Happy Wednesday and bonus blog post day, friends! After you read this post, scroll to the next one, it's the Currently link party. In the meantime, I'm here with Joyce again today for the weekly hodgepodge...this is a post that I dearly love; thank you, Joyce, for your inspiring and thought provoking questions each and every week! I'll jump right in.
1. What does it mean to have to the holiday spirit? On a scale of 1-10, how is yours this year? (10=off the charts, 1=still looking for it.) To me, holiday spirit means a spirit of kindness and/or giving. I'm not always in a position to give, but I have in the past, and there's nothing more rewarding than that. I would say my house is at a 10, but I'm still somewhere between 1-3.
2. What's your favorite character from a December themed holiday movie, book, or TV special? Tell us why. I love the Mrs. Miracle Christmas books that Debbie Macomber writes. Not just those, but all of her holiday books are amazing! I also love the Christmas books by Nancy Thayer. That being said, I think my favorite movie and character is The Family Stone, and the character Sybil that Diane Keaton played. I cannot believe she passed away recently...she was one of my all time favorite actresses. I love her in that movie because of how relatable she is, and how fiercely protective she is of her family. I feel like that a lot of the time, and find myself getting riled up on their behalf a whole lot here lately.
3. Do you like gingerbread? Are gingerbread houses part of your holiday tradition? I love gingerbread! They are not a part of our holiday tradition, though.
4. Much of our vocabulary is determined by where we live or where we grew up. What say you?
sprinkles/jimmies
lightning bugs/fireflies
soda/pop
trainers/sneakers/tennis shoes
sub/hoagie/grinder/hero
freeway/highway/motorway (I actually say interstate)
frosting/icing
sauce/gravy
5. Share a favorite holiday memory from your childhood. Memories that stick out are always wrapped up in family time. My grandma on Dad's side always spent Christmas eve with us; she would come over for dinner, and we would eat and open gifts, but Dad would wait on our gifts a lot until it was just us. At Mom's, I loved having my sisters and my nephews and niece over for Christmas lunch and gift exchanging. As an adult, I loved being part of being able to bless a family for Christmas. One year in particular, we provided a Christmas for a family at our church that we were friends with who had fallen on hard times. That was the year we had to tell Jonah and Noah that Santa wasn't real, because they would have found out had we not told them then. It is one of the best memories I have to date, honestly, and I'd do it all over again a million times.
6. Insert your own random thought here. This is my favorite Christmas worship song! It's Come Thou Long Expected Jesus by Meredith Andrews.
Thanks for reading my blog today, friends! I can't wait to read your answers to these prompts. I'll see you back here tomorrow or Friday! Love to all.
Jenn
The pictures here are great and I enjoyed reading about your favorite memory. We say a lot of the same words which makes sense since our geographic regions aren´t too far away. I like gingerbread, too, and haven´t had homemade gingerbread in years. Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteThank you! That does make sense. There's a bakery in Memphis that makes the best I've ever had. It's been about a year since I've been there, but we do try to go there once a year at least (Mom, Trish, and me). They're known for their gingerbread and for their little chocolate drop cookies...I don't know what else to call them. They're delicious, and now I need to go there!
DeleteI love seeing this sweet picture of your boys! I need to watch Family Stone this year. It has been so long, I don't even remember it at this point.
ReplyDeleteThank you! It's so, so good. I think I bought in on Prime a few years ago.
DeleteI enjoyed reading your comments! Wow - four boys!! Wow!! What fun!! I need to watch Family Stone - I can't remember if I've ever seen it?
ReplyDeleteThank you! It was so much fun being their mom and witnessing those growing up years. We had all the fun! It's so good, but it's sad, too.
DeleteI like Family Stone too, but my hubs thinks it's too sad to watch this time of year. Cute pictures of your boys. Mommas never stop feeling riled up on behalf of our children. Hope you have a wonderful day!
ReplyDeleteIt is sad, but I love the rest of it and always feel glad that I watched it when it's over. Especially now that Diane Keaton is no longer living! This is so true...thanks for that, my friend. I hope the same for you!
DeleteThat did make me smile about holiday spirit! I try to give as much as I can but being kind is so important too!
ReplyDeleteI watched The Family Stone for the first time last week and it was so good and I loved the character Diane Keaton played.
What lovely holiday memories. Family always plays a big part in my childhood memories too.
Thanks, friend! Kindness is one of the most important traits in life, in my humble opinion. I'm glad you watched the movie!
DeleteGiving truly is the best gift! Christmas Eves of past make for some of my favorite memories too :)
ReplyDeleteYes! You are so right.
DeleteAnother Sybil fan here! I love that character and also Diane Keaton.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the song; that arrangement is wonderful!
Yes! I love this. I'm glad you love the song!
DeleteI really enjoy The Family Stone and Diane's character is great-- though I still always feel so bad for Meredith and how uncomfortable and awkward she obviously feels!
ReplyDeleteI did feel bad for Meredith as well...how terrible would it actually be in real life if a family treated someone that way? But also, how awkward is she??
DeleteI also love the Mrs. Miracle books and movies. Your tree looks beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThey're so good! Thank you, friend!
DeleteI LOVE _The Family Stone_ also; Diane Keaton is amazing. When she signs in ASL to her son at that dinner scene…. cue my tears. I’m rewatching all her movies in her honor. Such a sad loss; she was a treasure. If you haven’t seen _First Wives Club_, I recommend you do so!
ReplyDeleteI’m Jewish, and Chanukah really isn’t that big a deal as our holidays go, so December is just a nice month of cold weather, reflection on the year, and charity work. I’m hoping we get some snow days so I can watch my dogs and 6yo niece enjoy! I volunteer with my dog rescue group, so that will be my work of service.
The vocab list sort of confused me because several of those listings are totally different things to me (eg. sauce vs gravy-- different; frosting vs. icing-- different). It's so interesting to see the regional differences on terminology!
Hope the rest of your week goes nicely!
I love that scene! I always cry at that part as well. That's a good idea to rewatch all the movies she was in; she really was a gifted actress. Your December sounds absolutely lovely! I love that you do a work of service during that time. I agree about how different some of those things are. I love this kind of thing!
DeleteOh my gosh, I LOVE your tree with the top hat topper! that's fantastic! I have never seen The Family Stone, but a few have mentioned it, so maybe I need to remedy that. It sounds like a popular movie. Loved reading about your Christmas memories, they are so sweet. Happy Holidays!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I hope you watch it soon; it really is beautiful. It's so much deeper than just a holiday movie! Happy Holiday to you as well!
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