The day after Christmas.

We had a white Christmas! For the first time in forever. We had snow on the ground last year, but it was leftover. Not fresh. :) After a break, the snow is falling again!

These pictures were all taken from the two windows in my warm, cozy room. :) Church services were canceled today, so I've been listening to records and drinking the best hot chocolate ever (Target's "Archer Farms" mint hot chocolate- made with milk that my dad got from Bella the cow yesterday morning- with whipped cream and milk chocolate chips! Good grief.). I might venture out later or maybe tomorrow to get some more pictures.


I had a lovely Christmas. I got to spend time with my family, eat too much food, and was blessed with lots of amazing gifts.

My family know the way to my heart:
-Books.
-Movies.
-Chocolate.
-Hobby Lobby gift cards.

Look at this beautiful stack of books:

A Frank Sinatra book, eight children's picture books, a gorgeous illustrated copy of "Alice in Wonderland" and four Christian historical fiction novels.

Many of these books came from the bargain store, the one with the huge book section that I dearly love. And the one that puts hideous orange price stickers on their books that leave nasty residue. I know I've mentioned this before, but stickers on books drive me nuts. They never come off completely, and I hate it when my books stick to each other on the shelf and ruin the covers of other books.

Well...on Christmas Eve, we were at my grandparents' house and I was scraping one of those disgusting stickers off. I mentioned how much I hate them, and my grandma says, "A little alcohol would probably take it off," and she jumps up to get some. Rubbing alcohol, I mean. Sure enough, a little bit of it on a paper towel, and the back of the book was clean. The only side effect was that that spot where the sticker was is now a little shiny. I couldn't believe it! Why did no one tell me this before?? :) Needless to say, when we got home, I grabbed my stack of bargain books and the bottle of rubbing alcohol and cleaned them all while I watched "It's a Wonderful Life." Amazing. Just a note: this only works on paperbacks. And I wouldn't try it on a book that's very old or extremely valuable to you. It does *not* work on the paper dust jackets of hardcover books. Trust me, I tried it on a couple picture books. So...I learn something new every day! :)

Now, moving on from my pet peeves. I also received some great DVDs: Leap Year, Alice in Wonderland (animated Disney version), Beauty and the Beast (my favorite Disney movie ever-review coming soon), Peter Pan (live action version), the TCM set with four Astaire/Rogers musicals, and this super-amazing ultimate collector's edition of Casablanca! It has a ridiculous amount of extra stuff in it. I spent like 20 minutes just going through it, and my brother (who, unfortunately, doesn't share my affinity for classic movies) finally said, "Why don't you just move on to something else?" It even includes eight little metal stands that hold Casablanca dinner place cards. I told my family that now I have to host a Casablanca-themed dinner party. :)

I also got lots of chocolate and some Hobby Lobby gift cards, as mentioned before. And another one of those amazing Reader's Digest record sets that has like 10 records, some Audrey Hepburn stuff (mug, calendar, and huge canvas-style picture), three more beautiful calendars (London, classic movies, I Love Lucy-I always get a bunch of calendars because after using them, I love hanging the pictures on my walls), those two art prints I picked out on Etsy, and a gorgeous "I Love Lucy" purse.

So, this year I refuse to get the after-Christmas blues. As much as I love Christmas music, I'm looking forward to getting back into my usual music again. Listening to the new Keith Urban CD without feeling guilty for not listening to Christmas music. :) As Relient K says in their song "Boxing Day,":

...Christmas is over
But do not despair, but rather be glad
We had a good year, now let's have another...

I'm looking forward to what's left of 2010. And I'm looking forward to 2011 (it'll take a while to get used to writing that).

This week, I'm planning on putting up a few end-of-the-year posts, including a list of the books I read this year. Also, maybe that children's literature one that I've been talking about for so long. Plus maybe some crafty items and snowy photography. :)

Until next time,