It's beginning to look a lot like...

Oh wait. No. It's not.

Things I love about the Holiday Season:

1. It's ok for me to break out my copy of It's a Wonderful Life.
2. I get to burn the pine-scented candles again..
3. Hanging ornaments on the tree, and remembering where each one came from. Yes,
my mother bought, and still does buy, my brother and I an ornament every year.
She also still has all the weird things we made in school too.
4. Fighting with my brother over who gets to put the angel on top. I so win this year, since I was in Florida for the past two Christmases.
5. Crafts.
6. I still get a stocking. Although in recent years, Santa has brought booze and shampoo, instead of jacks, but hey...
7. Snow. Just a little.
8. Thinking about Christmases we had when I was a kid, and how much fun we used to have with the advent calendar. (check out Leslie Harpold's online advent calendar!)
9. One word. Cookies.
10. Making our traditional Christmas Morning breafkast (which will be held Christmas eve morning, this year)- Baked Oatmeal (with apples), Ham and egg casserole, and cinnamon rolls. Mmm.
11. Hauling out the nearly 20 year old tape with the "Claymation Christmas" and "Garfield Christmas" on it, to watch by the fire.
12. The annual screening of The Wizard of Oz. Sure, it was a bigger deal back before everything was available on video, but it's still special.

There's other stuff too, but that's what came to mind now.

Stuff I loathe about Christmas:

1. Stations that start playing the Christmas Carols before Thanksgiving.
2. Crowds (Ok, I hate this all year round, but waiting in line 20 minutes at K-Mart because I needed to pick up a pair of insoles and some contact solution is ridiculous.)
3. The "brotherhood of man" chatter that disappears on January 5, when everyone goes back to acting like a douchebag again.
4. Missing "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" on TNT.
5. The influx of really crappy holiday themed movies and shows on every station. (I'm not talking "Holiday Inn" I'm talking "A Very Married Christmas".

There's other stuff I hate too, but the longer I've been out of retail, the happier with the season I get.

Here's to you and yours.

Sauce.