Hi friends! Welcome to the final stop on the “A Few of Our Favorite (Christmas) Things” blog hop and giveaway! I hope you’ve had fun so far, hearing from a few of my favorite people about their fave Christmas things. And that you’ve collected all the phrases so you can enter the giveaway! In case you’re just joining us here at my blog, I’m including a list of the stops in order so you can catch up!
Stop #1: Kat’s Corner Books
Stop #2: Faithfully Bookish
Stop #3: Bookworm Mama
Stop #4: Singing Librarian Books
Stop #5: Me! 🙂
Christmas is my very favorite holiday! So trying to narrow down a list of my favorite Christmas things is like asking me to only name 10 favorite books. You’ve been duly warned…
1. Traditions
My family is big on traditions. Ok… my mom and I are big on traditions lol but everyone goes along with us. Because we give them no real choice 😀
One of my fave Christmas traditions is our ‘names of Jesus’ ornaments. Every year (either on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve, depending on who you ask) we all get together and share a ‘name of Jesus’ that has been especially meaningful to us that year. For instance, this year I might have really experienced Jesus as a Friend … and my husband maybe has experienced Him as a Comforter. My mom might talk about how Jesus has been a Teacher to her this year, and maybe my Dad could talk about how Jesus has been his Strength. After whoever is gathered has shared their name of Jesus, I write them on a red ornament and we put them on the tree. Since we’ve been doing this since I was in high school, we have a LOT of these ornaments & it’s really special to reflect on each one as we decorate my parents’ tree ♥
Another tradition that I love is when my mom and I go out for a Christmassy girls’ day. We get all decked out in our Christmas finery and we usually eat at The Glitz, a unique cafe in a place called None Such, Kentucky. Since this little cafe is conveniently located in an antique gallery we also get to browse all kinds of fun stuff after we eat. I love that my mom is one of my best friends, and this time with her is something I look forward to every year! Along with hanging out with my mom in a very girly restaurant, I love their Christmas menu. Their roasted chestnut soup and their Christmas cake are to die for! YUM. Seriously my mouth is watering just typing about it lol.
2. Christmas movies & music
Some of my Christmas traditions involve movies. For instance, every year I have to watch “While You Were Sleeping” at least once during the holiday season. A Charlie Brown Christmas. The Grinch (animated, not Jim Carrey). The Holiday. And my favorite Hallmark Christmas movie – A Season for Miracles.
Starting on Thanksgiving Day Halloween the first day of fall I start listening to Christmas music. All the Amy Grant Christmas CDs. All the Steven Curtis Chapman Christmas CDs. The first Point of Grace Christmas CD. And one of my more recent faves – Josh Wilson’s Noel. His song “Christmas Changes Everything” is one I actually listen to year round.
3. Fuzzy Socks
Enough said. 🙂
4. Family and Friends
To me, Christmas means family. Whether it’s just my husband, me, and my parents (like it will be this year) or celebrating with my brother & his family… or surrounded by my husband’s plethora of extended family – i love spending Christmas with people I love. Even if it’s not on Christmas Day, it becomes Christmas when we’re all together. I mean, my dad is Santa Claus so really what do you expect? 😉
I also love attending a Christmas Eve service with family as well as friends that you may not see more than once or twice a year, when they’re in town. There’s something so special about worship on Christmas Eve, a peace in the room and joy in the heart. Some of my most cherished Christmas memories happened at our Christmas Eve service.
Speaking of friends, the friends I’m doing this blog hop with are some of my favorite people – at Christmas or anytime of year. Here are some of my fave pics of the 5 of us 🙂
5. Books!
Last but not least! It’s no surprise that I love books. And I love Christmas books best of all. Some of my fave Christmas reads from years past are :
This is by no means an exhaustive list, just a few that popped to my mind when I thought about some of my recent faves. And speaking of books, do you remember the book tree my husband made for me last year??? Be still my heart.
Now…. there was something else I was supposed to do….
Oh! Yes! Add this word to the sentence you’ve been accumulating at each stop: BOOKS!
A Few of our Favorite Christmas Things wouldn’t be complete without a giveaway of some of our fave reads! One winner will receive the following five (5) ebooks:
- 12 Days of Snowmen by Sarah Monzon
- I’ll Be Home for Christmas by Calhoune, Kemerer, Pleiter, Worth
- Letters from Santa by Becca Whitham
- Wrapped in Red by Meghan Gorecki
- Ordinary Snowflakes by Jennifer Rodewald
This giveaway is open internationally as long as you can accept a Kindle ebook from Amazon. Void where prohibited by law. Giveaway is subject to Reading Is My SuperPower’s giveaway policies which can be found here. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.
What about you? What are some of your fave Christmas things?
Hot cocoa, snuggling under a warm blanket, lots of books, family time.
Oh that sounds delightful!
Having family over and going to the Christmas Eve Service at Church.
That’s so special, isn’t it?
The Grinch (animated, not Jim Carrey) – Yes! I won’t even let my kids watch that live-action Grinch heresy!
Right??? I’m so glad I’m not alone! 😀
Some of my Christmas favorites are: baking goodies from recipes handed down to me by my Mom and Granny, sharing those goodies with the elderly and shut-ins, visiting and bring a smile to someone who has no one during the holidays, spending time watching Christmas movies with my wonderful hubby, and catching up with friends who it seems we don’t stay in touch with as often and we want to or should.
Oh how sweet, Kay!
This is so much fun!! Thank you for the chance!
This giveaway is so fun, I wish I could enter it myself. I haven’t even read all of our giveaway books, if that’s believable!
Right?? Lol
I love reading Christmas novels this time of year, um, well, in any time of the year!
Me too!!!
I love readig Christmas novel this time of the year. Wait…any time of the year!
I love hot cocoa, Christmas decorations, singing the Christmas hymns at church, and watching the old classics like Holiday Inn and White Christmas.
Oh I love that, Karen!
I really love fuzzy socks!! Friend and family and books, too, of course!
Fuzzy socks are just the best 😀
Sitting in the quiet house with the Christmas lights on at night and reflecting on life or whatever.
Christmas goodies like fudge. And all the things you mentioned except for the Grinch, and I would add Casting Crowns, I play their I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day on repeat. Repeatedly.
Fudge!!!! And oh! Yes! I Heard the Bells by Casting Crowns is awesome.
First I want to comment on the books you chose. I love every one of them. Fuzzy socks are one of my staples in winter and my granddaughter always wants them in her stocking. The tree is amazing. You should have him write the instructions down for us so we can make one too. I love your blog.
It took him forever to make that book tree! I should have him do a diy post 🙂 Thank you, Penny!
Baking Christmas cookies and decorating the tree.
Yum!
My favorites: celebrating Jesus’ birth with family & friends; Christmas books!!; Christmas movies; Christmas music – cd’s, carols, hymns, choirs; fun Christmas drinks and goodies; and fun Christmas throws & socks – really just about everything about Christmas!
Haha! I love it!
Loved reading about your traditions. Sadly we never really had traditions while I was growing up.
Awww. Now’s a good time to start some! 🙂
I love pretty much everything about Christmas except the shopping! It’s fun to have a month for reading Christmas books, watching the movies, listening to the music, and enjoying the special decorations, and especially remembering Jesus, the reason for the celebration.
ugh – the shopping. I am thankful for Amazon 😀
I really enjoyed this blog hop! It was so fun to read about all the favorites. First, I really love your names of Jesus tradition! I am not a tradition girl, but if I was…I’d do this! Love it! Also, I adore the book tree your husband made for you. Wow! You’ve got a great guy there!
In addition to a lot of similar favorites that you mentioned, a favorite Christmas thing for me is Christmas smells! Ginger, nutmeg, orange, cinnamon, clove, pine…ummmm!
ooo i love that – Christmas smells! Yes!
Christmas music, good food and games to play with family and friends.
This has been fun. I have been enjoying binge watching Christmas movies.
yay! Thanks, Jan 🙂
We just keep it simple and enjoy time spent with family & friends. Thank you for the giveaway opportunity and Merry Christmas.
Christmas Lights, Decorating with Snowmen, Watching snow falling, warm fires!!
Family, friends, food, traditions. We make cookies and gingerbread with friends. Each of us has that favorite dish that must be made. Music to set the stage. Stories and movies to keep the season moving. Church services to allow us to worship God and thank Him for His Gift, Jesus.
My favorite Christmas things are a good book, chocolate, hot tea, and the time to spend the day doing my favorite thing, which is, reading.
Thanks for entering me in your giveaway. I don’t tweet or know how to share on Social Media so I hope that doesn’t hurt my chances.
I enjoy celebrating Christ with those I love.
Thank you for the chance to win! I had fun hopping around lol