Two-Week-to-Christmas Tiz List

Did you realize that, today, it is just two weeks until Christmas? How fun is that?

In the spirit of following through on promises made, I am offering this Tiz List of things you may not know about me because Miz Tiz (whose blog is in the left-hand column over there) was nice enough to clarify something for me on her blog, today. Which makes me very happy, and - since it's so close to Christmas - I figured I should repay my debt before Santa decides I'm being a slacker and puts me on the naughty list.

So here are a few Holiday(-ish) things about me:

1) I'm a huge fan of the period leading up to Christmas - or other big events - because I like the anticipation of the joy of it all.

2) My stomach/neck/wholesetofinnerds gets tied up in knots due to some of the anticipation.

3) That second part I don't love.

4) In part because of the anticipatory joy, I'm really not good at receiving surprises.

5) Even if they're good surprises, I tend to prefer to have at least some advance warning - not a lot, but at least a little.

6) This makes me a VERY BAD person for dealing with things like practical jokes - Holiday related or otherwise.

7) I made Christopher check my amazon.com wishlist to make sure that something I wanted to buy on a super special cheap deal was still showing as unpurchased, because I didn't want to spoil the gift-getting experience.

8) I know that #7 seems contradictory with #4. I'm okay with that.

9) I think that a batch of Christmas cookies that makes fewer than 8 dozen cookies is a waste of time.

10) I buy a LOT of margarine, flour, sugar, vanilla, and red and green sugar this time of year.

11) I also buy those weird red and green candied cherries every couple of years.

12) There's very little margarine, flour, sugar, vanilla, and red and green sugar in the house by the time we get to January.

13) There are usually leftover red and green candied cherries in January, because they keep from year to year.

14) Christopher made me throw out my leftover red and green candied cherries last year. I complained, although they were probably about 4 years old.

15) I learned to print backwards by writing on my parents' drug store windows with "spray snow" when I was growing up.

16) I never figured out how to write backwards in cursive.

17) (As any of my students from back in my teaching days can attest) I tend to write on an upward slant when writing with spray snow on windows (or with chalk on a chalkboard).

18) I like eggnog, but only enough for one or two glasses per year - and it needs to have rum in it.

19) The older I get, the more I can understand why people put lots of festivals near the winter solstice. I totally get praying for the sun to come back.

20) I tend to do two countdowns every December. One is for Christmas, while the other countdown counts down to the solstice, because I want the days to get longer.

21) It makes me happy that average people go out of their ways to make other people's dreams come true at this time of year.

22) I wish people would do that more throughout the year.

23) I sometimes think we should move Christmas to June, so that it would be easier to travel.

24) I sometimes think I should just move somewhere warmer, so that it would be easier to travel - even in December.

25) I'd probably miss the snow, even so.