Christmas Countdown

Happy Holiday weekend to everyone! Only two days until the big day.  It’s the perfect excuse to stay home and avoid the crowds while stuffing yourself silly on good foods and great family time.

What are your plans?

I’m looking forward to wearing nothing but pajamas all weekend and sleeping in. Our plans center around catching up on some of our television shows and OD-ing on Christmas movies.

It just isn’t Christmas without certain movies. Here’s a list of my top ten must see movies:

• 10: Elf
• 9: The Santa Clause Trilogy
• 8: The Miracle on 34th Street (the original one, not that one from the 90’s.)
• 7: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
• 6: Fred Claus
• 5: Christmas With the Kranks
• 4: Jingle All the Way
• 3: Unaccompanied Minors
• 2: While You Were Sleeping
• 1: The Nativity Story

Wow, that’s roughly twenty-four hours of movie watching. I sure hope someone can hook me up to an IV filled with peppermint hot cocoa! Normally, we spread our watching out through all of December, but this year we keep getting distracted with other things.

And yes, I know I neglected to mention A Christmas Story but that movie makes me want to shoot my eye out.

If you still need to go shopping, beware. Many of the stores began removing their Christmas cheer decorations this week to display despicable pink hearts. Can’t we at least wait until the new year before heralding a holiday in February? You might need to scrounge for those stocking stuffers. To aid you, here’s some ideas:

• 10: Bags of microwavable popcorn - You need something for all that movie watching.
• 9: Pop Tarts - Everyone knows you hit the stockings first and now the kids have food to tide them over.
• 8: Movie Theatre Style Candy - It’s at the dollar store which means all the fun of the movies without the hefty cost.
• 7: Gloves/mittens - You can find inexpensive ones just about anywhere. Surely snow is coming soon and you know last year’s are long gone.
• 6: Toothbrush - Santa and the Tooth Fairy are buds. Haven’t you watched The Santa Clause 2?
• 5: Slim Jims - Just avoid the Reindeer Jerky or Santa might leave you coal.
• 4: Underwear - They probably need some anyway, but don’t terrorize those kids by giving mom something all lace.
• 3: Socks - Every pair my kids own have twelve holes each. Go for something fun though in hopes they might last longer.
• 2: Travel size toiletries - Lotions, soaps, etc can come in fun scents and this is a great way to mix things up. My boys get to try out Axe this year. We’ll see how that goes.
• 1: Oranges - What else goes in the toe of the stocking?

If you are still looking for Christmas dinner ideas, good luck. I’m pretty partial to heading to the ghost town known as Central Park and eating at the Oriental food buffet. Nothing says Christmas like sushi and General Tso’s. Except maybe Kung Pao Chicken.  Too bad my mother already ordered a ham.