A Few Of Our Favorite Things

I have always loved Christmas. It is the very best time of the year for me. I think my earliest memories of this affinity for the Christmas season are when I was in 2nd grade. That year the last day of school before holiday break fell on my birthday. The last day of class was the day we had our Christmas party at school. I remember pretending that our class's Christmas party was also a big birthday party for me and I have loved the Christmas season as much as Buddy the Elf ever since.

Since the Christmas season is my jam, I thought it would be fun to share A Few of Our Favorite Things. This is a hodgepodge of holiday favorites I've been collecting from our #PLeeps online this month. (If you haven't yet connected with us on social, I invite you to do just that on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.)

Favorite Books

I'd be remiss if I didn't include a section on our favorite holiday books, so here are what the Pretty Literate people in our online communities are touting as their favorite holiday books.

Favorite Movies

I don't know about you, but Christmas movies play a big role in our household. Christmas Eve day is usually spent enjoying our favorite blend of homemade trail mix and several of our favorite Christmastime movies. I asked on our social sites what movies were holiday favorites and was delighted to find new ones to watch this year. Perhaps you will, too?

Favorite Holiday Snacks

Here are some of our favorite ways to bulk up for the winter, as shared on Pretty Literate's social sites.

• Trail Mix - We put a hodgepodge of both sweet and salty snack foods on the counter (everything from M&Ms and Skittles to Bugles and Funyuns) and everyone gets to create their own special brand of trail mix for our Christmas Eve movie marathon.
• Pomegranate champagne mimosas
• Ghirardelli Pepperment Bark
• Original Chex Mix, or one of those cans with three kinds of popcorn, or freshly popped popcorn
• Hershey's kisses
• Mini Hershey bars
• Chocolate Oranges
• Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Caramel
• Popcorn (flavored, covered, etc)
• Chocolate covered cherries
• Chocolate covered jelly sticks 
• Ree Drummond's Peppermint Fudge 
• Mixed nuts

Favorite Christmas Traditions

Do you have things you enjoy doing so much that you make room for them every holiday season? Us, too! Below are some favorite Christmas traditions shared across Pretty Literate's social sites.

• It has always been so special to me to take family and friends to local live nativities in December.
• We love driving around looking at Christmas lights.
• I love singing in Handel's Messiah every year.
• I listen to Charlie Brown Christmas, WOW Christmas CD from 2010 or so, Big Band Christmas, and Christmas Crooners in my car CD player.
• We always attend the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service and open one gift on Christmas Eve.
• I love having the whole family over for Christmas Brunch at 11 a.m.
• Making breakfast pizza and spending time with the family as much as I can
• Posole (Mexican soup) and the movie ELF on Christmas Eve after opening our Christmas jammies
• We go shopping together to pick a new game at the beginning of December and spend all the waking moments obsessively playing it together through New Year's Day. Love these times of togetherness.
• Giving my granddaughters Christmas Eve boxes with new pajamas, a Christmas ornament for their tree, and (of course!) books
• We have a special Christmas Eve dinner. We try to mix it up and have something different each year (shrimp, steaks, Mexican...). We also open one gift that night.
• We enjoy cracking our own mixed nuts around the table as we talk and sip on something merry!
• We play trivia games, listen to Christmas music, gather around the tables, and just enjoy being together.

These are a few of the favorite things we enjoy during the holiday season. I invite you to add YOUR favorites in the comments below. 

Merry Christmas!
Ericka at Pretty Literate