12 Random Christmas Facts

All right I'm in the mood to post this now...

1. Every year, for as long as I can remember I have gotten a toothbrush in my stocking (except this year; come on Jesse.) It's kind of gross to think that I only changed toothbrushes once a year until I started buying my own, but oh well.

2. It is a tradition to pick out one ornament every year. My very first is a teddy bear on a sled with a package of gifts on the back from 1984.

3. Jesse, for a while, used to get his Christmas presents on Thanksgiving, crazy I know. So, ever since we got married he has a really hard time waiting to open them until Christmas. I thought this was going to be the first year that we were able to make it, and I told him that we had to wait until 12:00 am Christmas morning to open them. However, I wasn't feeling so well and all I could think about was sleep, so we only made it to 11:00 pm. Maybe next year.

4. I like to decorate for Christmas early... really early. This year it was the week before Thanksgiving. I made Jesse help me decorate the tree. He was kind of a grump about it though and told me that he refused to have Christmas spirit before the day after Thanksgiving. We are going to keep working on this attitude though.

5. I LOVE Christmas lights. Every year I have to beg Jesse to put them up, but he always does, and they always look so good!

6. My new favorite Christmas movie is Elf, it is sooo funny; second is White Christmas. My least favorite Christmas movie of all time... It's a Wonderful Life, it is kind of a downer.

7. Every year for a while, my family makes this cherry coke salad for Christmas dinner. It's cherry jell-o with pineapple, cherries, and coke. Delicious!! Turns out it was Jesse's grandma's recipe that my grandma got from the old church cookbook. We didn't realize this until Jesse and my first Christmas when he said, "I think I've had this before."

8. My dad's mom used to make the best Christmas ham ever. She would cook it with brown sugar and some other spices, and cook it covered for hours until it was so tender and juicy that it would just fall off the bone. I used to love it, but I can't figure out how to make it.

9. We always open stockings Christmas morning before breakfast.

10. My parents used to always tell us that Santa came, but they would wrap the presents that Santa brought in the same paper as all the other ones, and then my mom would write out all of the gift tags. Not very creative, so needless to say, we always had a sneaking suspicion that there was no Santa.

11. The most memorable Christmas present from my childhood, don't ask me why, was a gift set that my parents got for me that had Minnie Mouse nail polish and lipstick in it. My first nail polish ever!

12. I also will always remember the Christmas with my dad's family where everyone got matching sweats. Each family got a different color, ours got light blue, and the sweatshirts had puffy white snowflakes and our family's last name printed on them.

Merry Christmas