That must be so magical to see Christmas through your children's eyes! I love Mannheim too! Do you like Trans Siberian Orchestra? Love them!!

I absolutely love the feeling of staying at home not having to stress over school for over a month! Last semester was really stressful for me because I had so much writing to do for a history class. I am very relieved to take a break from all that writing.

Tomorrow marks winter on the lunar calendar, so we will be having a feast to celebrate, followed by another feast on Christmas Eve with the family. I just enjoy the peaceful times with my family and friends ^^ I look forward to spend the whole winter break with my friends on discord c:

Oh man that's way too many names of people I don't remember lol (I think the show mainly glossed over that stuff). I'm going to put this under a spoiler just in case there are other GoT viewer/readers in the thread who don't want spoilers.

I'm a big fan of Christmas Eve/Sarajevo and others without singing. Not a fan of the singing/storytelling ones.

I'm current with the show. I bet you're right, but it's not like that make's it much better lol I have no idea who anyone is if they weren't an actual character in the show. So anyone that was a player in the story before the story we started with in the show - I have no idea about. lol

If you read my spoiler spoiler you might want to check Zabrie's spoiler for me in the post above - there's a correction in it wink

Is that your tortie in a santa hat?

It sure is - although she's not actually in a Santa Hat that part is photoshoped on. There's no way she we hold still long enough for a picture with something like that on and my hands and face would probably be bleeding too much to take the picture anyways lol

Ha ha okay, I was really impressed with the idea of a cat staying still for a santa hat.

I also have a tortie. She's an old lady. Coming up on 18 years in March.

18 wow! Mine's only 3 or 4 so she's still very much a wild cat. Do they ever mellow out? I've heard torties are pretty ferocious their whole lives.

She was actually always mellow. No stereotyping her!

Oh lucky you. I didn't know about tortie's reputation until after we got her home and really started to meet her lol The people at the adoption event said torties were special but nothing more than that. Mine's definitely got the classic tortie-tude ;P

Is she your only cat? We also have a snowshoe who is 6.

my favorite part of Christmas was getting to go shopping for presents with my dad and getting to pick out a special gift for my mom. Hiding it and keeping a daddy/daughter secret from mom was unthinkable then. I miss it so very much! The holidays are not the same for me in a long while since my dad pasted away.

ah i guess i've become a bit of a grinch as i get older. it never really feels like the holidays to me anymore. not putting up the tree or decorating the house. not the cold weather or anything.

it used to be my most favorite time of year with the presents and the universal warmth from everyone. now it's too much about the presents and that just doesn't make me feel good. D:

of course, y'know, the problem could just be me. xP

When we first got her we actually got her to be friend for our older cat. He had always been one of three but his two friends had passed away within 6 months of each other - so he was really depressed, but he was several years younger than the other two so we thought it would be good to get another cat to keep him company. She's the one that we connected with (she was very different at the adoption event than she actually is lol) so we brought her home. Unfortunately, less than two months after we got her he passed away too. So she is the only cat now. We want to get another cat for her (and us) but things have been pretty stressful and chaotic the last couple of years so we haven't felt like it was the right time to introduce a new cat and work through all the drama that can come with that. But we do hope/plan on getting at least one more at some point.

Snowshoes are known for being really sweet aren't they?

I've been having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. My grandma died this summer, so it's the first Christmas without her. My parents and I always do stockings with little gifties in them-candy, hair pretties, etc to open before breakfast. That's probably our oldest tradition. It's fun getting stocking stuffers for mom, dad is hard to shop for though...

Aww that's so sweet~! They sound lovely and like my kind of family, haha x3

Christmas for me has been winding down as my parents get older; I, of course, have always LOVED Christmas. I think I love it more than my family does, lol. In the past, the tradition was that Christmas day, we all waited until my grandma came over and unwrap presents together; every year, it always happens and it's a lot of fun in that regard.

Usually a few days after Christmas, we'd go see my mom's extended family (all gathering at one house or another) and I'd spend time with my cousins and aunts and uncles. Again, as time has marched on, this has slowed; people are starting their own families and having their own Christmases, but I hope we can all manage to see each other this year, one way or another.

I agree! I like the musical ones better than singing ones. I do love Christmas Cannon/Christmas Cannon Rock tho!

My favorite part about christmas, is the book exchange my husband and I do. We each pick a book for each other, write something to the other in the front cover, date it, and then swap! Then, the day after christmas we read :)

This year, we also got stockings at the dollar tree, then on a separate occasion we went to the dollar tree together and (secretively) chose five items for each other ($5) and stuffed the stockings.

SO on christmas we will have a book swap with each other, and open our stockings to see the little fun items we chose for each other. It was so fun to put them together, and (magically) within our budget, so I would like to make it a tradition for us as well.

Ah... I don't really know how to answer this one because my family doesn't celebrate any December holidays :'D During my winter break I basically just hole myself up in my room and participate in various petsite Christmas events. Maybe I'll make it a tradition to use this time to work on my own projects.