December 3—Peppermint Mocha Creamer

This particular holiday pleasure usually graces us early in the season. But let me tell you, when I am strolling through my neighborhood market in late October and spy the Peppermint Mocha Coffeemate in the diary section I am instantly jolted into the holiday spirit. I enjoy it even more when I am drinking my coffee from one of my holiday mugs--but that is an entry for another day…

December 2—Christmas Music!

Many years ago Craig bought me a 200 CD changer. During the holidays, I love to load it up with my 36 (and counting) Christmas CDs and put it on random/shuffle. I have everything from sacred to silly. I am a complete sucker for any store’s promotional Christmas CD usually sold at the check-out. Anyway, I get all sorts of holiday joy having it on all day long. It is a wonderful backdrop for entertaining friends and family throughout the season. I also love knowing that the boy is exposed to all different types of sounds and styles of music—hey, isn’t it OK for Handel and Jimmy Buffet to make a joyful noise? PS, if you haven't already, turn your volume on--I have a fun sampling of Christmas songs here on my blog.

December 1—December 1st Present & Advent Calendars

So, here is the first reason I love the Christmas season…it’s a little tradition I have with the boy and Ava called December First Present. I usually buy a little something that can be enjoyed by the entire family for the holiday season like a Christmas movie, book or CD. This year WHK will receive the Curious George Christmas book (from Khol’s) and A Christmas Story on DVD (our copy is on VHS) which I bought this summer. It is a fun way to begin the season and both WHK and I look forward to it.

On December 1, we also begin the ritual of counting down to Christmas with two different advent calendars we use. The first is a hand-made gift from my Aunt Linda—it is hung with pride in our entry way and each morning the boy hangs an ornament on the tree. Our second calendar is a yummy chocolate calendar from World Market which we do in the afternoon or evening. Both are so much fun and I hope WHK never gets tired of them!