Tuesday, December 13, 2011

holiday randomness.

I haven't done a "random" post in awhile. And I'm feeling quite random these days. Picture the hamster on the wheel, running in circles - that's what has been going on in my brain lately.

holiday favs.



Let the randomness begin...

1. Holiday music kinda makes me want to cry. Just a little. I can be chugging along down the freeway or sitting at a light and a song can come on and I get all teary-eyed.

2. A few of my favorite Holiday CDs - the new
Michael Buble Christmas - classic! What a voice!
A Very She & Him Christmas - Not sure how to describe this one - maybe a little off-beat (in a good way) and classy. But a new favorite of mine.
Joy to the World - Pink Martini. Oh my - if you haven't heard Pink Martini I'd suggest you run out and buy a copy of any of their CDs. Seriously. Amazing. (And they are from Portland. Gotta love a local group who has made it not just big, but HUGE! My favorite song of theirs is Hey Eugene.)
A Christmas to Remember - Amy Grant. I love Amy Grant.
James Taylor At Christmas - It's JT. What more do I need to say.
A Christmas Album - Amy Grant. Perhaps my all-time favorite holiday CD. The a capella beginning of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing makes me teary-eyed every time. As does Angels We Have Heard on High. This was her first (and best) holiday album, from way back in 1983.
Home for Christmas - Amy Grant. Breath of Heaven. Amazing.
Wintersong - Sarah McLachlan Her version of River really almost makes me cry everytime (if you haven't figured it out yet - a song making me cry is a good measure of it's greatness in my book.)
Where Are You Christmas - Faith Hill. Something about this song that I really love..maybe because I always wonder what happen to the joy I used to feel about Christmas when I was a kid. I want that feeling back.

3. My house is kind of a mess...ok, not kind of - it is a mess. I feel like I can't keep up with the cleaning-up and putting things away. It's constant.

4. I know Christmas time should be a time to relax and reflect on who the season is really about. But this time of year makes me feel the most frazzled and rushed and totally unprepared. I think I need blood pressure medicine to get my through - I'd hate to see what my BP is most days. My anxiety is pretty much through the roof by the time I go to bed.

5. We finally have our tree up. And it is HUGE. Like, I-hope-it-doesn't-fall-over huge. We have 20 foot ceilings in our living room and the tree is only about five feet short of the ceiling. HUGE I tell ya. It seems that every year my husband gets a bigger tree.

6. Elf on the shelf. I may be coming around to thinking it's cute. Maybe...just a tiny, tiny bit. For as long as I've known about Elf on the Shelf, I've basically thought it looks creepy-cute. Like some scary toy that would show-up in a scary movie. (Think Chuckie...that's what I'm thinking.) But maybe by next Christmas I'll have gotten-over the creep-factor that consumes my mind when I see that doll. Maybe...

7. One of the local radio stations starts playing holiday music the day after Thanksgiving through Christmas Day. It was all good and I was really enjoying listening until I heard the commercial stating that Oregon Reproductive Medicine is one of the sponsors of the holiday music on this particular station. Something oddly annoying about listening to happy, holiday music that's brought to me by the clinic I gave lots of "moolah" to in the hopes of getting pregnant. It briefly makes the holiday music not so "holiday-ish" when I hear that commercial. In fact I usually turn the station.

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8. It's been cold here. Really cold some days. Cold for us anyways. We had some wonderful sunny, frosty days last week, and it's all sunshine and blue sky today! I'm enjoying it while it lasts, even if it's cold. A lot of days the fog and low lying clouds never burn off, so the sky is grey all day. All. Day. I will try to capture one of those photos for you. But I warn you, they are super boring. And grey.



9. Today I'm drinking my coffee straight-up. It's going to be a busy day - Max's school Holiday program, in-laws leaving, parents coming, cookie exchange later tonight...busy. (Wonder what my BP is just writing about this all...)

10. My favorite, as-close-as-I'm-gonna-get-to-having-instagram app recently had an update, in which they got rid of the square format for photos. So annoyed... I love the square format and the different borders each filter had. Just another reason to get an iPhone with my next upgrade.

11. Remember this guy?

frosty.


12. And I bet if we could all hang-out together snowmen really would come to life. Like Frosty, above. ;)

when we're together.


That's probably enough randomness for now. I've got tons more, but I'll spare you from my rambling...if you're still reading...
Happy Tuesday, friends!

10 comments:

Naomi said...

Love your randomness. And oh how I love Wintersong (and the song River) and Amy Grant. Two of my faves! Love your photos too :) I'm feeling frazzled too!

Shawntae said...

My house is a mess right now too. I know it won't be as neat and organized as I want until at least mid January.

That dang Elf of the Shelf has been slowly pulling me in. Remind me next November to buy one order one, okay? :D I haven't seen them in any stores around here, otherwise I'd have already caved and bought one.

Love the shots! Have fun later and take lots of pictures of the cookies at the cookie exchange.:)

Rose said...

I SO relate to 1, 3 and 4. My house is a mess, I'm frazzled, and I cry at some Christmas songs. I'm a bit nostalgic that way.

Anonymous said...

It's just not Christmas without Amy Grant singing carols. :)

stacey said...

I am crying constantly at Christmas songs. And Amy Grant (although I'm not really a fan of her any other time of the year) is my FAVE for Christmas. Breath of Heaven by her is my all time favorite Christmas song. :-) I love your other choices, too. I love Wintersong!

Marvett Smith said...

I love your random posts. They are always so real. I too love Christmas music. Karen Carpenter's Christmas songs get to me every time. As for the house. I too am digging out of a mess every single day. I simply can't keep up with it either. This should make you feel good to know that you are not alone. :)

Carla said...

I always love some randomness. Maybe because that's how my life is. "Mess" does not even begin to describe my house and I just found out I'm having last minute house guests tomorrow night. Agghh!

penandview said...

We LOVE Pink Martini! And such fun randomness to read. :) Can't wait for you to get Instagram!

Bunch of Barrons said...

Great post. :) And I LOVE Wintersong, too. One of my favorite Christmas albums definitely.

georgia b. said...

yes, yes, yes!! i remember frosty! we just watched that gem last saturday with isaac... his first ever viewing! it's a classic... so much so, we had to buy the video several years ago. we bought it for ourselves, never knowing we'd be able to show it to a little one of our own some day.

what is the photo of... i mean, i know it's frosty. but what was the frosty image on that you took a photo of? i love it!