 days of good holiday movies? Even new ones with Sabrina the Teenage Witch handcuffing Slater from Saved by the Bell to her car. It's all good, mindless TV.

8) Sweaters. I love breaking out the sweaters. And I love breaking out the holiday sweaters. I don't have too many, but the ones I do have are really cute (and not over the top). They are fun to wear at this time of the year.

9)Getting presents. C'mon - who DOESN'T like this part of Christmas?!?

10) Giving presents. I like giving the presents too. I love watching the reactions. Of course, if your husband denies himself things from September on so he can "put them on his list" and actually presents you with a lengthy list to choose from, it can kill the anticipation.

11)Watching Aimee discover Christmas. She's not fully there yet - next year will be even better, but at 17 months old, she can talk (a little) and point at things and be wowed by the lights and glitter. It makes Christmas new again and makes me appreciate all the little things I love about Christmas even more - because my daughter appreciates them.

That's really about it - I am out of reasons. I just love the holidays.

Since most of my friends who have blogs have already tagged each other, and none of my other friends are bloggers, I will not pass this on. So here you go, Erin - enjoy. :-)