Yay it’s December, my favorite month of the year! Yesiree, I am that girl. The one who love Christmas so much, Ebenezer Scrooge would have avoided me like the plague. So Christmas, what do I love about thee, let me count the ways…
(1) Christmas Decors
There is something about Christmas decors that makes everything so festive and happy. In our office we have an annual Christmas decorating contest, and people always pull out the stops – check out what we did two years ago here. This year, though, there’s gonna be a twist – we will also compete with our other offices around the world. Some groups have already started to decorate. Check out what they’ve done so far, isn’t it amazing?
(2) Christmas Carols
Whenever I hear Christmas songs, I get a “peace on earth, goodwill to men” kind of feeling wash over me. Do you get what I mean? It just makes me feel warm inside, but sometimes it also makes me feel sad. I think the sad part is caused by missing the Christmases past, the people I can’t be with this Christmas? Not really sure.
I love classic Christmas songs, covers done by Glee, Taylor Swift and David Archuleta, the Love Actually version of “All I Want for Christmas,” Filipino Christmas songs, especially ones sung by Jose Mari Chan (a popular singer from my childhood years), and “This Gift” by 98 Degrees.
I am also a huge fan of Christmas carols. Back in the Philippines, it is tradition for children to go round to their neighbor’s houses and sing (usually off-key, wrongly worded) carols and get some coins in return. I used to do this as a child and it was the highlight of my holidays. The last time I sang carols was when I joined our office choir back in Makati (I’m alto, by the way). We sang carols in the office and in some big bosses’ houses to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. We raised enough money to build a house for a poor family. Best Christmas gift ever!
(3) Christmas movies
I love to watch movies especially around Christmas time because like listening to songs, it gives me the warm fuzzies. Some of my favorites: Love Actually, While You Were Sleeping, and It’s A Wonderful Life.
(4) Christmas Presents
I admit, there are moments when I feel stressed out at the thought of having to buy presents for everybody, but I do enjoy choosing gifts for my loved ones. And of course, I enjoy receiving them, too! It makes me feel treasured when I get particularly good ones, especially from people I didn’t expect.
I also like participating in Secret Santa or Kris Kringle or as we call them in my hometown, Manito-Manita. Here’s a tip if you’re organizing one – use SecretSanta.com! I’ve been using it for five years now to organize our gift exchanges for parties with my hometown friends. It’s every helpful if you can’t get people to come together to pick names out of a hat. I explain more about that here.
(5) Christmas Cards
I love writing notes! And what perfect time to do that than on this most wonderful time of the year? Back in college I used to painstakingly craft handmade cards for each of my block mates as well as my org mates. Burning the sides of the paper was my favorite style.
When I started to work, I just sent my messages digitally, but this year I decided to go back to snail mail, and asked my followers if anyone wanted to exchange Christmas cards with me. A dozen replied in the affirmative, yay! I wanted to make cards for them, but what with moving and work and stuff, I had no time, so I opted to get store-bought ones but added handwritten messages inside each of them as a personal touch.
(6) Christmas Food
Christmas ham, log cakes, humba (actually this isn’t really Christmas food but it has become tradition to have this in our hometown Christmas parties), Starbucks red cups (peppermint mocha & toffee nut latte, especially), everything, actually! My favorite Christmas treat, however, is candy canes. I like to nibble on them and they also make good accessories for gifts (see above) or as faux earrings.
(7) Christmas Parties
Do I need to explain why I love Christmas parties? Food! Fun! Camaraderie! Here’s a tip: it’s a good idea to go with a theme, as it looks better in group pics, see below. And as for activities, Christmas charades and other Christmas-themed games are always a good idea.
What about you, do you love Christmas? What are your favorite things about it?