Scrooge was Still a Good Guy

If you ask Rebecca, she would probably label me a scrooge. I, however, disagree completely with her accusations. I love Christmas. I love Christmastime. Sure, I am a bit of a stickler about waiting until 5 pm on Thanksgiving night to start playing Christmas tunes, but that is just out of reverence for the forgotten Holiday. I did a whole post about Thanksgiving Once. As Christmas approaches, I wanted to do a break down of some of my favorite and not so favorite traditions.

When I was growing up, it was a tradition for Grandpa Ames to take us kids out to get a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving while the women shopped Black Friday. We haven't really continued that tradition on that day, but I do like to get a tree fairly early. One year we even went and cut down our own tree. This year, however, we kind of got hosed. Rebecca did this living social coupon thing. (Like Group On with a different name.) We paid 19 bucks for a 38 dollar voucher. The lot was cool, it had reindeer, Santa, and a hot-tub. (No, not all at once, though that would have made it more interesting.) So we walked around and finally found the tree we wanted. We carry it up to the cashier to pay and find out its another 50 bucks, after the coupon. The sticker shock left me speechless as I mindlessly handed over the money. It didn't hit us until we were driving home. So I love getting a tree, I do not like paying two months salary to get one though.

I like time spent with family over the holidays. It is nice to hang out with family at Christmastime. I don't like having to drive all over the valley to do it though. We finally figured it out a few years ago. We have a strict rotation. One house for Christmas Eve, one for Christmas Day, and we rotate. We actually rotate most of the main holidays, including Groundhogs Day.

I love having a white Christmas, and generally love the snow. I do not like shoveling snow. Especially living on a corner lot. Shoveling snow is second only to my hatred of raking leaves, in the hierarchy list of home ownership hatreds. I could go on, and if I did, painting would be on the list too.

I love the foods we eat at Christmas time. So many variations of pig that Homer Simpson would be proud. I love Christmas specials on TV, especially Its A Wonderful Life. Actually, it seems like this classic is played less and less, but I still love to watch it at Christmastime. Definitely one of my top 5 movies of all time. In fact, my top 5 list would be, counting down:
#5: Gross Pointe Blank. I know its a bit irreverent, but I love this show.
#4: Groundhog Day. This movie rotates positions on my list depending on the time of year.
#3: Karate Kid (Original, and only the 1st one, we can pretend the others just don't exist)
#2: It's a Wonderful Life

#1: Star Wars original trilogy. You can't separate them, you can't!

I love that I can do most of my shopping from the comfort of my own couch. I really do not like venturing into stores any time of year, especially not Christmas time. The internet as created by Al Gore is amazing for holiday shopping. You could not drag me out to rub elbows with the Black Fridayers. No way. Rebecca actually convinced me to go with her to Valley Ghetto Fair Mall this week. I remember back in Jr High when my friends and I would catch the bus or a ride from parents to go hang out there for the day. Of course, this was back when you had to go places to buy music and movies, and clothes. I could not believe the dump it has become. Besides that, no more Becky Sues Buns! No more Suncoast movies. Deseret Book even bailed on the place. So sad.

So that's my post. Oh, we are not doing Christmas cards this year, so if you don't get one from us, don't feel bad, no one did. Maybe Rebecca will do a Christmas Family Blog Post for us.