My Favorite Holiday Things

I love posts that let me get a little personal and share some of myself with all of you, so I was exstatic to see this fun holiday linky from Southern Fried Teaching.  Here are some of my favorite holiday traditions:

1. I love pop Christmas music, my favorites are Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays by NSYNC, Mariah's All I want for Christmas is You, My Only Wish This Year by Britney Spears, and Cold December Night by Michael Buble. 
2. I'm a huge fan of seasonal coffee, I cannot get enough Starbucks during the month of December! 
3. I always watch a Muppet Christmas Carol while I'm frosting sugar cookies.  I still have the old VHS copy that I grew up watching so I have to drag out the VCR every year just so I can watch this movie.  I also put out all of my Christmas decorations on Black Friday, I work all by myself and spend the entire day transforming my house while I watch Hallmark Christmas movies. 
4. When I was little we had a giant collection of Christmas stories that were all bound together in one book, the pages all had gold edges, and every night we would read one story together , making sure that we read all of them by the time Christmas eve came.  The book must've gotten misplaced once we got older, because I wanted to share the tradition with my class and we couldn't find it anywhere.  I finally found a copy on Amazon last year!
5. Baking for people is how I show that I care, I make a huge batch off cookies and take a plate with me everywhere I go so I can share the love. 
6. My favorite memories all revolve around decorating, I think because it ushers in the season.  Even though my sister and I are grown and have homes of our own we still spend a day at my parent's house decorating just like we used to do when we were little.  
7. One year my sister and I both got a bean bag chair from Santa.  They took up so much space under the tree that it looked like we had tons of presents - they were all spilling out because there wasn't enough room for them under the tree.  We spent most of our holiday break watching movies from those bean bag chairs.  When I was 15 I also got my first cell phone for Christmas, I think that was the gift that I was most excited about, it was the first thing that I really really really wanted for Christmas.  
8. We always used to make reindeer out of candy canes, I think it was the popular Christmas craft of the decade, because we did them at every club meeting, and in probably five different grades.  They were so easy too, you just took two candy canes and wrapped the bottoms in brown year, then you used pipe cleaners to make antlers and glued on google eyes and a red pom pom nose. I think my mom still has a collection of them with our Christmas ornaments. 
9. My favorite holiday movie is the Polar Express.  It wasn't out when I was little, but I remember seeing it in the theater when it came out and I love the message.  I share it with my class every year because I want my kiddos to believe in magic for as long as possible!
10. I love to shop for gifts in the little boutiques in my hometown.  They always have the most unique things, from cute tableware to handmade wall art, to ethically sourced textiles.  I can always find something special for everyone on my shopping list, and the small businesses have the best customer service!
11. I think I've really only asked for one thing this year, I want a high quality set of wireless bluetooth speakers.  
12. My favorite product in my TPT store is my Seasonal Classroom Decorations Bundle.  This is the one set that I would say has saved me so much time and made life a little bit easier.  I love holidays and decorating for holidays, but it usually takes up so much of my time, now I can print decorations and they all store flat in a file folder.  

Stop over at Southern Fried Teaching to see what some other great teacher bloggers have to say about their favorite holiday traditions!