Christmas Questionnaire

I hope you all are feeling as relaxed as I am.  This Sunday is bringing me peace and feeling wonderful catching up on all of the things that have been neglected the last few weeks.  

Today, I am linking up with Michelle over at Fabulous In First.  She put together a great little questionnaire about Christmas.  Some were very easy to answer, others I had to think about.

Hot Chocolate or Eggnog?

Totally hot chocolate!  Especially when I can make the perfect portion in my Keurig.  I also bought those little marshmallows that don't get soggy in hot chocolate.  Yum!

Does Santa wrap presents are just put them under the tree?

At our house, Santa brings just one gift.  They are never wrapped and they are sitting by the fireplace and stockings (which he also stuffs).  The rest of the presents are from Mom and Dad and are underneath our tree in our front room.

Colored lights or white?

Actually neither.  We have a gold theme in our house, so naturally the tree has gold lights on it.  I always stock up on them when I find them because all gold lights are really hard to find!

When do you decorate?

I usually try to have the hubs bring up the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Then the girls and I decorate the following weekend with popcorn and Christmas movies.

Real or Fake tree?

Fake.  Totally much bigger than we really have space for!

What tops your tree?

Believe it or not, we don't have a lot of room from the top of the tree to the ceiling.  So this year, our tree is topped by Perry the Platypus from Disney's Phineas and Ferb.

Favorite Christmas memories or Traditions

My daughters and I decorate our tree every year while watching Christmas movies and eating homemade popcorn.  No wonder why those ornaments are a little buttery!

Do you remember your favorite gift as a child?

I honestly can't remember a favorite gift.  I do remember wanting the game Mouse Trap for one Christmas.  I played with it for 1 day before I got tired of all the parts not working the correct way.  It was a lot of work to set up everything just right!

Do you prefer giving or receiving?

Giving by far.  So much that I stress out every year either going overboard on my two girls or trying to find that perfect gift for friends.

What is your favorite Christmas song?

"Oh Holy Night" is my favorite Christmas hymn.  I love the dynamics and the power of the song.  I soloed on this song in high school and it has always stayed with me.  I also love "Merry Christmas With Love."  Clay Aiken made the song famous, but I prefer the original by Sandy Patti.

Candy Canes:  Yuck or Yum?

Yuck!  I feel the same with Candy Corn during Halloween.

Favorite Christmas movie

Elf

Do you shop online or at stores?

Both.  Big fan of Amazon!

Photo Cards, letter, or store bought cards?

Photo cards have been the staple in our house lately.  Relatives love to see pictures of the kids.  This year though, I will be sending New Year's cards instead of Holiday cards.

Currently

I look forward each month to linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade.  This always helps me take stock, and reminds me of what is important.

Listening  When I first started this post, the little one (who will be 7 on Saturday) was in her room singing when she was supposed to be sleeping.  Her songs are made up and tend to go on and on and on and on ... The hubs and I like to think of them as mini operas.  I know that she is content and happy when I hear her singing.  I love these moments and I know I will miss them as she grows older!

Loving  I have recently taken more time to read books that are on my list for pleasure.  I started reading Alligient by Veronica Roth, the third book in the series.  I stopped and started reading the first in the series again Divergent, because I didn't want to miss anything in the third book.  I am loving going back and re-discovering it again.  I seriously could not put it down the first time!  Try it!

Thinking  I am a last minute shopper.  Who am I kidding, I am a last minute everything!  I have a good portion of my shopping done this year (thank you Amazon)!  I seriously love getting the one gift that you know they (whoever they may be) love.  Such a great feeling!

Wanting  Okay, after re-reading what I said above, even I threw up in my mouth a little bit. :)  There are always those few kiddos who just kind of creep into your heart and camp out.  And it is not always the ones that you think it is going to be.  Some of them have so much in their world that is already against them, I feel the need to arm them with knowledge and a whole lot of TLC.

Needing  I know that I am not alone in my feelings of being overwhelmed.  I find it interesting that as I read the posts from my blogging friends, that many of them say the same thing.  It doesn't matter where they are teaching - from coast to coast, there is a lot going on in the world of education.  Teachers have a lot on their plates!  Nough' said!  Take it day by day!

Favorite Tradition  Every year, my daughters and I decorate our tree.  I worked at a Hallmark store from age 16 all the way through college.  I saved up on the cute Hallmark ornaments that I liked (thank you employee discount).  Now my girls have added their own that they have made from their classroom and Girl Scout days.  We watch Christmas movies (last couple of years it has been Elf and The Polar Express) and eat popcorn.  My grandma always made her popcorn over the stove with lots of butter and salt.  I make it just like she did!  The hubs usually comes in about half way through and tells us the spots we have missed!  Gotta love that!

I have loved reading my blogging friends posts this month and learning about their favorite traditions!  Thanks Farley!

All Kinds of Sales

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I know that spending time with family was much needed on my end.  Those well-deserved breaks seem to come at the exact right moment.

Quite a hectic November in the Steed household.  My husband rolled his ankle a couple of weeks ago.  He has a big ole' boot and crutches.  The poor guy's foot is about a million shades of purple, from both sides of his ankle down to his toes.  It is even purple on the bottom of his foot.  Luckily it is not broken, but there is some chipped bone.  He is quite the superhero.  Even with his bum foot, he was able to carry our Christmas tree up from the basement!  Love that guy!!

Enough about me and my woes, I also have some good news to share!  First Teachers Notebook is running a sale.  It started November 30th and it runs until December 2nd (always behind the 8 ball).  My whole shop is 20% off.  They have some amazing deals going on!

And last, would you like to take advantage of shopping in your pjs and not leaving the house?  Well, fill up your cart at Teachers Pay Teachers!  They are having a Cyber Monday Sale on Monday and Tuesday.  I already have my wish list prioritized....... do you?  Click the picture below to take you to my store!

Thanks to Jen Jones at Hello Literacy for the cute button!!  You can get up to 28% off if you enter the check-out code:  CYBER.

Tomorrow is back to school and the chaos that is December.  Are y'all ready to tackle it?