Very late on Christmas night, snow fell as far south as Augusta, Georgia. When I awoke on the 26th, the ground and trees were covered in a light dusting of snow. This has never happened in my lifetime.

Later in the day (to capture the historic moment) I took a picture of my house, still decorated for Christmas, with the snow on the ground. Looking at it, I wondered how many times my (almost) 90-year-old home has seen snow in December. And then, how many families have celebrated the joys of the season in that home.

So, I’m going to do some research on the house to see what I can find out. I just hope I don’t find out anything too spooky about the place. I have enough trouble “resting easy” as it is.

My dear friend Anna Beth sent me this e-card today, and I almost hurt myself laughing. Anyone born near the holiday season can relate:

My 10 favorite holiday movies:

10.The Holiday
Ok, so it’s definitely not a “classic” but I love the cheesy story line…and I have, from time to time, wished that I could swap houses with someone for the holiday season. If you haven’t, you need a better imagination.

9. A Christmas Carol
Don’t judge me for saying this, but I actually prefer the Disney version. I’ll take any of them, though. Except for the Lifetime one with Vanessa Williams. Horrible.

8. White Christmas
The music alone puts me in the Christmas spirit.

7. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (The Dr. Seuss cartoon version)
I’d live in Whoville for the month of December if I could.

6. It’s A Wonderful Life
It’s a classic, and if this one doesn’t warm your heart, you could be Satan.

5. Home Alone
It’s just not Christmas if I don’t see Kevin McAllister’s darling little face and tricky antics.

4. A Christmas Story
I’m a sucker for the TBS marathon. The narration (Ralphie as an adult) often makes me laugh out loud. Case in point: “Now, I had heard that word at least ten times a day from my old man. He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay.” Hats off to the writers, who were some kind of funny.

3. Love Actually
Eight story lines all wrapped into one (with a pretty Christmas bow), you have to be in the mood for a chick-flick when you watch it. That said, if you are in the mood, it’ll leave you with a feel good feeling about…what else? Love.

2. Miracle on 34th Street
Natalie Wood, New York, Macy’s and Santa Claus on trial? Yes, please.

1. Christmas Vacation
Every time I watch it, I’m both thankful and a little sad that I don’t have a cousin like Eddie.

Remember a few years back when Oprah’s “Favorite Things” were ideas? I talked a lot of shiz about that, so you can imagine how excited I was this year when she did not one, but two episodes of her favorite things. (I’m not saying her producers read my blog and realized how badly they’d messed up, but I’m just sayin‘. She did two shows this year.)

Given away were iPads, cashmere sweaters, 3D televisions, cruises, cars, and more. It was “Oprah’s Favorite Things” on crack. They literally had paramedics on the set. Literally.

If you are a glutton for punishment, like me, and want to covet all the fabulous things she gave away, just click here.

I regret that I’m just now getting around to posting something about the death of Elizabeth Edwards. Her public “farewell” message was one of hope and gratitude, and if you haven’t read it – I encourage you to do so.

You all know that I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces—my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope. These graces have carried me through difficult times and they have brought more joy to the good times than I ever could have imagined. The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that. And, yes, there are certainly times when we aren’t able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. It’s called being human. But I have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. And for that I am grateful. It isn’t possible to put into words the love and gratitude I feel to everyone who has and continues to support and inspire me every day. To you I simply say: you know.

With love,
Elizabeth

May we all be as graceful, giving and brave as Elizabeth Edwards was.

A confession via gchat this morning:

Meigs: I have a fake tree this year. It’s also white, so it’s not even pretending to be real.
Me: Bahahaha. I. Love. It.

I haven’t checked with my good friend Meigs to see if her real Christmas tree has remained upright this year, but mine is still the right size and shape for the space in my house. And, it’s still standing proudly and beautifully…with no mess to clean up when I get home.

Take that, real tree snobs.

Perhaps I’m just lazy, but self check-outs do not appeal to me. Every time I decide to use one, it ends up taking much longer than if I had just waited in the line for the check-out counter with cashier. The computer always asks me a million questions (Do you have a bonus card? Do you have any coupons? Did you remove all items from underneath your cart?, etc), repeatedly tells me to “place the item in the bag” (even when I already did), and inevitably malfunctions and needs human assistance from the person who stands nearby and monitors the self check lines.

For something that’s supposed to make our lives easier, it certainly fails me every time. I’m breaking up with the self check-out machine.

• Does anyone else shop for presents online but end up buying a gift for yourself?
• Does anyone else wonder when it got so dang cold down south?
• Does anyone else have a love/hate relationship with the creepy holiday Folgers commercial?
• Does anyone else paint over their chipped nail polish and hope that no one looks too closely?
• Does anyone else wonder why department stores stopped gift wrapping items? (I mean, that’s part of the reason for shopping for gifts there and not online, right?)
• Does anyone else consider warming something up in the oven cooking?
• Does anyone else listen to the Michael Buble, Josh Groban, or Glee Christmas albums as often as I do?
• Does anyone else diagnose other people’s illnesses by using webmd?
• Does anyone else never print photos anymore?
• Does anyone else wait until the last minute to send out holiday cards?
• Does anyone else want to be friends with Kelly Ripa?

I had to get a rental car yesterday, thanks to that hit and run incident back in November (the month we will not speak of again until next year). One of the gentlemen working there looked like someone I knew, but I couldn’t place where I knew him from. After giving each other that, “You look familiar to me” look a few times, we discovered that we did in fact know each other. We went to church camp together back in middle school.

In discussing our church camp experience with the other folks at Enterprise, we concluded that our church camp…well, it wasn’t just about Jesus. Our stories didn’t involve religious experiences at all. They involved counselor hook-ups and sneaking out of cabins to see our crushes. I mean, how totally inappropriate is that? He even confessed to shedding fake tears during the final night singing portion so that he would seem sensitive to his then girlfriend.

There will be no church camp for my hypothetical children. They are just gonna have to praise the Lord with me watching.