Memories of Christmas Past {Girl Behind the Blog}

Well my lovelies, yesterday's post was a little deep, wasn't it? Yeppur, but it needed to be said because I hate bullying and I wish it would just stop and everybody would be happy and be nice to each other. So--yeah, that's my rant for the day.  On to slightly happier thoughts, let's talk about the holidays. Incidentally, this week's prompt for Hayley and Lauren's Girl Behind the Blog linkup is to share our favorite things about the holiday season. As you can probably tell from my complete holiday overhaul of the blog, I really love Christmas time. I'm talking like kid in the candy store type of love. My husband has actually compared me to the dude in 'Elf' (see below) which is actually a fairly accurate comparison but was still not appreciated. 

Am I the only one who gets a headache from looking at this too long?
And btw what is up with his eyes right there? WEIRD

Anyway, since there is no possible way that I could cram ALL of the things I love about Christmas into one post (at least not if I wanted to sound sane), I thought I would tell you about a few of my favorite Christmas memories! 

Deck the Halls When I was younger one of my favorite movies was Little Women, the one with Winona Ryder, and my favorite scene from that movie--other than the ones with Amy or Meg in it--was when the whole family was singing 'Deck the Halls' around the piano right before Mr March came home from the war. So this little kiddo that you see up there, the one with the really short boy hair, would go around the house singing "Fa-la-la" at the top of her lungs. Friends, that's just not a pretty picture, nopers not at all. It was really fun though.  Family Fun My mom is one of 8 kids so I was blessed with 7 uncles, 7 aunts, and around two dozen cousins--Christmas was never boring. I remember long nights of the grownups crowded around the table in my grandma's kitchen playing cards while us kiddos were in the living room watching 101 Dalmations for the tenth time in a row (seriously, my baby cousin loved the 101 Dalmations and pretty much tortured the rest of us with it every Christmas). When we weren't at my Grandma's house celebrating Christmas, we were visiting extended family in Quebec for their annual Christmas get-together. They'd rent a hall, had a DJ and a dance floor, catered the entire thing with traditional food, and spoke entirely in French. Believe me you have not lived until you've had a woman with fiery orange hair smelling slightly of moth balls and hair spray kiss you on both cheeks and proceed to prattle on in a language you barely understand. I blame those family reunions for the fact I could understand French by the age of five. Ah, Joyeux Noel!  Christmas Movies The Sound of Music is one of my favorite Christmas movies hands down. A few weeks before Christmas, my mom and my grandma would start on their annual jigsaw puzzle. Each year they put together a new one and then my grandma would glue it together and hang it up somewhere in her house--these weren't little puzzles either, I'm talking big canvas sized puzzles that have such small pieces you really can't tell what the picture is supposed to be. Little child me was not a puzzle person (actually adult me isn't either) so I would bring a book or some cross stiching (yes I cross stiched--don't laugh, I'm not proud of it) over and we'd watch the Sound of Music while they did their puzzle. Most years it was in French because my grandmother was a big fan of the Canadian television channel, but there were a few years we caught it in English. To this day though, I sing Edelweiss in French. 
Now that you are fully aware of how weird my family is--believe me it is not easy growing up in a French Canadian household, here's one my most recent favorite Christmas memories.  O Christmas Tree I love decorating the Christmas tree. We blare holiday music, this year it was Trans-Siberian Orchestra, while we decorate it. When I was little, my mom would always buy a new ornament for the tree each year and Zach and I have happily continued this tradition. This year I think we started a new tradition by taking pictures while we decorate the tree. They didn't come out perfect but I still love them. 

And although these have nothing to do with any of my Christmas memories, feast your eyes on these adorable pictures of the hubs from Christmases past. Hey, you did ask to know my favorite things!!! 

What are some of your memories from Christmas past? Don't forget to link up with Girl behind the Blog!!!