Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts

P L A Y L I S T | My Ultimate Christmas Mixtape

christmas playlist

There's nothing like a good playlist to get you in the mood for Christmas. Whether you're preparing your home for guests, wrapping gifts, getting your Christmas feast started, or you're enjoying a cool night of board games and hot-chocolate with your little ones, I have some smooth grooves for you. And since this girl loves her R&B, funk, gospel, and hip-hop, peep the great mash-up I have of those types of music right here. I hope you find some gems you enjoy!

The Christmas Tag (Repost)


My beautiful blogger friend Mylah, of MylahSai.com tagged me in a fun Christmas post she was also tagged in last week.  Reading her post gave me a little insight on her Christmas likes and memories.  I'm so glad she tagged me so that I am able to spread the fun and holiday cheer to you guys.  So here goes!  

What is your favorite Christmas song?
I love Silent Night.  When sang correctly, it can give the coldest heart the shivers of a warm spirit.  And there's nothing in this world like the Temptations version of it. 

Except this: Coming very close to the Temptations rendition of this song would be the version my church's Adult Choir has sang for years.  Man, when Mr. Smith and Mr. Thomas would sing in those heavy baritones, it would stir everyone's souls! Even the meanies in the congregation would smile and clap during this song! And I loved it.  Apparently my brothers did too, because they still mock them lol. Rest in Peace, Mr. Thomas.

What is your favorite Christmas Treat? 
My Oreo Cheesecake or Oreo Dirt Pie.  (Chocolate, YUM!)  You know the spirit of Christmas has truly overwhelmed me if I took the time to load a dessert with all that delectable goodness and let it sit in the fridge long enough to chill for other people, lol. Just kidding! Sorta.

What is your favorite childhood Christmas memory? 
My last Christmas with my father three four Christmases ago trumps any holiday memory I had as a child.  My husband, children, father, and myself were each present at my grandmother's house--something that had never happened before and will never happen again.  I can still remember the smile my father had on his face as he embraced my children.  Tears welled in my eyes as I saw a strong resemblance of him in my son's face.  I can't remember one gift I gave or received, can't remember a thing I ate, or any in depth conversations I shared with anyone else that day.  All that stands out was spending time with my father and my paternal relatives.  Just being present in those moments made that Christmas one of the best and most memorable days of my life.

What is the best Christmas gift you've ever given? 
I'm not sure.  I do think the best gifts I've given overall are the ones I personalize or made myself.  Either those or books.  I love to leave a lasting impression or do something memorable!

Do you make or buy keepsake ornaments for your family every year?  
No, I never really gave buying keepsake ornaments much thought.  The little ones always make ornaments at school, so I guess those would be what our family considers keepsakes.  My mother kept the handmade ornaments my siblings and I made for years (sadly she no longer has them) so I think that's where I got that from.

Would you rather be one of Santa’s elves or a reindeer? 
Is this a trick question? I don't know if I would be athletic enough to be a reindeer-- what with flying over rooftops and moving all over the world in one night.  And elves put in a lot of work too, work Mylah considers slave labor lol.  So I would try to fade in the background and not get picked to be on either team (like I did with kickball in elementary school haha). 

Gift wrap or gift bags? 
Gift bags for sure. They're much easier to use and I suck at wrapping gifts.  You should see all the extra paper I waste trying to cut here and there.  But if it's pretty Hello Kitty gift wrap or the Rankin/Bass Christmas cartoon wrap (think Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer), I will go for wrap.  And make J wrap everything lol.

Do you own a Santa hat?
I do, thanks to my bestie.  She was trying to put someone in the holiday spirit last year, so to speak.  Now, I have to decide exactly how I want to use it again this year ;-)

Do you prefer Black Friday, or Day-After-Christmas sales?
Black Friday is EVIL! Nah, just kidding. I'm just not a fan of crowds, so I rarely partake in Black Friday shopping.  But Day-After-Christmas shopping is fun, especially with those shiny new gift cards I'll receive in tow.  I always look forward to the Bath and Body Works sale, so I usually reserve that gift card for that time.

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot chocolate. I can sip on that with the little ones with no problem.  We enjoy watching holiday cartoons with hot chocolate and marshmellows. I never did really get with egg nog.  I guess it's a bit of an acquired taste that I haven't acquired yet.   


What was your favorite childhood Christmas gift?
My favorite childhood Christmas gift was Teddy Ruxpin, hands down! He was my best friend that winter!  He read to me whenever I wanted!  But I think my little brother was lowkey jealous that Teddy Ruxpin was reading to me all the time, because he ripped his mouth off like it was nothing.  Imagine how scary Teddy started looking with no mouth and a mechanical nose that moves erratically as he recited his stories.  It really put a damper on our friendship to say the least. Ha!

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
When I was about 7 or 8, I decided to quietly wait up for Santa in my bed.  Apparently the adults thought all closed eyes were sleeping because I heard my aunt tell my parents to get the bikes out of the trunk.  I did the math.  Thanks auntie!

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN! 
I TAG ALL OF YOU READING TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS FUN CHRISTMAS TAG.  
IF YOU DECIDE TO PARTICIPATE, PLEASE SHARE YOUR LINK IN THE COMMENTS, 
AS I WOULD LOVE TO READ THEM ALL!

5 Christmas Traditions for New Families

holiday

Usually for the holidays, my family always packed our suitcases and head to my hometown to celebrate Christmas with my parents and siblings. My siblings and I would always come "home" and get together to discuss Christmas memories, listen to Christmas music, and muster up some Christmas cheer to pass along to my children with mama & daddy.  But for the last couple of years, I have been looking for my own Christmas traditions to practice with my husband and children. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with everyone over at mama's. But now that I have my own family, I want to start a tradition within my own home-- something my children can look forward to each year. And since we have a new baby in our new home, I thought this would be a great year to start something new!

On the search for new traditions to begin, I found a plethora of ideas on ever-so-faithful Pinterest. And just in case some of you guys were thinking of beginning new traditions, I decided to share a few ideas I found there with you, too.

1. The Christmas Jar
The Christmas Jar is such a great way to teach our little ones about giving-- in the true spirit of Christmas. With this activity, everyone puts money in a mason jar (or whatever jar you have in your home) throughout the year. On Christmas Eve, the family delivers the money jar anonymously to a selected special someone. This beautiful idea was created in 2005 by author Jason F. Wright, who also chronicled this notion in his novel Christmas Jars. To read more about this idea, read here and here.

2. The Christmas Eve Surprise Box
The Christmas Eve Surprise Box would be ideal for my family. With this tradition, there's a box loaded with goodies such as new pajamas, hot chocolate, marshmallows, mugs, popcorn, holiday movies, and books. J and I would pack this box with said goodies and open it with the kiddies on Christmas Eve (at sunset). This sounds like so much fun, especially since we already do movie night with snacks each week anyways. To read more about this idea, click here.

3. Annual Christmas Book
Now if you're more of a book person than a movie person, you may like the "Annual Christmas Book" tradition better. In reading this idea, I found that "Santa" sends a new book to the children for them to read each Christmas Eve before heading to bed. While I like this idea in theory, I would probably have the books sent via the grandparents or from J and I to the children. Read more about this tradition here.

4. Christmas Cookie Baking
Since I'm a cookie lover, I'm all about baking cookies for Christmas. When I looked for different cookies to bake on Pinterest, I found so many cool ideas!The one that stuck out the most was the 12 Days of Christmas Cookie Project. With this project, several baking bloggers got together and baked Christmas cookies, using the twelve days of Christmas as their theme. Click here to read more about that project.

As for my family, we may choose a couple of those ideas and bake cookies on Christmas Eve, to enjoy in the evening along with our hot chocolate and Christmas movie choices. And if we don't stick to that theme, we'll be trying these cute snowman cookies out I found here.


5. Soundtrack to the Holidays
This is actually a tradition that I came up with on my own. Since I'm so big on holiday music and making mixtapes, I decided to create a mixtape each Christmas. Each of us will add a few songs to the mix and explain to the family why we chose those particular songs. I'm letting the kids create the album cover art, and everything! I will upload the songs and make copies for the extended family to give out at my mom's annual tree-trimming party. Look out for more information about this tradition in an upcoming post!

What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?
Will you be trying any of these?

Dre's Christmas Wishlist

For some reason, I never share a Christmas wishlist.  Then I get frustrated when people tell me they never know what to buy me.  So in hopes of my husband or family members running across my blog before Christmas, I have decided to share my most wanted items here!
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