12 Days Until Christmas

I am not in the holiday spirit. Just call me Scrooge or The Grinch. Every time I hear a Christmas song on the radio, I immediately change the station and say "Ugh!" in disgust. I haven't started my Christmas shopping. I haven't decorated or brought out the Christmas tree. It's still sitting in the storage area, packed neatly in it's box. No, I don't do real trees. Never have, never will. I've decided that since it's getting close to D-Day (Christmas Day), I'm going to try to make the effort to be more cheerful and joyful. I figured I'd start with a blog post about my favorite Christmas movies and songs.

Christmas movies:

I watch this movie every year. It is a must see. I consider it a classic. My favorite part is when the squirrel jumps out of the newly chopped down Christmas tree and causes chaos and mayhem in the Griswold household.

I remember watching this movie for the first time in elementary school. It was right before school was out for Christmas break and we watched the movie in class. A classic holiday movie. How many kids tried to lick a flag pole after seeing this movie?

I thought this was a great take on the Charles Dicken's classic. Bill Murray was hilarious in this movie. And I love the Al Green and Annie Lennox duet "Put A Little Love in Your Heart".

This is not a traditional Christmas movie but it is hilarious! It's raunchy and Billy Bob has to be the worse mall Santa ever. I can't give any of my favorite quotes - this blog is a rated PG

Will Ferrell is Buddy the Elf. He finds out he's adopted and is looking for his real dad. This role was made for him. It's funny, heartwarming, and embraces what Christmas is all about. My favorite part is when he's introduced to the mailroom and says: It's just like Santa's workshop! Except it smells like mushrooms... and everyone looks like they wanna hurt me... Love it!

As you can see, I don't like the traditional Christmas movies. I love movies that make me laugh.

Here's some of my favorite Christmas tunes:

1. Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms - I love this song because it's upbeat and it always puts me in a good mood.
2. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus by The Jackson 5 - My favorite line is: I'm gonna tell my daddy. Whenever I sing along, I giggle afterwards.
3. Give Love on Christmas Day by The Jackson 5 - The title says it all.
4. This Christmas by Donny Hathway - This is the African-American family Christmas song. I guarantee that it is played in every black home on Christmas Day.
5. Silent Night by The Temptations - Whenever I hear this song, it reminds me of being a kid, living in Memphis. The Temptations added some soul to this otherwise traditional Christmas song.
6. The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole - I'm going to cheat a little and say the entire album is one of my favorites. My dad plays this CD every year while we're at the house on Christmas Day. This IS a classic Christmas album that everyone should own. You can't go wrong with Nat King Cole.
7. All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey - The song is catchy and upbeat. I like any Christmas song that I can sing along with and not sound like a hoarse toad.
8. Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt - A sexy Christmas song.
9. Last Christmas by Wham! - My love of George Michael will never end. It's a pop Christmas song for the brokenhearterd. "Last Christmas, I gave you my heart. But the very next day, you gave it away."
10. Carol of the Bells - I love seeing it performed live. I love the many layers of this song. You have to have a great voice to sing it. Unfortunately, I don't. So I sing it vicariously through the great choir/chorus groups who perform.

There's my list of my favorite Christmas movies and songs. I'm hoping this will slowly get me in the Christmas spirit. I hate being Scrooge! It's no fun.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Rainy Weekend

The weather in the DMV has been downright awful this past week! It has been cold (low to mid 40s) with a constant rain/drizzle. It's only mid-October but it feels like December weather. I'm not happy. I was hoping the transition to colder temps would happen more slowly but instead we were slapped in the face! This week the temps are going to slowly warm up to the 60s with sun! I can't remember the last day we had some sun. I miss the sun.

Due to the nasty weather, I wanted to spend the entire weekend indoors. Unfortunately that wasn't gonna happen. We had tickets to see Patrice O'Neal at the DC Improv. I really didn't want to go but we'd already ordered the tickets online three weeks ago. And the show was at 10:30! Another reason why I didn't want to go. Too late for my weary bones. But we went out into the drizzling rain and the cold and headed into DC. Let me just say that I am so glad we went. The show was hilarious! Two comedians opened for Patrice O'Neal - Brian Parise and Harris Stanton. They were both funny but Harris had me rolling on the floor. I was laughing so hard my stomach was hurting. That's a good laugh! Patrice O'Neal was funny as hell. I was hesitant about his show because I'd never seen him do stand-up. He is hilarious. And the best part was after the show, when everyone was leaving, Patrice O'Neal was out in the lobby shaking hands and taking pictures with the patrons. He's a big dude. I went up to him and shook his hand and told him it was a great show. I wish I'd thought to take a picture with him!

Darrius' soccer game was canceled Saturday due to the weather so I decided to take him to see Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D. He's been asking to go see the movie and he rarely asks to see a movie in the theater. We went to the 11:40 show. The theater was pretty much empty - just how I like it. I can't believe how much it costs to see a 3D movie. The total came to $23 bucks for just the two of us! But we did get some snazzy 3D glasses.

After the movies we headed over to Johnny Rockets for lunch. I told Darrius that when we get home, I'm taking a nap. And that's exactly what I did. By the time Alfred got home from work, I was awake and thinking about dinner. I made chili (it was the perfect weather for it). My plan was to read for the rest of the evening. I have about 5 books calling my name. But as I was channel surfing I saw that Slumdog Millionaire was getting ready to start. I absolutely love this movie. And I was so happy when it racked up at the Oscars earlier this year. No reading will be getting done tonight.  I got comfy on the couch and watched one of my favorite movies.

Today the rain finally stopped. The sun was still missing in action but that's okay. It had warmed up a little to the low 50s. My plan was to stay indoors today. I read. Actually finished the book that I'd been reading the last 2 weeks. I decided to go to the store and get a couple of things. So I didn't completely stick to the plan to stay inside today but what the hell. I'm not a bear. I can't hibernate...or can I?

Despite the weather, it turned out to be a nice weekend. How was your weekend?