Category: Blogmas

T-minus 3 days until Christmas and there are still many people at malls running around picking up some last minute gifts. I feel like with all the commotion with getting the bulk of the gifts we tend to forget about the stocking stuffers. Those are always some of my favorites gifts to receive because they are usually the first I open and it’s always fun to see what ‘Santa’ puts in them. Here are a few random ones that you can usually find in most stores and some pretty close to check out.

Hello everyone, I have been one to talk about my love of ugly Christmas sweaters, and I figured I’d also share the ones I have. I only have 3 of my own at the moment but I’m certain my collection will grow. So, here’s my collection and a backstory behind each of them.

Let it Glow- The most recent Christmas sweater purchase and the most ‘fun’ one. This light up sweater was a hit at a few parties over the past few weeks and I love to dazzle the crowds with the color changing lights.

Shrek Christmas- This sweater was a gift from Santa 😉 last Christmas. After receiving Shrek and Donkey pillow pets the year before, I guess the tradition had t continue. This sweater is actually really comfortable and if there wasn’t a lifesize Ogre head on it I’d love to wear it regularly.

Homemade Sweater- I’ve discussed this sweater in posts before so I’ll keep this one short and sweet. My entire family slaved over the sweater for hours trying to make me the perfect ugly Christmas sweater. Let me say, this one is always a big hit for everyone who sees it

Do you have any funny Christmas sweaters?

Alicia

Hi everyone, continuing with my Blogmas posts today and today I will be talking about some Christmas traditions I have. I always felt like I don’t have any but after talking about what to do in Chicago for Christmas I’ve realized that I do have a few traditions of my own and here they are!

1. Christkindlmarket- Every year (not the past two because of bad schedules however my family has kept going) my family and some family friends head to the city to have breakfast at 7th on Heaven and then walk over to the Christkindlmarket. The adults always get hot wine (tastes like garbage) and we all love the Sweet Shoppe which has an abundance of German candies, truffles, and nuts. It is normally very cold so we try to keep it short and sweet. This year, however, it was 50 degrees on the day we went so we were able to spend longer and make it more enjoyable
2. Holiday lights- This tradition is a hit or miss for my family. We usually get there every other to every 3 years but when we do it’s so much fun. The Brookfield Zoo has Holiday Magic every year during the month of December and it’s so cool seeing all the lights littering the Zoo along with taking some cute pictures and spending quality time in the cold with friends and family
3. Ugly sweaters- This was a tradition just started 2 years ago but each year I have received an ugly Christmas sweater… I bought one this year for myself so even if I don’t receive one as a gift I still added to the collection
4. A weekend in Wisconsin- My mom’s best friend’s family and our family always go to Wisconsin for a weekend each winter break. No matter what else we have going on with works, friends, and family we almost always make time to see each other in the midst of the holiday craziness.

Those are my traditions, what are yours?

Alicia

Hi everyone, sorry I’ve been a bit inactive over the past week. Just being home and recovering my lack of sleep over the past semester paired with seeing friends has taken its toll. Also, I queued up some posts for the past few days which I realized this morning never posted and were saved as drafts so I’ll have loads of Blogmas posts coming in the next few days. Until those upload, here is my ultimate Christmas playlist!

Hi everyone, me again back to post about the things I don’t like about winter. While I mentioned before that there are some great aspects of winter there are also quite a few things that I’m not too keen on and here they are.

1. Snow: When it starts sticking to the road, or there’s two feet of it, snow is cute in theory but when shoveling or driving… it sucks.
2. Middle aged mothers Christmas Shopping: I was walking past a Walmart the other day and an ambulance carted away a middle-aged mother who WE ALL KNOW was fighting with another mother over a Tickle Me Elmo
3. People who forget how to drive: when it snows people seem to forget that we have to be careful on the roads and can’t drive recklessly.Every winter I see so many accidents it’s almost unbelievable
4. People who get offended when you say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”
5. Dry skin: I have dry skin as it is, but with winter and the lack of moisture in the ar, my skin becomes drier than ever.
6. Getting sick: I am literally sick all winter. Even when I’m not sick… I am.
7. Cold… cold… cold
8. Wet hair freezes: I can’t leave the house with wet hair or my hair might break.
9. Football: I love football but every year as we near playoffs and the Super Bowl it reminds me just how terrible the Bears are.
10. It starts getting dark ridiculously early

Hi everyone, sorry I have been MIA for the past few days. Studying for finals was kicking my butt. I finished finals earlier this afternoon so I am done with my first semester at OU! More on that later. Until then, I figured I would write about my favorite things about winter and then tomorrow or sometime in the near future I’ll share my least favorite things about this chilly season. Let’s get to it.

1. Christmas: Seeing family and friends and being able to catch up on everything and anything is so nice to do.
2. Peppermint: Candy canes and peppermint coffee, peppermint hot chocolate… I really love peppermint
3. Cozy pajamas: Cute and warm pajamas with penguins, snowmen, Santa, or Candy Canes on them… What could be better?
4. Christmas music: Any Christmas song is a jam and I will listen to all of them long after Christmas is over
5. Holiday scents: Vanilla, Peppermint (if you can’t tell I’m obsessed), Cinnamon, and Gingerbread are some of my favorite scents year round but for some dumb reason it’s only acceptable to have them around during winter
6. Snow: when it coats the trees and bushes, and the large flakes land softly on your hair, it’s so beautiful
7. The clothes: I love boots and sweaters and scarves… basically, any item worn when it’s cold out.
8. Baking: Spending the day surrounded by mixing bowls, spilled flour, and sprinkles are the perfect way to spend any winter afternoon.
9. Lights: houses all over are covered with white lights, colored lights, twinkling lights, and everything in between. Driving down streets with snow-covered lights is like driving in a winter wonderland
10. The first snow: Yes this is different than snow in general. The first snow of the season whether it happens in October or February that really marks the coming of the winter season.

Alicia

Hi everyone! Today’s Blogmas post is all about my bucket list for the holidays! I love doing fun wintery things in the city, with friends, and then some! So, here’s a fun list of things I want to get done during this holiday season!

1. Finish Christmas Shopping: I have a few more to buy but the bulk is done!!
2. See the Christmas trees at the Museum of Science and Industry: We used to do this almost every year but haven’t in a while and it is such a cool thing. You get to experience Christmases from all over the world
3. Celebrate my friend’s 21st birthday!!!
4. Drive around and look at Christmas decorations: There is one road I drive on a lot that millionaires (owner of Portillos) live on and they have the most extravagant Christmas displays. Such a beautiful thing to marvel at.
5. See the Macy’s tree and windows: I know so many people go to Macy’s in the winter to admire the Christmas windows and the Christmas tree in the nutcracker room but I have never done this and have always wanted to.
6. Go to Wisconsin for the weekend
7. Put up the Christmas tree
8. Have a Christmas movie night: Including but not limited to: Fred Claus, Elf, Home Alone, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming to Town
9. Go sledding
10. Read some good books with some wintery drinks: I have been slacking with reading and just need a cozy environment and some hot chocolate to get back into the groove of things
11. See all of my friends while they are home on break
12. Dress up on Christmas: You’re typically lucky to get me in jeans on any given holiday
13. Do a winter photo shoot: Going to city with super cute clothes, snow, and holiday lights… what else should I be doing?
14. Try to take a family photo… key word is try: My sister hates smiling, my mom can’t open her eyes and I give my dad the side-eye every time he tries to be funny… 100 attempts and still nothing worthy of sending to our 100 closest friends.
15. Shovel some now: It’s good exercise and it’ll be nice if I do it so my dad doesn’t have to wake up early to shovel every morning
16. Build a snowman
17. Eat a candy cane: I used to eat them all the time but I haven’t had one in a while and I feel like the holidays can’t start until I have sharpened my candy cane to a weapon a mouth destruction
18. Make Christmas cookies: Vegan ones of course
19. Build a gingerbread house: They are super fun to make but I always ended throwing mine away because… I hate ginger.
20. Spend some quality time with my loved ones while I am home

There’s my list… what’s yours???

Hi everyone, and welcome to my next day of Blogmas… my Christmas List. Making a wish list is always hard for me because I usually don’t need/want a lot of things, however, I was able to come up with a few things that would be amazing to have, a few pertaining to my time at school.

1. A Keurig- My roommate and I drink a ton of coffee, tea, and hot chocolate and we both agreed how nice it would be to have a Keurig next semester to spend less. This will be super cool to have next semester and also during the rest of my time at school 🙂
2. Avocado huggers- Okay these may sound stupid but they’re actually genius. I love avocados and sometimes I don’t need/want a whole one but I have to anyways because they rot so quickly once sliced open. These huggers are placed on the avocado to help stay ripe longer
3. A Himalayan Salt Lamp- I just think these are super cool and they’re supposedly good improving sleep, aiding in asthma and allergy symptoms, and increasing serotonin levels in the brain all of which I could use!!
4.  Eat, Pray Love- this bad boy was on my list last year and I didn’t get it so I decided to ask for it again because I really hope to read it because everyone tells me I am similar to the main character 🙂
5. Some sort of Lush gift set- Getting anything from lush makes my Christmas and the cute gift sets are even better! I love trying all of their festive winter products and getting other products I have loved for ages

That’s all for my wishlist… What’s on yours??

Alicia

Hi everyone and welcome to Blogmas Day 3! I did a Christmas tag last year as well and wantd to do another one this year!!! I’m going to tag everyone participating in Blogmas to do it as well!! If you aren’t and want to participate as well… Please do!!!!

1. When do you put your Christmas tree up? Take it down? We try to get it up the weekend after Thanksgiving. I don’t think my family has put it up but I’m honestly not sure… We take it down New Year’s Day or the weekend following.
2. What is your tree topper? We have an angel on top of our tree but none of us are religious? I want to put a star on top of it and will have a star on my own one day
3. Is your tree real or synthetic? Synthetic. It;s just so much easier, cheaper, and les messy
4. Favorite Christmas Scent? Peppermint or cinnamon
5. Can you name all of Santa’s Reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen and do you recall the most famous reindeer of all Rudolph
6. When did you stop believing in Christmas? My neighbor ruined it for me in 5th grade I believe but I believed for another year or so
7. White lights or colored lights? I think white lights are really classy but I love colored lights and my house is always littered in colored lights!
8. Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or Morning? Both. I go to 5 Christmas parties over the span of 3 days so we are constantly opening gifts
9. Have you ever had a white Christmas? Typically yes but sometimes no
10. Are your wrapping skills pinterest worthy or “Let’s use a giftbag” worthy?” Okie dokie folks. When it comes to like clothes boxes or normally shaped presents I can wrap like no other… but when it comes to like kids toys that are neither rectangular or fit into rectangular spaces.. Put it in a giftbag.
11. All time favorite Christmas Song? Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is You.” It is such a jam and you can find me singing it at any point of the entire year. I’m also a huge fan of “You’re a mean one Mr. Grinch”
12. Have you ever made a snowman? Of course I have. They are so annoyingly hard though. Like you make the bottom and you’re like “Ok.. I’m done.. Oh wait, I have to make two more of those things.” Plus I could never find accessories for him/her despite knowing we have like 30 pairs of gloves hidden in my house that we never use.

If you end up doing this tag, tag me  so I can see your answers!!!!

Alicia

Another one of my famous “Goals I don’t complete” posts… WHOOPS. Anyways, here are my goals for December. Let me know yours too!

1. Post Daily- Whether that means writing 5 posts the weekend before or staying up later to post I’m going to try my hardest to post daily!
2. Get a 3.5 GPA or higher- I’m not sure if I will know whether or not this happened in December but all my hard working towards this will happen in December
3. Finish Christmas shopping- I still have my mom and a couple friends but I’m doing good
4. Try not to be a hermit- I want to go and do things with friends and family but whenever I go home I just like to curl up into a blanket burrito and sleep
5. Stay hydrous- Drink water girlfriend!! This is always a goal but it is always so important soooooo

Until tomorrow

Alicia