Please Don't Eat the Poinsettias

What a lovely surprise it was to return home the other day and find a beautiful arrangement of poinsettias and white mums on my kitchen island, and how sweet the friend that surprised me. Thank you Kirstie! They brightened my day and are currently sprucing up our family room.

I was tagged by Jade at Chik Austin to share five random facts about myself, and I've decided to give those random facts a seasonal theme. A Christmas theme; so here it goes:

::1:: I did not celebrate Christmas as a child. I share this not to incite pity or a million questions, but just as a fact about my upbringing.

::2:: As an adult, I still don't "celebrate" Christmas. Sure, I buy and make a few presents for loved ones, and my tastebuds salivate in anticipation of the annual prime rib dinner my sister-in-law and brother-in-law serve up, but I definitely don't "do" Christmas.

::3:: I have never had a Christmas tree, which has a lot to do with me not celebrating Christmas but also a lot to do with George's opposition to cutting down trees for the sake of decoration. George loves to cut down trees, but only if they are going to fall due to natural causes or the will of another person (such as clearing property to build a house). He then puts the tree to use heating our house (or in the near future milling wood for handcrafted furniture), but never for seasonal decoration.

::4:: I still have the very first Christmas present I ever received, which was from my dad's boss when I was about five years old. It is an alphabetic animal pop-up book. It currently resides on my bedside table.

::5:: I love Christmas music, always have and always will. Christmas music was somewhat of a no-no when I was growing up, and I had the hardest time not singing the "Merry Christmas From Payless" jingle when I'd see the commercial. What I love about Christmas music is that it is so happy and upbeat. It lifts and transports the spirit to a perfect, snow-covered setting, where jingle bells jingle, cold winds whistles, snowmen come to life, hot cocoa remains hot despite the cold, loved ones snuggle closer, kids behave to avoid a lump of coal. Sounds like heaven to me. I can almost smell the roasted chestnuts.

So there it is folks, my Christmas story in a nutshell. You won't be seeing any handmade advent calenders on this blog (though there are so many wonderful advent ideas out there!). No pictures of twinkling lights, ornaments hanging from pine boughs, children in red velvet garb with black patent leather shoes. I do find winter to be a magical time, and my family and I enjoy many moments of wonder - in front of the fire, in the company of good friends, in the first snow.

To lighten things up a bit, I'd like to share one of my favorite Christmas-related stories with you, told by one of my favorite writers, David Sedaris. The video is really no match for the story, so if I were you I would let the audio run while I opened up a new tab to continue my work on the web.