Merry Christmas

This is shaping up to be one of the best Christmas seasons ever. Now that my daughter is two, we can actually watch the holiday specials all together as a family. This is likely the only year we'll be home enough to get through see them all in one year. There are several movies I've been waiting to watch as a family and now we are a captive audience, literally. So far we've watched these:

But we still have plenty to go:

 

 

                    

I absolutely cannot wait until my kids are old enough to watch Home Alone and my all time holiday favorite, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

Best Holiday Albums

Christmas music is my favorite. If I were a journalist, I would want to be reporting on all the best (and worst) Christmas music, movies, concerts, shows, and events. I truly am concerned that people are missing out on the most festive beautiful holiday music out there. Here are the best I've ever heard, and I've heard them all.

11. Nsync's album is more popular and I enjoy it, but it is still a quickly thrown together money grab compared to this lovely album chock full of beautiful harmonies. Best Song: God Rest You Merry, Gentleman

10. The greatest of all time in a capella music, it's no mystery why Take 6 won a Grammy for He Is Christmas. Best Song: O Come, All Ye Faithful

9. Obviously a classic for any Christmas fan with ears, Christmas Interpretations has one of the best, if not the best, versions of Silent Night ever recorded.

8. This is my most nostalgic and only subjective choice. Sandi Patti was played more in my house when I was a small child than anything else and so The Gift Goes On will always be one of my favorite Christmas songs.

7. I never owned this album, but since we got Alexa a few years ago Jackson 5 has been on constant holiday rotation. Best songs: Santa Claus is Comin' to Town and Give Love on Christmas Day

6. You might think I'd rank this album higher, but I am greedy. When Christmas Comes and Christmas Time is in the Air are perfection, but I wanted even more original songs. If Mariah had recorded one of the best Christmas songs she's ever written, Where Are You Christmas?, for this album, I have a feeling it would have topped the list.

5. With six Christmas albums under their belt, it'd be hard to ignore this festive quintet. My first Pentatonix concert was with my husband at the theater at Madison Square Garden and not at holiday time. Their encore was That's Christmas to Me. These people embody EVERYTHING that Christmas is all about.

4. It was hard to choose between this and The Preacher's Wife soundtrack because there is so much overlap. I decided that the soundtrack isn't really a Christmas album. We are so blessed to have these songs to share with our children. Not seeing Whitney Houston or Michael Jackson in concert is my biggest musical regret. Of the ten artists on this list, I feel fortunate to have seen six perform live. Best Song: Who Would Imagine a King

3. The most slept on Christmas album of all time, Someday at Christmas performed by Stevie Wonder ranks somewhere in my top 3 Christmas recordings ever. What Christmas Means to Me is also a banger.

2. My Kind of Christmas is hit after hit after hit. Xtina sings my all time favorite version of Angels We Have Heard of High. I also give her credit for recording a solid version of This Christmas before everyone started doing it. The first performance of that song I ever paid attention to was when Jamie Foxx did it on In Living Color and no one has beat that one for me.

1. The Queen of Christmas. Bow. Down.

Getting Organized

 So seven lazy Susans later and my house is still an organizational nightmare. Clea and Joanna suggest starting with a drawer, but since I have the equivalent of 90,000 drawers to organize I feel like I just need those ladies to come to my house. I'm going to attempt to take it step by step with the goal that my house will be fully functional with everything labeled by Thanksgiving 2021. How fantastic would it be to have the house completely organized before taking five bins and a Christmas tree down from the attic? That reminds me: buy ornament organizers. In case you think I'm exaggerating, these are the problem areas that need attention.

1. the laundry room. This room is the catchall of the house. C is determined to put built-in-shelving in their next year which will help but for me this is the most daunting of all my spaces. It terrifies me.

2. coat racks. We have racks for each of the kids and one for ourselves but there still isn't room for all the bookbags, hats, jackets, purses, etc. I have to figure this out but it's certainly the least of my problems.

3. the kitchen. The kids' section was the first thing I organized and some other cupboards look good, but this room is only slightly less daunting 

• two utensil drawers
• refrigerator
• freezer
• tupperware cupboard
• cabinets above the fridge
• spices
• pots & pans cupboard
• bakeware cupboard
• pantry # 1
• pantry # 2 

4. the entertainment center

5. the bookshelf in the living room, another catchall

• space on top of shelves
• shelves
• cupboards under the shelves

6. C's (my five year old) room

• closet
• the top of his chest of drawers
• the top of his bookshelf
• walls

7. W's (my two year old's room)

• bookcase
• chest of drawers
• drawers underneath futon
• walls

8. dining room closet

9. my closet

10. my husband's closet

11. master bath

• drawers
• counter

So that's more like 30 areas, but with two toddlers it might as well be 90,000!

What I Really Want

We're not even through October and I've already taken the kids to Southern Belles Farms and Sleepy Hollow Farms to see pumpkin patches as well as to Hillcrest Orchards in Elijay to go "apple picking." Farms aren't really my thing. Hiking and other outdoor activities are only fun if I've been stuck in an office for months. My favorite things to do are attending (1) Mariah Carey concerts, (2) Disney theme parks, (3) and Broadway shows. Seriously. I have season tickets for Broadway in Atlanta. I gave up my Disney World annual pass because of the pandemic. I saw Mariah in Vegas in February. 

Antisocial introverts who believe rural areas and suburbs are a legitimate place to live cannot understand my pain. I'm over this. I've been thinking a lot about what I really want in my life. Too much of my energy goes into my toddlers. If I were to truly take care of myself those children would not be hungry or filthy or worse. 

So I thought and thought about what I would like my life to look like from 2022 forward and this is it.

(1) I want to live in super clean home where everything is in its place at the end of the day so I can have peace. The Home Edit is amazing and I plan to get this place organized over the next year come hell or high water. 

(2) I want to see all the things on my bucket list while my body is still fully functioning. I want for my kids to see enough as kids that they have a better idea of where they want to spend their hard earned vacations than I did. This means going to at least one new location per year.

(3) I want my kids to have the chance to try a lot of things: swimming, ballet, tap, gymnastics, piano, violin, soccer, tennis, golf, t-ball, and basketball.

(4) I spent enough time in volunteerism as a child and young adult to cover me for two lifetimes. I hope to let go of that tendency and focus my energy on taking care of my family and myself. Yes it's great for kids to see you helping others so I will do it for their benefit. Hopefully opportunities to serve their school communities will provide opportunities for that.

(5) I want to read at least 20 contemporary books every year.

(6) I want to create standing dates like (1) family movie night on Sundays (2) family game nights on Saturday nights, (3) monthly game nights with friends, (4) and monthly movie nights with friends.

(7) This ambition goal will get easier as W gets older but date night every other week is a must! We are doing it now at home by with takeout by candlelight after the kids go to sleep but getting dressed up to stay home is bleak dahling.

The Meaning of Mariah Carey

Clearly I have been knee deep in this autobiography all day. Spoiler Alert. This is her best quote:

"I got swept away by a short stop, but only God Almighty is My All."

All Dressed Up With No Place to Go

I pride myself on not buying my daughter clothing. Aside from Christmas outfits and accessories, we mostly get second hand clothes from a fashionable neighbor and, occasionally, a chic cousin. My daughter is turning two years old next month so I decided to pull out all the 2T clothes with tags that my sister and I have purchased during Lilly Pulitzer or Janie and Jack sales etc over the past couple years. Imagine my surprise to find we accumulated all of this:

National Parks

The two things my son misses most about life before Covid 19 are being at school with his friends and going on trips. The only trip we've taken in the last five months was to my sister's small town in South Carolina. It was fun, but planning all the trips I want to take him on when things return to normal is super. I love to plan so much. So here are the ten national parks I want my kids to see before leaving the nest.

1. Everglades National Park, FL

2. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN 

3. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

4. Haleakala National Park, HA

5. Zion National Park, UT

6. Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

7. Acadia National Park, ME

8. Yellowstone National Park, ID

9. Grand Teton National Park, WY

10. Yosemite National Park, CA

Completing this list would also get me four states closer to visiting all 50.