Tomorrow my in-laws are arriving to begin our family christmas celebration.  I am so not ready but come 5 pm tomorrow it is ready or not!

My sweet friend Susan over at Black Eyed Susan’s Kitchen has tagged me for a Holiday Hoopla.  I am requested to list 12 random christmas/holiday tidbits about myself.

So I will mix these up with a few pictures I snapped today around the house of holiday decorations.  I am really loving my husband’s new SLR camera!  I haven’t a clue how to use it, other than to take an auto or close up shot.  Neither one of us has had a moment to ready the manual and I really have got to figure out how to turn off the flash at least! 

Here goes……

1)  When my first daughter was born I declared "Santa comes down my chimney therefore I won’t be traveling at christmas time, but you are all welcome to come to my house and stay as long as you like".  So every year now for 16 years my in-laws, each of my sister’s in law and now their families too come to my house for christmas.  We have a raucous good time!

2)  I introduced my husband’s family to one of my family’s traditions, stuffing the stocking.  Each person puts a small gift in everyone else’s stocking.  My in-laws have really run with this one and I have to keep making bigger stockings every year!  They are over the top generous!

3)  Christmas morning after the presents have been opened I make eggs benedict for everyone and we wash it down with mimosas.  Yummmm!

4)  This time of year I play christmas cd’s in my car all the time.  Drives my kids a little nuts.

5)  My heart gets all tachy and I break out in a sweat when I find a box of vintage shiny brites at the thrift store for $0.75!

6)  I put a christmas tree in almost every room of my house.

7)  My husband and I grew up during the moon landing years and he is especially fond of NASA and those memories.  So I decorate a "space" tree every year for him.  I have collected many NASA and astronaut related ornaments just for that tree.

8)  I love to cruise neighborhoods at night just to see everyone’s christmas lights.

9)  I think christmas lights should be multi-colored.  When I was a kid they didn’t sell strands of white lights!

10)  I go through yards and yards of ribbon at wrapping time.  I make my own bows for every package, I really don’t like those bags of bows that you stick on, yuk!

11)  Christmas Vacation and Home Alone are required viewing at this time of year.

12)  I love eggnog, pass the grand marnier please!

OK, that was pretty silly. 

I’m going to leave you with a link to a new Etsy shop for Sophie the Pearl.  Carol Rose just opened her shop and she promises to have it stocked with lots of goodies soon so check it out.