What Gets You In The Christmas Spirit?

[brad192]

Merry Xmas Everyone! :tree:

I just returned from a wonderful Christmas concert by the King's Singers (a 6 member a capella group from the UK) and am glowing with Christmas cheer! :cloud9: It got me thinking about what "flips the switch" for me, and everyone else, when it comes to sparking that Christmas spirit within you. I'll go first:

Christmas TV specials. As far as I'm concerned, it's not Christmas without Rudolph :deer:& Charlie Brown. The Grinch :grinch: & Frosty :snowman: are in the mix too, but Chuck & Rudy do it for me. Also, the 1984 version of A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott as Scrooge. Best version of them all IMHO.

Salvation Army Kettles. The organization does a world of good, and I always drop a couple of bucks in the kettle whenever I hear that bell & see one.

Seeing cars driving around with Christmas trees tied to the roof. Reminds me of my childhood days when we'd spend hours selecting the right tree from the lot (no fake trees in our house!), and then spend the rest of the day "installing" it in the living room, and decorating it with all our favorite lights & ornaments. (Ask me sometime about the "Year of the Flocking Disaster").

Christmas decorations. :ornament: I love driving around & seeing the decorations everyone has, although I'm still on the fence about those fan-driven monster-sized yard decorations! They remind me too much of the Ghostbusters Stay-Puft Marshmellow Man! I'm also in awe of John's annual Christmas Display. John, are you secretly one of Santa's elves? It's a line item on my Bucket List to come see your display...'nuff said.

Finally, caroling. :sing: I have been singing in a community chorus for 27 years, and each holiday season we get an ad hoc group together & go caroling. Sometimes we visit retirement communities (Best. Audience. Ever.) Sometimes we just hit the streets in town & bring a little holiday cheer to the people out & about shopping or going about their holiday business.

So, what does it for the rest of you? Anything give you that warm fuzzy feeling, or make you a bit misty-eyed? Share your thoughts & stories!

(Oh...fruitcake. I forgot to mention fruitcake...mmm). :tasty:

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

It helps when it's cold. Living in south Mississippi we never know if we'll be wearing jackets or short-sleeves on Christmas. But when that first real cold snap comes through, we start listening to Christmas music, making hot chocolate and of course the Christmas decorations and tree. We have Christmas on the Water and Christmas on the Bayou which is basically boat parades and the boats are all decked out in lights it's really cool. We also have to make Christmas cookies and divinity. I also like watching all the old Christmas cartoons, the Grinch, Rudolph, Frosty etc...

[BrowncatP]

Going to see Christmas lights at one of the places in the Washington,D.C. area that has a display. For the last seven years a friend and I have gone to one of the displays. We now have to go back for the second visit to see if anything has been added.

[TheDuckRocks]

The first sighting of Eggnog in the refrigerator section of the supermarket. Time to make an eggnog pie.
Getting out my Disney Christmas village and ornaments.
Thinking of all my friends and family and how blessed I am to have them.
Remembering Christmases in Hawaii when we lived there. Best place ever for Christmas.
The years we get to take a trip to Disney World for the Holidays.
Knowing the grandkids will be home from college soon.
So many things.............

[John]

Lights, Turkey Dinner, Lights, Family Gatherings, Lights, Christmas Movies, Lights.... LOL. Love Christmas and am sad that in the middle of moving to South Carolina this year that I really won't have time to do much of a display. Not even sure what we are doing tree wise...

[John]

Pumpkin bread too - my mom used to always bake some around the holidays. Warm with butter - yum.

[TheVBs]

For me that moment is definitely when we get the tree! It's really important to us that we all go out together and pick a tree. I love getting all the ornaments out and hung up. Another big moment is seeing a bunch of wrapped gifts under the tree! I still have more wrapping to do though.