UPDATE: CONGRATULATIONS TO DEBBIE, the winner of our giveaway!! Thank you to everyone for entering, and we’d still love to hear more of your holiday memories if you’re out there reading. 😉 xoxo, A+A+M
Hannukah has begun and we’re only a few days away from Christmas… I know I’m not alone when I say I LOVE this time of year. As I anticipate the warm family gatherings to come, I thought I’d stir up some nostalgic warm fuzzies with my Love and Splendor girls. 🙂 I asked Anna and Michelle to send me their personal lists of Christmas memories: the things that are quintessentially tied to their holiday celebrations. After you have some fun peeking into their memories, we want to hear from YOU!! At the end of the post we’ll share how you can receive a special sparkling package of goodies straight from us. 😉
{ anna’s list }
- peppermint mochas
- Christmas lights
- ringing of the bells (Salvation Army)
- Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas”
- fun wrapping paper
- ugly Christmas sweaters
- nativity scenes
- Christmas movies
- exchanging Christmas cards
- Christmas outfits for puppies 🙂
{ michelle’s list }
- advent calendars
- annual family Christmas picture
- white elephant gift exchanges
- A Christmas Story… “Ralphie, you’ll shoot your eye out with that thing!!”
- egg nog
- sugar cookies & gingerbread houses
- smell of wreaths and trees
- Christmas songs on KOST 103.5
- midnight mass
- giving back to those less fortunate
{ angel’s list }
- warm roasted chesnuts
- Ferrero Rocher chocolates
- Thymes Frasier Fir candles
- red velvet truffles
- “O Holy Night” — my favorite Christmas song
- hand bell choirs
- Christmas eve at Erik’s aunt house, celebrating festa dei sette pesci
- buying stocking stuffers at the 99 cents store 🙂
- “wearing” our Christmas stockings on our feet after we’ve emptied them
- Miracle on 34th Street — my favorite Christmas movie
I love the Christmas season too! But really, who doesn’t?
1. Watching Home Alone, especially with my family (which I never get to do anymore since I usually spend Christmas with the In-Laws)
2. Getting to open one gift early on Christmas Eve
3. Looking at the different holiday lights and decorations that people put up
1. homemade advent calendars
2. celebrating my bday with all the Christmas cheer
3. family time – being lazy, cooking, and eating
Hi Angel,
What a wonderful treat to all of your blog followers. I was just talking to Janice about you (and your baby news!!) this past weekend during our holiday dinner. Christmas is definitely MY FAVORITE time of the year and here’s some of my random “memories” —
-*NSync Holiday CD (this album just never gets old for me & my sister/cousin)
-smell of fresh Christmas trees
-our version of a Lego Christmas village
-popcorn and more popcorn – this year Im in love with some white & milk chocolate covered popcorn YUM!!
-sitting in a sea of used wrapping paper & ribbon with all of my cousins and their kids and having family time..
Sending you and your family warm wishes during this holiday season!! xox – Ellaine
@tiffany — i looove home alone, too! // @ellaine — aww say hi to janice for me! the nsync holiday CD is a classic for me. xo
1. Ribbon candy
2. Rose cookies
3. Sparkling gold tinsel
angel, i love eating roasted chestnuts too!! =)
– watching “It’s a Wonderful Life”
– knowing that there’s always something sweet to eat in the kitchen. =)
– the smell of christmas trees & wreaths!
My favorite holiday memories are from my birth place in San Francisco.
My family and I would put up the tree and the minimal ornaments we could find. I would remember closing my eyes and I could smell the scent of Noble Fir like it was yesterday.
We had an aunt who made magnetic holiday ornaments made out of dough. She made a candy cane lolipop, santa, and snowman. We would wait for them to harden and stick them on our fridge. My mom still has them on our fridge after all these years.
Opening presents on the 25th with family and friends at 8AM in the morning. I miss spending time with family.
nelly dear <3 loved these sweet & personal memories you shared. miss you!!!! xoxo
-making dumplings from scratch
-mapping out how to decorate our tree and lawn
-putting together our fake (but beautiful!) Christmas tree with ornaments we’ve accumulated over the years
-going around friends’ homes and caroling
🙂 thanks angel!
1. taking a day off from work to go on a 12 hour holiday baking frenzy
2. christmas eve midnight mass with my family
3. people watching @ south coast plaza on the 23rd because i love the ambiance of frantic last minute christmas shopping
*when i used to live in la palma, there was one street/cul de sac that went CRAZY for christmas lights. i loved walking there and oohing and aahing in front of the homes.
*vacations. from school and now from work. i love swapping in family time and baking and shopping for the “regular” responsibilities!
*christmas trees. i love them… even if they aren’t very eco-friendly. i love the smell, the sight, the lights, the ornaments (both the more pottery barn coordinated schemes and the hodge-podge of memories) 🙂
1. Large feasts of Indian food
2. Teaching my niece what Christmas is (and watching her interpretation – playing with boxes)
3. Baking
Hi Angel! Always love reading your blog posts ;o) They’re so full of life and beauty, who doesn’t need more of that everyday??
Let’s see, what reminds me of the holidays?
1. Hot Chocolate..mmm…
2. Feasts with family & friends
3. A Christmas Song (chestnuts roasting on an open fire…my fav christmas song ever ;o)
Merry Christmas, and may there be many more joyous occasions to come in the new year!
1. christmas tree lot – new tradition this year!
2. nsync holiday CD – fav cheesy song “all i want is you this christmas”
3. deep from the heart kind of warmth everyone have this time of the year
happy holidays!
I love your lists! Each one made me smile. Here are a few of my favorites:
*tangerines in the toes of our stockings
*handmade candy canes from my aunt in Colorado
*my dog, Max, rolling with glee in the discarded wrapping paper
*my mom taking a million pictures (and how glad I am now that she did)
*my first date with my husband Christmas of 2003 and getting engaged Christmas of 2009
I love reading these lists! Three things that come to mind are:
1. Driving reaalllly slowly through neighborhoods known for going all out with their house decorations while playing KOST music
2. Picking out THE tree (love the smell)
3. Watching Love Actually for the nth time
i LOVe CHRISTMAST!
1) seeing family & friends who are away during the rest of the year
2) hot apple cider
3) going to see the giant christmas tree at the Grove or Fashion Island
Merry Christmas Angel! xoxox
1) the Christmas event at Rose Hills (how odd that my favorite Christmas memory took place at cemetery 🙂
2) drinking hot chocolate while driving around looking at all the lights
3) tree lot “hopping” looking for that perfect tree
Angel, Miracle on 34th is my absolute favorite and I had the same Feivel!!! We’re like soul sisters :-p
best giveaway ever!!!
-carpenter’s christmas album
-singing 5 or 6 services on Christmas Eve (with my choir at the Crystal Cathedral)
-our family’s super ghetto christmas lights- (half broken, some blinking)
btw, you look SO much like anna in that pic!
Hi Angel! (and my sweet Anna)
-Making from-scratch ravioli with my mom and cousin for Christmas eve. So fun!
-Celebrating my daughter’s, mom’s, and hubby’s birthdays (dec 7 , 10, AND 19)
-seeing a snowflake on the temperature gauge in the car (Anna :)…..)
Btw I read some of the above memories and to Bethany from la Palma, I went to that street on Monday night! It’s off Houston 🙂 my family loves the cheer there too 🙂
my favorite Christmas memories: singing carols with cousins, wrapping gifts with siblings, late night fondue, midnight mass on Christmas eve, popcorn strands on the tree, and yummy chocolates.
Merry Christmas Angel, Anna, Michelle.
Yeah Christmas!!! I love the feivel pic!! Classic!
-Charlie brown Christmas
-church Christmas concerts
-Phil Webb singing “o holy night” !
-seeing Christmas thru a four year olds eyes… Christmas gets 1000x more crazy but soooooo so much more fun.
Xoxo
Merry Christmas!
some of my favorite things during this time of year:
– wrapping gifts while listening to the N Sync christmas album
– Walker’s shortbread cookies
– Christmastime at Disneyland
i don’t know if i’m too late! but i will try!
– choosing the christmas tree with the whole family
– charlie brown christmas
-watching the laker christmas game with the whole family
– having christmas service
– red and green nail polish
– tea/coffee
– festive pjs
So, so, SO excited I won!!!
Merry Christmas to you all!