Merry Christmas!

It's my favorite day of the year!!!!

I love Christmas Eve. It's the best day because you are full of the anticipation of Christmas. Everyone is in good spirits getting ready for the holiday.

It's a day of family. I love hanging out with my family on Christmas Eve and going to Mass with my mom. Christmas Eve Mass is the best. We usually go to the children's mass around 4PM, which is adorable because they have the little children reenact the Christmas story. Too cute to see little kids playing Mary, Joseph, angels, shepherds, etc.

Then we go to dinner at my sister's house. That's a relatively new tradition. We started it when she moved back from Florida. It's nice though because it helps break up the work so that my mom does not have to prepare everything.

Then at 10:45 PM, I watch the last 15 minutes of It's a Wonderful Life. Usually, I've watched the whole movie earlier in the season. But the ending gets me every time. I will cry the minute Harry says "to my big brother George, the richest man in town." That line basically sums up the greatness of the movie for me. George is not rich in wealth but he is rich in character and that's more important than money.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Is Your State Happy?

Recently, there was a poll that ranked all 50 states and DC in order of their happiness. I think that this poll is really interesting because apparently if you live in the South or the Midwest, you are much happier than coastal people. I think that's odd.

I also found it hilarious that DC ranked higher than Maryland and Pennsylvania. I just do not see that.

Anyway this list is below. States I've lived in are in red. I guess based on this poll, I am not a happy person! But, they did not poll me so maybe I would have changed up the rankings. :)

1. Louisiana
   
2. Hawaii
   
3. Florida
   
4. Tennessee
   
5. Arizona
   
6. South Carolina
   
7. Mississippi
   
8. Montana
   
9. Alabama
   
10. Maine
    
11. Wyoming
    
12. Alaska
    
13. North Carolina
    
14. South Dakota
    
15. Texas
    
16. Idaho
    
17. Vermont
    
18. Arkansas
    
19. Georgia
    
20. Utah
    
21. Oklahoma
    
22. Delaware
    
23. Colorado
    
24. New Mexico
    
25. North Dakota
    
26. Minnesota
    
27. Virginia
    
28. New Hampshire
    
29. Wisconsin
    
30. Oregon
    
31. Iowa
    
32. Kansas
    
33. Nebraska
    
34. West Virginia
    
35. Kentucky
    
36. Washington
    
37. District of Columbia
    
38. Missouri
    
39. Nevada
    
40. Maryland
    
41. Pennsylvania
    
42. Rhode Island
    
43. Massachusetts
    
44. Illinois
    
45. California
    
46. New Jersey
    
47. Indiana
    
48. Michigan
49. Connecticut
    
50. New York
    

Tongue-in-Cheek Christmas

It's no secret that I love Christmas music, but what may surprise you is that I really like songs that kind of make fun of Christmas. As long as it is tongue-in-cheek and not in a mean way, I think those types of songs are hysterical.

One of my new favorites is the Christmas Can Can by the group Straight No Chaser. It's an all male a cappella group. Most of their songs are done in a funny and clever way.

I found this animated video for the Christmas Can Can online. It's hysterical. I have no idea who did the animation but it was someone who really got the cheekiness of the song!

Busy Busy Busy

I had another great weekend but in a completely different way.

Friday involved my favorite activity - shopping - as there was a giant sale at Ann Taylor Loft. My friend and I hit up the stores in Friendship Heights and had a blast.

Saturday involved MUCH cleaning and cooking as my parents were coming to visit in the evening and I had company coming on Sunday. Mike helped out with both which was fun. Why is it that mundane activities like cleaning become more fun when someone else is around?

That night we went to dinner with my parents and then to the Kennedy Center to see the National Symphony Orchestra Pops perform their Holiday concert. We had a great time. The NSO Holiday show is one of my favorites. And, there was this amazing singer that performed with them - Jonathan Ansell. He's kind of a British Josh Groban (yes - April and Lori I know that is probably your worst nightmare come to fruition). Needless to say, I went home and bought his CD off of ITunes right away. It's awesome.

Here's a clip of him singing "Oh Holy Night." Turn up the volume though - the recording is not the best.



On Sunday, I hosted book club. We had a decent discussion of the book - The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I think it's the first book that my club unanimously liked. Of course, the discussion lasted about 10 minutes and then we talked about lots of other stuff. It was a fun afternoon. I have a ton of food leftover but oh well.

Now on to the next book and the work week!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

This weekend was one of the best ever.

It started on Friday, when we went out to celebrate. We went into DC and had dinner at the The Palm (yummy) followed by a showing of Jersey Boys at the National Theater.

Then we wandered around downtown and looked at some of the pretty Christmas decorations. We wandered around the lobby of the Willard Intercontinental Hotel. It's right next to the White House and just looked beautiful.

Next, we walked over to the National Christmas Tree. I was only able to quickly snap the photo above. We planned to take more but the lights went out at 11PM (unbeknownst to us). Mike promised that we will go back so hopefully I'll have better pictures to post soon.

After that, we just wandered around some of the monuments. I did not take any more pictures - I'm terrible I know - but that's ok. I remember it all in detail. And it was perfect.

The city looked really really pretty. I love this time of year when everything is decorated for the holidays. There is just something magical about it.

Plus, we did not look so bad ourselves. Mike looked extremely handsome - as always. And, I was able to wear my new dress. Ok, ok I say "able" like I did not intentionally buy this dress to wear for this evening but whatever. You get the point. It looks like the one to the side. I really like it so if you see me at any fancy event - you'll be sure to see this dress too. :)

On Saturday, we put up the Christmas tree at Mike's house (we did mine last weekend). That was a lot of fun. After a quick trip to the store to buy more lights, ornaments, and garland (plus a star - I still cannot believe he owned a tree but no topper), the tree looked amazing.

To top it all off, it SNOWED on Saturday. I could not imagine better weather for trimming a tree than a snowy afternoon. It was just all so perfect.

On Sunday, I finished up my Christmas shopping. I think that I had an angel looking out for me this weekend because I really did not hit any crowds and I met the most wonderful salespeople. I ended up getting some great gifts so it was worth the trek to the mall.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend. It's definitely one I'll remember - the perfect kickoff to the Christmas season.