Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts

Monday, December 11, 2017

~ Winter Wonderland Tag ~

Hello, my little friends! 
I don't know if any of you have noticed, but... IT'S DECEMBER. And December always gets me thinking about Winter.
So, I came up with this cute little tag so that we can appreciate Winter better. Yes, yes... I know that the First Day of Winter isn't technically until December 21st... but hey.
We can still have fun with this Winter weather by doing a tag, right?  
Here are the rules!
  • Link back to The Storybook Journal (Tryin' to get famous over here, peeps.)
  • Answer the questions; think Winter-y thoughts! Include pictures, if you like.
  • Tag at least 3 other bloggers, or more if you're feeling ambitious. :)
 Here I go:
1. Name a few things you love about Winter, and a few things you don't love so much about it.
I have a strange love-hate relationship with Winter. It is simultaneously my favorite and least favorite season in the whole year. One thing's for sure, though. Come March, I'm always ready and waiting for SPRING. 
Things I LOVE:
1. Snooooowwww. Especially the kind that clings to the trees. Who doesn't love to wake up in the morning and look out the window to see their yard covered in glistening powdered sugar...? 
2. How grey the sky is (Nah, I'm not a gloomy person; I just like grey.)
3. Cold hands. I am very intrigued by cold hands. Don't ask: you know me well enough to understand that I like strange things for no apparent reason.

Things I DO NOT LOVE:
1. Slushy, dirty, wet, depressing snow. In other words, OLD snow that needs to MELT and DIE.
2. The cooooolllllld *shivers*. TURN UP THE HEAT, WILL YOU?!?!?!?!?
3. It's too long. :( Generally speaking, I like Winter, but too much of one thing is never good (except when you're talking about God, of course). Come January, I'm pretty much ready for Spring.




2. When you were a child, did you "believe" in Santa Claus?
Why no! We didn't "do" the whole Mr. Fatty Claus thing. (*EXCUSE ME* I mean SANTA Claus...). We never did The Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny either. 
We just did God. XD 
Anyways. Last time I checked, Santa didn't die for anyone. He can't save anyone. Or am I somehow getting this mixed up? *shrugs*

3. Is there a book or movie that you really love to read in the Winter as opposed to other times of year?
I like to watch (and read!) Bleak House in the Winter. It's kind of a Winter-y series- complete with oppressive gloom, cloudy, depressing skies and shivering poor people. I mean, Charles Dickens wrote it, so you know it's "bleak" for sure.
I also like to read the Lord of the Rings in the Wintertime. Not the whole series, but I love to pick out my favorite sections throughout the trilogy (#Faramir and Eowyn #aw yiss).
For some reason, whenever I imagine dangerous medieval quests, I imagine them to be in Winter. I don't know why.



4. Is there a particular Christmas movie that you watch EVERY year as tradition?
When I was growing up, we would always watch It's a Wonderful Life (because you know... Jimmy Stewart is the best and why else?) around Christmastime, but I think last year we watched White Christmas instead, which was also pretty enjoyable. 



5. Do you usually get a real tree or a fake tree for Christmas? Who's in charge of decorating it at your house?
Every year, for as long as I can remember, we've gotten a REAL tree. Sure, you have to clean up the needles. Sure, you have to remember to water it. Sure, you gotta haul it in and haul it out every year. Sure, it's harder to put the lights on because the needles STICK you. Sure, sure, sure. BUT THAT'S WHAT WE LIKE TO DO, OK.
*tosses head*  



6. Does your family usually stay home or go visiting (friends, relatives, etc.) on Christmas Day?
We always, always, ALWAYS stay home on Christmas Day. Sometimes we go places on Christmas EVE, but on Christmas DAY we stay home. I think Christmas would be ruined for me if I had to GO anywhere. :P

7. What does your family usually do on New Years Eve? Any traditions? Do you ever stay up till midnight?
Yes, and yes. We always stay up till midnight. We play games and eat homemade appetizers. We turn on the TV and watch 'The Ball" drop in New York. We go out on the porch and say "Happy New Year". Then, we go to bed. Sound like fun?
O
8. Do you get snow where you live? If so, have you ever built a snowman and named him Olaf?
Why, no. I can sing the song, though.



9. If it's snowing outside, would you prefer to go outside and build snowmen and enjoy it, or would you rather stay inside with a blanket and something hot to drink and maybe a movie or a book? 
It depends on the kind of snow it is (such as sticky, or wet and soppy, etc), and what sort of mood I'm in at the time. I usually like to stay inside and look out the window, but I have been guilty of enjoying the snow out-of-doors too.

10. When do you start looking forward to or getting excited about Spring?
Well, every Winter, Spring seems to be in the back of my mind. I ALWAYS look forward to Spring, even in the SUMMER I like Spring the best. But I would say that after my birthday and after Valentine's day, there's nothing else for me to look forward to, so I just keep looking for Spring. 
So yeah, after Valentine's day. :)

~*~*~

Well, there you go. I hope you enjoy my little tag. :) Have a good Winter, peeps! I tried to post this close to Christmas, but not TOO close so that people would still have time to do it!

Here is the list of questions:

1. Name a few things you love about Winter, and a few things you don't love so much about it.
2. When you were a child, did you "believe" in Santa Claus?
3. Is there a book or movie that you really love to read in the Winter as opposed to other times of year?
4. Is there a particular Christmas movie that you watch EVERY year as tradition?
5. Do you usually get a real tree or a fake tree for Christmas? Who's in charge of decorating it at your house?
6. Does your family usually stay home or go visiting (relatives, friends, etc.) on Christmas Day?
7. What does your family usually do on New Years Eve? Any traditions? Do you ever stay up till midnight?
8. Do you get snow where you live? If so, have you ever built a snowman and named him Olaf?
9. If it's snowing outside, would you prefer to go outside and build snowmen and enjoy it, or would you rather stay inside with a blanket and something hot to drink and maybe a movie or a book?
10. When do you start looking forward to or getting excited about Spring?


-Amaris

Monday, November 6, 2017

How I Feel About Halloween...


Hello, friends! 
~*~ 

(Wow. You are quite the tolerant one, considering the fact that I have started at least 50 gajillion posts with the words 'hello, friends').
Anyways. I hope you are having a good Fall, and for those of you who celebrate Halloween, I hope you had a good one! 
I've been thinking lately about Halloween, and each year it becomes more clear to me my opinion of it, so I thought I would share. 

Photo Credit: Me
1. I love the ghosts and bats.
Ok. This love/hate is kind of random. When I say "ghosts", I'm talking about the cute little white ghosts with a little smile and two little eyes. Possibly cartoon, or the ones homemade.
I just really like those. See?
I also love cute little bats. Not the evil, bloody looking bats with horrid fangs, but little bats (made of paper or cloth or whatever) with cute little faces and tiny little wings. Also the cartoon ones.
So adorable.
If I had to choose at least two decorations for Halloween, it will be little ghosts and little bats everywhere.
But mostly I'm just not a Halloween person at all.

2. I hate the bloody limbs.
Are you kidding me? You're going to decorate your house with severed limbs? I just have such a hard time wrapping my brain around this.
Let me ask you this: Do you actually like it when you hear on the news that someone's arm or leg or head got severed? (Wow. Great image to put in people's heads, Amaris. Good job.)
Well then why the heck would you literally play with that idea? Decorate with it? Make fun with it?
 ~
Me try to make sense of it, but...
me no understand.



3. I love everyone's costume ideas (the nice ones, anyway).
I really do enjoy going onto YouTube this time of year, because there are soooo many cute ideas for makeup, costumes, and more. The idea of costumes and dressing up just makes me excited. Maybe because I like creating things, or maybe because I just like being Someone Else for a little bit.
Some of my favorite Halloween Costume Videos are:

Mermaid Makeup. (There are a ton more mermaid tutorials out there, I just picked this one because it's one of my favorites).

Dean from Supernatural (A female version. Even though I don't watch the show, I like this tutorial).

Ancient Greece (I think I like this outfit more than the makeup. But both are pretty cool).

Spiderwebs (I don't really like the other makeup looks in this video: if you're like me, you can skip to 3:16 for the webs).

Basically, costumes are great. In fact, if we could just have a holiday that was literally nothing but costumes and candy with nothing else, I would be ok with it. Anybody else? No? 
Let's move on.  


4. I hate that Satan, evil, and death are glorified.
Aren't most people afraid of death anyways?
Why would you make celebration out of it?
It kind of brings me back to the question about the severed limbs thing
Why? 
That is the question:
whyyyy?  
I just. 
don't
under. stand.  

Wouldn't most people (even non-Christians) agree that Satan is evil and terrible and Not-Something-To-Be-Made-Fun-Of?
Then why is he given so much... glory? Unnecessary attention, even?

*bangs head on table because why*

5. I love hearing about people's plans.
There are some people who really live for this time of year. They wait for it and plan for it all year long just so they can have a good time on the Big Day, work on costumes, and make videos.
Some people do a thing on YouTube (#vlogoween I believe it's called) where they do a vlog-style video every single day in October.
I don't know if you all watch Grav3yardgirl, but I have really enjoyed her videos specifically this year (FYI, her channel is 99% clean except for her profile pic. #shame on you, bunny)
I love hearing about everyone's plans, I love to see who's going all out with the costume, and which ones are planning on doing parties, or if they're just doing the neighborhood trick or treating, or you know.
I just love to see everyone's excitement. Seeing people happy an anticipating about something, in turn, makes me excited and upbeat, even if I am not joining in the celebrations.



6. I hate all of those temporary cheap Halloween stores that pop up everywhere.
And I have to be honest: I've never been inside one.
You might ask, "But, Amaris, if you've never been in one, how do you know it's so terrible, and how do you hate it so much?"
Believe me, it's not hard. 
1. I've seen vlogs on YouTube of people inside of them (such as Grav3yardgirl),
2. If it's Halloween-related, it's going to be something evil and scary in which case I would not be interested anyways, and
3. The signs and billboards, from which I can tell pretty easily if I don't want to go in. As I'm sure most of us can.
I pretty much hate every Halloween store, and every Halloween section in every store. It's just... icky. :P


7. I love the time of year.
Halloween happens during the greatest time of Fall: before it's too super cold, but just cold enough to be comfortable in a costume, and the leaves aren't completely gone yet, so it's still pretty out, plus, it's pumpkin season.
So basically there is a lot to love.
Weather, costumes, pumpkins.... parties. You know.

Oh. 
And candy.

Me loves the candy.

Anyways, that about wraps it up (hehe.. 'wraps'... just like a Halloween mummy, right? Get it? Ok, I'll stop). I was going to post this LAST Monday, it being the day before Halloween, but I did not get all of my thoughts (and pictures) together in time. :P
You know how it is. At least, if you have a blog you know how it is.

Well. I hope you all had a good Halloween, if you celebrated it! 
If not, I hope you continue to enjoy Fall (provided you're a Fall Person. If you're not, I'm sorry).

HAVE A GOOD DAY, FRIENDS.
-Amaris      


 
Do any of you celebrate Halloween? If so, what was your costume? What is your favorite and LEAST favorite thing about this holiday?
Bye!
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