You know, deck them halls and all that stuff?

Christmas time is HERE.


That is nuts! Nuts, I tell you!!!

Chestnuts roooasting on an open firrrre... (Imagine Nat King Cole's voice, please. Instead of yours. Or mine.)

(Seriously, it makes for a much nicer reading experience.)

(Promise!)

Speaking of Mr. Cole, he's got a leading role in many of my most prominent childhood Christmas memories. During the week of transition between Thanksgiving and Christmas, my mom would start playing his songs in the mornings and evenings while we went about our business. Vince Guaraldi, Andy Williams, Manheim Steamroller, and other classics also serenaded us as we eased ourselves into the final part of each year. Yes indeed, I grew up on the good stuff. :)

We're creatures of habit, my family and I. We find our groove, and we just...keep on grooving. The same decorations lit up our house every year. We always had a fresh tree, with the same red and gold balls. We watched the same holiday movies - Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and Frosty the Snowman. We always got to open one gift from under the tree, one pair of new pajamas, and a new book on Christmas Eve.

And on Christmas morning, Julie was always usually the first one to pop out of bed and look at what everyone got.

And you know what? We loved it. We loved our traditions, from the three wise men searching for the babe across our entertainment center, to the handwritten "thank you for the cookies" card from Santa on Christmas morning.

And you know what else?

I miss all of that.

So on account of being terribly pathetic and whining about how I'm all "married" and stuff this year -

Fact: Married people simply cannot go about their little houses quoting random lines from Linus and Charlie Brown when their partners-in-marriage have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. It gets a lot embarrassing in not a lot of time, when there's just the two of you.

- I decided to just be super duper ooper mooper Christmassy and get all that whining crap right out of my system.

Because how are you supposed to go around being all holly and jolly and joyful and whatever with whining crap in your system, I ask you?

(You're not.)

(And for the record, I adore beyond words the fact that I am married. I'm just, you know, whining.)

I submit the following as evidence of my change o'heart:

It's a gingerbread train!!!! Yay!!!! In like, a cute little woodland setting!

The engine, with a festive wreath. And a nice big headlight to guide the way through the snowy nights! :)

The coal and lumber cars, with pretty convincing coal and lumber.

My snowman! Amidst the rocks and trees and bushes.

The caboose, with the stash of gold ready to be dropped off at the bank in the next town.

This adventure was incredibly entertaining! I had no idea it would be so much fun. Maybe coming up with your own traditions isn't that bad after all? :)

I still fully plan on quoting Charlie Brown. I mean, how can you not?

It's the most hectical time of the year.

I refuse to be a blog-slacker. For right now anyway.

And I warn you now, this one doesn't start out on a positive note. But read on, the frown turns upside down. I just need a venting moment.

Actually, I need five.

So here are Allison's Top Five Things to Vent About Right Now.

Ahem...

1. I hate the snow this year. I love the winter clothes, I love the way it looks falling to the ground and swirling around me, I love the way it sounds. I even love the way it smells. I cannot STAND scraping it off my windshield. I think I need to go snowboarding.

2. Mondays can go play in traffic. I always find myself craving chocolate the most on Mondays. I think my body knows it needs some extra special comfort that day to combat how lame they are.

3. Wendy's can also go play in traffic for misleading me to think that their new bacon cheeseburger was anything other than a giant jr. bacon cheeseburger with pickles and onions. Which are both gross by the way. Such a disappointment.

4. People drive kinda rudely around the holidays, and it's bothersome. Even the ones that are festive enough to put those weird little wreaths on their cars. Apparently that's where the good cheer ended.

5. My fingers never stay the same size during this time of year, and I either only noticed it this year or it's only bugged me this year. Sigh...

Now to combat that negative start, here are Allison's Top TEN Things to Love About Life Right Now.

1. Shay Petrone. 'Nuff said. :)

2. My wonderful and amazing bestest friend pretty much transformed my hair again today. I love it. :)

3. The countdown to the most important day ever is in the 40's. YAY!!!

4. Sara Bareilles, Owl City, Imogen Heap, and Michael Buble.

5. Redbox had the DVD of Julie and Julia tonight, which I have been wanting to see for for-ev-er, and it was even the day it came out! Big smiles there. :D

6. It's the nicest feeling when someone else besides you gets excited for cool things happening in your life, and you can tell they genuinely mean it. Seriously, no better way to brighten a day. :)

7. Hot chocolate with cool whip, fluffy blanket, book, and time to spare.

8. School is OUT in a week!

9. New earrings from Icing, new dress from Urban Wear, and new shoes from Forever Young. All of which completely compliment each other, and look absolutely amazing. Love those outfits you count down the days to be able to wear again. :)

10. This picture:



It was one of the first taken of Shay and I and I will probably always think of it as a favorite. It reminds me of late nights, fireflies and fireworks, Macey's cones, boating, rice crispy treats, counting the minutes until 5 o'clock, butterflies, handpicked roses, a backyard swing, beanbags, Subway sandwiches in the park, sunscreen, and bonfires. :) Best summer ever.

It's odd how venting or dejunking bunches of thoughts is all girls need sometimes. I think after days like the last three weeks, it's definitely something I've found a new level of appreciation for. This holiday season is the busiest I think I've ever had, and I know the next six weeks are going to fly past. There is an epic and/or life-changing event happening every single week until February, and who knows if it'll even stop then? Next week bridals are getting taken, then Christmas and Canada, New Year's, final prep on everything for the wedding and moving, going through the temple, and then...getting married and honeymoon. :) I wonder what it'll be like to look back on nights like this when I'm still counting down the days, when someday I'm on the other side and life has become normal again? As much as I would love each moment to fly past, I can't help but wish that they'd last a bit longer sometimes. In some ways I think it's more fun to look forward to something and let your imagination go wild about how it might be than to look back at it later when it's over and done with.

Julie has super cute slipper-sock thingers that I really want to steal, but should probably just get a pair of for myself. :) Always good to end on an ADD moment, haha!