Christmas Movie: Christmas Vacation and Love, Actually Christmas Song: "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" or "Last Christmas" by Wham! It's my guilty pleasure. Christmas Tradition: Going to church on Christmas Eve and coming home to have hors d'oeuvres and desserts. Then we open presents and drink. Christmas Drank: Baileys on ice. Judge away. My dad always gets it for the gals and it tastes like frozen mint Christmas in a glass.
I forgot Christmas Special. I LOVE "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". The 60s cartoon version. I really love the music and usually get a little dust in my eye at the end.
Christmas Movie: Die Hard is the only one I watch consistently every year. Christmas ALBUM: Robert Goulet's This Christmas I Spend With You. Christmas Special: Dr. Who has supplanted "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer". Christmas Traditions: My family frequently likes to debate politics over big dinners; when it happens I just shut up and eat, then escape to the kitchen and start cleaning up. We also go for long walks at night to look at the Christmas lights around town. I always insist on putting the older C7 lights on the Christmas tree because they remind me of my childhood, along with 3 generations' worth of Christmas ornaments. This year we'll actually be having Christmas on Christmas day, so we'll have a big brunch and then exchange gifts in the afternoon. Christmas Eve dinner is oyster stew and Swedish meatballs, the day of it's lamb & ham. Now that I'm living at the center of it all (I moved into my maternal grandparents' house after my grandmother's death to help my mother care for my grandfather) it's a lot more stressful that it was when I was just visiting, since I'm doing a lot of the grunt work. Last year was rather subdued and depressing because of my grandmother's recent passing, and so we're trying to make this year a bit more happy. Just after Thanksgiving I took my 10-and-11-year-old cousins out to cut our own Christmas tree. My eldest uncle came along, and while he is usually awkward around young kids he had a snowball fight with them back and forth through the trees and they loved it.
Christmas Movie: A Christmas Story, Jingle all the Way, and The Santa Clause. Christmas Song: Merry Christmas from the Family - Robert Earl Keen and Christmas in Dixie - Alabama Christmas Special: The original Grinch, with Rudolph as a close second. Christmas Drink: Bourbon and the darkest beer I can find. Christmas Tradition: On Christmas Eve my mom's side of the family goes to church and then we go back to my parents for hot dogs and chili. It's been a tradition since they first got married and couldn't afford anything fancier for everyone. On Christmas Day Mom, Dad, and I open presents at their house followed by a huge breakfast and mimosas involving multiple bottles of champagne. We then take a few hours to ourselves and get back together to make whatever meal we want (beef tenderloin this year) with family friends, I usually head to the bar with the ones that are my age after. We get with Dad's side at our lake house on whatever weekend near Christmas is convenient and do a white elephant and have the traditional Christmas dinner, followed by beer and fishing. Love this time of year.
This is the greatest Christmas carol ever written. Sample lyrics: "The stockings were hung by an aperture gaping, where smoke in its wisdom had 'ere been escaping."
Christmas Movie: A Christmas Story. I freaking love this movie. I have seen it a dozen times but it still cracks me up like the first time. This year, I bought my nieces and nephews jammies and movie snacks and we are having a movie night with this movie on Christmas Eve this year. Christmas Song: Am I going to be the only one admitting that I love Mariah Carey's Christmas album? Every time this song comes on, I jam out hard. So hard. I am also a fan of Hanson's Snowed In album. Hush yourself. It is wonderful. Christmas Drank: Hot Toddies. Eggnog with rum. Rum with hot cider. Bailey's straight up. All the best, worst for you drinks are made for the cold weather. They are warm going down and add that layer of fat around your body to keep you warm when the polar bears come out to play. Just kidding, I live in Alabama. We just have regular bears here. In reality, there is going to be copious amounts of wine, mostly red. When karaoke starts, I will grab the cheapest bottle and hog it for myself because that is the only way to make that experience bearable. I had a great time last year. One bro in law on one side, one on the other, me in the middle getting white girl fucked up while singing motown jams that apparently only I know the words to. These are the things that great Christmas memories are made of. Can we get this party started yet?
Goddammit Bewildered. Why don't you just stick your hand up my butt and play me like a puppet? Here's another part of Christmas that I enjoy. Going to see the Transsiberian Orchestra with my father. We've done it for the last 5 years. The first year we went, I had planned to go with a girlfriend who got sick at the last minute so I asked my father if he wanted to go instead. He met me on the train all dressed up in a suit because "this is like the symphony, right?" Uh... no, not quite. That said, dad loves a pyro show and had a fucking blast. He gets more excited to go every year than I do.
I have Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas & Merry Christmas II You on repeat throughout the holidays. Shit doesn't get any better than that!
I forgot about one of my favorite Christmas movies because I don't even think of it as a Christmas movie. Trading Places is nothing short of amazing. I'm going to add that into the Christmas mix in addition to the I am bored and would prefer to laugh mix.
Songs: Mary's boy-child/Oh My Lord- Boney M Mistress for Christmas- AC/DC Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer- the Rovers Movies: Christmas Vacation The Ref Bad Santa This Wonderful Life Drink: Irish Coffee Daiquiris, because I can't fucking grow mint in the cold.