Christmas Traditions
the movies section

**This was originally posted last year in December. In sticking with traditions, it looked like a great time to share it again. I love Christmas movies and have so many favorites. We've watched the Grinch on TV already and the DVD version of "Christmas Vacation." Watching all the movies is a huge tradition. Don't forget to read the end and post your own thoughts!!**

'Tis the Season

You know the holidays have arrived when TNT is playing Christmas movies every night & Charlie Brown Christmas comes on network TV. Gotta love it. So many movies, so little time. Here are some of my favorites, too many to list them all. I could watch one a day through December and not get through them all!! Love, love, love them!!


As I finish this, I go back and think of all the ones I've left out. I'll never remember to name them all. The Disney CG film where Minnie & Daisy are ice skating, love it. Snowden on Ice, love a good ice skating movie. Prancer, oh Prancer.... Have you seen it? I love that movie, not very well known. Jingle all the way, makes me laugh. Christmas with the Kranks, fun. All the Home Alone movies are great for the holidays, the first is my favorite by far! It's a Wonderful Life, classic .. though I don't love this like everyone else, I watch it still. Twas the Night Before Christmas with the mice in the clocks, fun. Little Drummer Boy, the movie about the Christmas that almost wasn't.... what's that one? (Oh - The Year Without Santa Claus) Santa Claus is Coming to Town, The Santa Claus movies, those are all good. Ok, I can never name them all, I have an entire cabinet section FULL of Christmas movies only!!




Charlie Brown, man... You have to love the story there. The music, you know it when you hear just a few notes. What a great sound track!!




A Christmas Story, how can you not LOVE this movie? Who doesn't feel for the kid when the bullies are after him, who doesn't love the scene where he sticks his tongue to the pole, you know you quote "You'll shoot yer' eye out" and how about the end where they are singing in the Chinese restraunt? You know you love it!




Frosty or Rudolph? Could you pick?? Why pick, let's take 'em both!







Grinch, you know it by heart ... right?!





White Christmas, everyone needs at least one good musical for the season! This is such a classic! Makes me wish for snow as I watch it and drink my hot chocolate.

Smoky Mountain Christmas, WHAT?? You haven't seen this redneck hit?? Seriously?? Watch it, it will be on CMT again. It's great. Sweet story and it's not Christmas unless I've seen this one a few times! Love the kids!!! Dolly is the woman!






Miracle on 34th Street, do you like the old one or the new one???
I love them both, I watch them both each year.



Ok.. you're on a deserted island and can only have one Christmas movie with you. What are you taking?? Me, hands down... I'm taking Christmas Vacation!! This could very well be my favorite movie of all time, period. It makes me laugh until I cry, every single time I watch it. No kidding!! When my Mom's side of the family gets together for Christmas, we have this movie playing. We all know it by heart and once I forgot the movie... it wasn't pretty-
Love, love, love, love it!!!




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Your turn, tell me your favorites. What is your favorite Christmas movie? Do you watch it at a particular time of the season? Do you watch them on TV or DVD? Favorite memories from them?

I'm thankful...

As this long Thanksgiving weekend is coming quickly to a close, I guess I should officially blog what I'm thankful for. Of course, there's no way to mention it all because I am truly blessed. Here's a good start though of things great & small.

-a loving, always there, forgiving, all knowing, compassionate God! (with a creative sense of humor)

-my kind, funny, smart, patient, tender hearted, easy going and designed just for me husband

-my generous, loving, fun and amazing parents

-my Grandmother & a place where she gets amazing attention & care, we know she's loved

-the love of a Grand Daddy that's no longer here on Earth, but whose influence will always remain

-the love of a MawMaw & PawPaw that instilled the difference between right & wrong, the importance of going to Church and obeying God and reminded me every minute that they could that I was loved

-an extended family all around on all sides that are wonderful, loving, fun and special to us

-a house to call my own filled with things I'm blessed enough to buy (including new carpet, no matter how much work it's involving - he he he)

-our pets, the comfort of a warm & fuzzy friend does wonders for the soul

-friends who make me laugh, love me no matter what & make time for me .. share the same values, bring new opinions and outlooks, keep in touch often and generally make life brighter .. friends who share things and insights that can eventually change your life -

-friends who aren't geographically close, but close at heart...who are there for fun & encouragement, who find "face" time when they can and I couldn't imagine life without

-food to eat, money to buy groceries and eat out

-two vehicles that are good to us and get us where we want and need to go

-the ability to afford vacations, time away with just Andy or with our families, it's often times I live for!

-my computer & the internet... it keeps me connected to so many people I love and opens a world of information at my fingertips, think about how amazing it really is

-my job.. and it's not just any job...but a place to work where I get to (and am suppose to) share the love of God, have fun, play games, watch children learn new things, work with amazing people who become great friends and know it's a place building the future

-my kiddos, my students, my babies! I love them with my whole heart, they make me laugh & even cry. They give themselves and make me a better person. I'm thankful for parents who open their lives & hearts to share their kids with me and the family we become together.

**air conditioning, heat, ice for drinks, Coca Cola, fresh fruit, warm snuggly blankets, soft pillows, Disney World & the magic it makes me feel, rocking chairs on big front porches, music of all kinds, Church, big tables for large gatherings of those we love, big extended families and the fun they bring, candles that make my house smell yummy, fall leaves, crisp mornings made for sweaters, scarves & coffee, antique stores, used book stores, places to visit that feel like a home away from home, good neighbors, big rowdy family get togethers and small intimate ones, cameras to capture memories, books to read & the ability to do so, worn Bibles that show they've been read and read and read and read, flip flops for summer, the lake and afternoons spent there with family & friends, our camper and the awesome chance for getting away that it provides us with, Christmas lights around town, stores decorated for the Holidays with music playing and excitement in the air, high school football games on Friday nights, the sound of waves constantly when you're at the beach, giggles of children having fun, hugs from kids & wet kisses from babies, stingrays you can hand feed, dolphins you are allowed to give a kiss on the nose too, homemade gifts, warm cookies with a cold glass of milk, memories of days and friends gone by, dreams of things to come-**

Happy Thanksgiving
From Preschool

One of the fun things we did last week: I read a story called "The Night Before Thanksgiving". It's about a group of children who go to a turkey farm on a field trip. While they are there, they spot Farmer Mack Nugget's AX sitting by the barn. The children make great friends with the turkeys and decide to help their new friends escape. They stuff the turkeys under their shirts & take them home as Thanksgiving guests, not dinner!! The assignment was to disguise a turkey so that if Farmer Mack Nugget comes to our school, he wont find any turkeys there! Here are the turkeys!! So funny!! Love Em'!!






We also thought of things we were thankful for and wrote them on feathers to dress our turkey int the hall. We know that all blessings come from God and we are sure to remember to stop and say thank you! Our prayer for the month is: "Thank you God for taking good care of us. Thank you for food, family & friends." How simple and how true. May we all stop not just at Thanksgiving, but all year through, to say thank you for ALL the blessings in our lives!!




We also made these super cute block turkeys. This is one that I borrowed to bring home, take a picture and show you. I think they make adorable shelf sitters!!

So, Happy Thanksgiving from our house (and preschool room) to yours!

Reading Blog - Part 3
Fall Reading

I'm sure that some of you are bored silly when I write my book reading blogs, but it's all mine. So here goes! I ended with the end of July and introducing my NEWEST favorite author, Denise Hildreth. Her 3 Savannah books are all by FAR my favorite reads of the past entire year!! If you don't read anything I recommend, check out those books and Mary Kay Andrews. You can't go wrong with either author!! (Mary Kay Andrews was my last year favorite author)



In August I read 9 books. They were all good, but the two worth mentioning were the other two in the Savannah series. So, enough about that. READ THEM!!



In September I read 9 books. Top 2 would be:

"The Quickie" - James Patterson ... Very good! Lots of things going on in this one and it's fast paced as always!!
"You've Been Warned" - James Patterson ... This one is strange. It's all over the place and there is SO much going on. It's not like anything he's written before. I liked it, but it's VERY different.


In October I read 7 books. Here are the worth discussing...

My least favorite book that I've read in a long, long time is "The Jane Austen Book Club" by: Karen Joy Fowler. I was soooo disappointed. I LOVE Jane Austen and most books & movies about her. Since this movie looks great, I thought I'd like the book. It took me weeks to read and it's a fairly short book. I couldn't just stop, so I plugged along. There are SO many characters in it with so many more characters in their lives. Then they refer to all of Jane's books with all their characters too. It's just too much to keep up with for me. Ugh!

I found another GREAT author! I randomly picked up a book in Target that looked fun, thank heavens I gave it a shot! "Confessions of a Shopoholic" by: Sophie Kinsella .. What a hoot! She is from England and they remind me alot of the Bridget Jones books & movies. The main character is a single girl who loves to shop. She's in huge debt, but goes on being able to justify any purchase she makes. She NEEDS everything she buys. (I can relate) They are great books, about 5 I think. (I've since read another and can't wait to buy the 3rd)

"Knit Together" by Debbie Macomber was another good book. It's a devotional type book, true story and inspiring. She's an awesome romance writer and it was great to get this look inside her life and faith. I enjoyed it alot, read it slowly like a devotion book.

"The Choice" by Nicholas Sparks. His books are always great, he's always been a favorite author. This book is just as good as the others. I don't want to say much, it's something you need to read for yourself if you enjoy him. I can say this though, I would think it could cause some controversy. It makes me think about a certain topic and if I had been in the situation that the characters find themselves in recently, it would really upset me. Great book, very thought provoking. (Did I spell that right?)

"Harry Potter & the Deathly Hollows" by JK Rowling. I wont say too much, I wont spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it yet. Well, I waited long enough to read this one, right? Seriously though, WOW. Great book!! I had planned on reading all the others again before reading this one, I just couldn't bring myself to make time though. This is my favorite book of them all, hands down. Usually it takes me awhile to get really into the story and remember whose who. This one had me from the first page, I LOVED it! The ending was classic, great great job!!!



Read on dear friends, read on!!

Magic Kingdom
Day two of our Disney Weekend

Thankfully we woke up to find Steve was as good as new! After breakfast muffins in our room, we were off! We took the monorail from the TTC, you just KNOW you're at WDW when you hear the monorail spill.... I LOVE IT!!

We headed down Main Street where we had the place pretty much to ourselves! We were there pretty early. We headed to Tomorrowland and straight on Buzz. (I kicked Andy's rear!) We moved to People Mover, Carousel of Progress and then on to Fantasyland. We rode Pooh (the lines were still really short and only about 10-15 minutes), Snow White, saw Philharmagic, Peter Pan and Small World. We headed back to Cosmic Rays for lunch. (Where somewhere I missed Terry's phone call for lunch, dang it!)




Then it was on to Hall of Presidents, Haunted Mansion and the Tiki Room. We got fast passes for Jungle Boat (by now the lines were L O N G and it was VERY crowded) and waited to ride Pirates. They walked through Swiss Family Tree House while I watched the parade in there too. Oh we fit Country Bears in there somewhere too -

Then it was time for dinner @ Crystal Palace. Great buffet (yeah Amber, a Disney buffet... I know, I know...but we really like this one) and tons of fun!! Of course I wanted my picture made with everyone again, though we'd just eaten there last month! :) I'm a big kid!!

We came out for a little shopping and then went back for Monsters. We missed Stitch, it was closed. We chose to skip Spectromagic (even though I LOVE it) and rode the Riverboat. Andy still loves that thing, just like my Dad. Silly boys - (A little boy decided he wanted to go home with Andy and kept holding his arms up for Andy to pick him up, too funny!) Then we decided since we were headed back in an hour after the fireworks, we'd get wet! We rode Splash Mountain, toooo fun!! We forget how much we LOVE that ride, it's a big time favorite. I just can't stand being wet all day, so we don't ride it much anymore!



We got off in time to find a great spot for the fireworks and have a magical end to our evening!! (It was super foggy from showers of rain and the fireworks were sometimes hit behind the fog, it was a wierd but neat effect)



It was a really great trip. I'd been really nervous about riding for 8 hours to just spend 2 days, but it was 110% worth it. I now know that if we can only go for a weekend trip, I'll be fine and appreciate any time I have there!! It was nice to see Shades again, it's kind of like an old friend. It was also fun to take family who hadn't been in so long. We can't wait to go back with the whole Tanner clan in 2009 and take the kiddos!