a real tree with white lights and white and silver ornaments! maybe a bit of red to spice it up.

Quelle Est Cette Odeur Agreable is my favorite christmas carol.

and I want ceramic plates for xmas.

you?

Real Tree! Colored lights!

I have several... "Mele Kalikimaka" by Bing Crosby, "Last Christmas" by George Michael, "Feliz Navidad" by Jose Feliciano, and "Jingle Bell Rock" the 50's version.

They're kind of er, silly, but I love them and can't help singing along. I also like the more traditional songs... "Silent Night" and "Little Drummer Boy" are songs that I've heard some amazing, goosebumps-on-the-arms versions of.

Christmas list... ah, so tricky. I always kick myself for not giving people a better idea of what I wanted for Christmas, but somehow when every time the question is asked, my brain just seizes up and I can't think of anything. Plus, even though I know it's silly, I feel like I'm being arrogant and spoiled when I give people a list of things I want.

* Real, but I have to have a fake one b/c of allergies.

* White.

* In the Bleak Midwinter

* A serger!

I prefer a real tree but I have a fake one because it's cheaper in the long run.

A few weeks ago I would have said I prefered white lights. They are uniform and simple, classic. Sort of the little black dress of holiday expression. However, I recently took a wrong turn and ended up in a neighborhood just end to end with blinking colored lights and huge santas and plastic reindeer, etc. It was absolutely Giddy with joy and celebration and made me change my tune right then. Very few people put up outside lights in my neighborhood and the few that do stick to white. This year my house is the one with the lampshade on it's head :) Colored lights inside and out. We have a huge glowing candy cane as well but the boys decided to keep it in their room instead of outside!

My favorite carol this year is Christmas Eve Sarajevo by Trans Siberian Orchestra. I've always enjoyed their take on traditional holiday songs but this year the boys are starting to show their own preferences with music and they were so bored by the carols on 98.5 all day long UNTIL they heard this one. Now they beg for more. (I got them the CD so I hear it alot!) I also have a really fun CD called "Christmas on Toys" which is traditional songs played only on toy instruments. It's actually much better than you'd think! There is a character to the music that really makes it fun.

My list this year is pretty short. Dan and I are going to pool our budget and get some things in the kitchen fixed, like the much needed countertops and maybe the floor. Other than that my secret wish is one of those scentstories machines out of the air freshener aisle. Something about all those plumbing problems has made me really fanatical about making the house smell nice!

If you're near a garden ridge store, they are only $2.50 a box, white or colored. Probably even less now the way they mark things down. I need one more box to finish going around my front window but the store is out past the mall here so driving there is more stressful than the window with no lights on it )

When we bought this house one of the things we loved was the huge masonry fireplace. Why the previous owners installed a tiny set of ugly fake gas logs in this cavernous brick fireplace is beyond me! Last year I pulled out the gas logs and put in a log lighter and ordered a truck load of firewood. A real fire is so much nicer than those stupid fake logs!

Enjoy your fire! And your lights!

I'll never be blonde so I don't know if they have more fun, but I'll go ahead and say sure, colored light people have more fun. While there is certainly a place for the slow, somber carols and long thin strings of white lights and wreaths with a single red bow, the other end of the spectrum is the chaos of colored lights and nodding reindeer and big inflatable snowmen and rousing choruses of "Grandma got run over by a reindeer!" Yeah, we are having more fun :):):)

You can hear some of the TSO songs on their website-
http://www.trans-siberian.com/multimedia/index.shtml
There aren't many holiday songs that beg you to play air guitar but the few that are out there are all done by these folks! I'm a big fan of Manheim Steamroller as well. Their music is just more "Perky!" I do love the more somber and serious stuff, it always makes me cry so I avoid it unless I'm alone :) Some day some therapist will get rich figuring out why I am such a crybaby at Christmas but for now I just avoid the serious stuff and stick to the really silly happy stuff!

Scentstories...any chance you remember the aromadisk of the mid 1980's? It's a fancy air freshener than warms up a little pad of fragrance. It's in the grocery store with the cleaners and air fresheners. It runs about $35. Just too much out of pocket for something that doesn't also clean up after itself or cook dinner. The recent plumbing woes have left a rather unpleasant funky smell around the house which I feel like I am constantly battling. It's certainly not as bad as it was and Dan swears I'm imagining it but it still bugs me. When I come home and open the door I want it to smell nice! If I can't have that, I'll settle for the air around me to smell better :)

A real tree, without question. Though if they sold fake ones that came pre-lit and pre-decorated, that popped up like golf umbrellas? I'd be all over that (though I'd still prefer the real kind)

Well, I do love white lights--but really, I'm a colored lights fan myself. They're just more festive. Sure, the white light thing is generally classier, but the colored lights thing can still be done well.

[i]You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch[/i]. As sung by Boris Karlof. None of this Jim Carrey crap, either (I still have not seen that movie, nor do I think I ever will. Live action Dr. Seuss might be great--but 90-120 minutes of live action Dr. Seuss? I don't think so.

A blender. A breadbox (so I can keep the cats away from my bread without storing it in the oven). Plane ticket to Salt Lake City for spring break. D&D minis. Some miscelaneous clothes.

I like the real kind, but I prefer the convienence of artificial.

We Three Kings. I don't know why, but I find the tune hopelessly catchy.

There's a lot of DVDs I want (Hero, Daredevil's director cut, Return of the King extended edition, Spider-man 2, I could go on forever) some graphic novels, Half-Life 2, and possibly some computer parts.

I feel really bad though because I know I don't need those things and I know that there's a lot, but I know my mom and relatives will get me much of what I ask for. I really don't care if I get nothing but time to spend with my family, though.