Pic of the Week.

I mentioned last week that I’m having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit this year, and I think it’s because I didn’t travel home for Thanksgiving. Usually when I do, my friends and I open gifts and watch the tree lighting in Downtown Indianapolis.

I put my Christmas tree up, in hopes that would help, but I haven’t been home much to enjoy it. While enjoying my coffee the other morning, I realized I don’t have any wintery/holiday coffee mugs. This was a problem. So, I ventured out to find one, and fell in love with the one in the picture. Cute little owl in a Santa hat — the other side features an owl in an argyle sweater.

During said shopping trip, I also found a few holiday radio stations (including Holly on Sirius XM, channel 17)… but it just wasn’t doing the trick.

Then I got to thinking, per usual, that I don’t often associate the holidays with joy and happiness. I’m usually not with family, or a boyfriend, and many years, I’ve been tight on money. The holidays are stressful, as an adult, anyway.

As a kid, I could not wait for Christmas break! It meant two whole weeks away from school, sleeping in, and waiting for Santa. My dad and I would decorate the house inside and out, and we always made a slew of cookies — some we decorated with icing and red hots. One year, we made a gingerbread village with snowmen made of popcorn balls and coconut.

As I’ve gotten older, there’s been many years where I haven’t felt the Christmas spirit until Christmas Eve (when I bake my annual holiday dessert) — and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, I just hate to waste the whole season being a bump on a log.

So, I furthered my efforts, and got out a stack of Christmas movies (Home Alone, my all-time fave!), and lit my first wood-wick (the flame crackles) candle in vanilla cinnamon brulee.

But it wasn’t really until I remembered some Christmas songs I really wanted to hear… I dug through my iTunes libraries, finding a few but not the ones I was after, and then started digging through my car… and voila: Happy Holly Days, a mixed CD I made in December 2011, which includes songs from:

I’m not quite the Jolly Holly that I was as a kid, but hell, I may never be — at least I’m on my way. What are you doing to get into the Christmas spirit?