Just around the corner!

Christmas is in 50 days!  Can you believe it?  I start listening to Christmas music on November 1st.  Call me crazy, but there is SO much great music to listen to and if you wait until after Thanksgiving, you only have 30 days to enjoy it!  So, I start early to get the most out of all the "oldies but goodies" and new music that comes out.

Music is still being released, so I won't jump to the conclusion of my favorite "new Christmas release" yet, but I will say that I'm really loving Lady Antebellum & Dave Barnes' holiday cd's.  Also, if you were a fan of Mariah Carey's original Christmas CD, you'll enjoy her new album as well.  I don't love all of it, but there are some really great songs (O Holy Night for one) on it that make it worth the buy.

Not only is Christmas in 50 days, but Tahoe is in just 43!  For those of you that don't know this, my family doesn't do Christmas gifts anymore (except for the nieces and nephew of course).  It's WONDERFUL!  No crowds, no traffic, no getting up at the crack of dawn on black Friday to stand in a horrendously long line (which...if that's your thing, by all means go for it!  Just not my cup-o-tea).  Instead, we pick a location (usually one with snow and skiing :)) and just spend a week hanging out together.  Instead of spending money on gifts, we spend money on doing things together...snowmobiling, skiing, sledding, games, movies, the symphony, shopping at the local ski village's quaint shops, eating up the cutie patooties that are my nieces and nephew (it's illegal to be that cute) and just enjoying time with the most important people in my life.  On top of that, we decided on our last Christmas together (Salt Lake City) that rather than eating out or making my poor mother cook all of the meals, we would each take a night and cook for the family.  So, several weeks before we leave I send out an email collecting the recipes for what each person is going to cook (usually family favorites) and put together a grocery list.  It's fun and so incredibly cost effective it's unreal!  When we were in Utah we got groceries to feed all 11 of us (2 grocery carts FULL...and we had TONS left over) and it was only $50 each for the whole week (split amongst the 7 adults).  This year it will be even cheaper since we all agreed we don't need a big breakfast every day.  We don't do lunch since we're usually on the ski slopes or out and about.  I just pack some protein bars into my ski jacket and go!  Anyhow...that's a whole rambling on that...I'm just a little bit excited :).  Plus, the place we're staying is on the lake and looks like it's straight out of White Christmas!!

Alright, enough of that. Now I'm officially distracted and dreaming of snow and skiing.

Fun plans for this weekend ahead...but I'll save that for my next post! Enjoy your Friday!