It's the most wonderful time of the year!

So I apologize for not blogging at all recently. But in all fairness, I think I warned everyone about this in the beginning...

Anyways, this is my favorite time of the year right now. October through December is always when I'm happiest because there's so much to look forward to! Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and even New Years. Not to mention that its cold and rainy most of the time which makes me happy (weird, I know). The trees are also so beautiful with all their changing colors, I think it's amazing to look around and see all the vivid reds and oranges and yellows. It's the one time of the year where all the trees can show off their individuality instead of all being the same green color.

Now I have to add in a side note here -- my favorite kind of tree is a christmas tree, it's also my favorite smell in the entire world and it's also a tree that doesn't change color ever and I'm firmly okay with that lol. That's why we decorate them!

My family has so many traditions for Christmas and I'm a stickler for tradition. For example, I refuse to ever, EVER allow a fake Christmas tree into the house. NEVER. I don't know if I could be more clear but I hate them. I think they're stiff and boring and the main reason is because they don't smell like a real christmas tree. I love to just bury my head in a christmas tree and stand there smelling it, sorry if that's too weird, it certainly looks weird if people catch me doing it ;)

My grandparents used to go cut down a christmas tree every year, a great big HUGE tree and I loved it. They soon had to stop and I was devastated when I learned that they would be getting a fake tree. It took me soooo long to adjust to the idea but I finally let it go, as in probably a few years ago. They also decorate it the same way every year for as long as I can remember and I love it. Their tree belongs in a Christmas catalog for decorating homes for xmas because my grandma does the most amazing job ever. It's by far the most beautiful Christmas tree i've ever seen.

Another tradition for xmas is my grandparents have a small model replica of the North Pole that they put up every year. It's collectors pieces; buildings, people, animals, trees etc, that you see in Christmas stores. The buildings light up, some pieces move, you put fake snow around them, all that good stuff. Well, it was a tradition for a long time for my grandpa and I to put it up every year. We'd do it differently every year in terms of arrangement and building placement. I always loved putting all the pieces up.

Then there's Pickle Night. It's a German tradition (my grandparents lived over there for awhile) where someone hides a pickle ornament (it's only about three inches long so it's a pretty small ornament to find on a great big tree) on the Christmas tree and then the kids have to try and find it. Whoever finds it first gets a present. It's evolved for us into a huge deal, whoever finds it first gets to hide it again for the other kids, we all get a present but in order to get the present we have a scavenger hunt around my grandparents house. Clues leading to other clues and then finally at the end is the present.

I could obviously go on for days about Christmas traditions seeing as its my absolute favorite holiday of all time but it's making me too excited and I'm still stuck here at school studying for finals. I can't wait until this week is over and I can go home, listen to christmas music all day for the rest of December and just enjoy all that this amazing time of year has to offer. :)

Happy Holidays!!