1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate!!

2. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
White lights on the house, and we have 2 trees - one with white lights and all white, gold, silver (etc) ornaments, and then a tree in the living room with white lights and colored lights (this actually looks quite amazing - give you the color, but still has a lighter feel to it) with the colored fun ornaments.

3. Do you hang mistletoe?
No, but when we were younger we went with my dad and shot some out of a tree (mistletoe naturally grows VERY high up in trees, so you shoot it down)

4. When do you put your decorations up?
Usually within the first week or two after Thanksgiving, but this year we’ve been WAY later than that :-(. Next year I will decorate my own place for Christmas, and I’ll probably do it as soon as I get back from Thanksgiving!

5. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
We always had fried chicken and chopped pork for Christmas Eve when I was growing up . . . yeah, we’re from the south . . . south Georgia to be precise

6. Favorite holiday memory as a child:
Christmas is my favorite time of year, and always has been. Each year has special Christmas memories, and to come up with a favorite one is probably impossible . . . I’m a little nutty about Christmas!

7. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
When I was 7 (I think) I heard someone talking about it in school, and, being curious, I asked Mama. I don’t think I was quite ready to give it up, but I had a younger brother, so I got to help with him. When she told me, I kept crying - not because I wouldn’t get Santa presents, but because I was so shocked that they had all been from my parents in the past. I kept saying thank you, over and over again.

8. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
This is the first year that we’re not having Secret Santa on Christmas Eve with my father’s extended family (we’re switching generations, and all my other cousins have their own families now, so it’s time for my parents’ generation to be the grandparents . . . my dad’s the youngest). So in the past we got to open one present because it was from Secret Santa. Now I guess we won’t do that. When Bo and I were kids we got to open one from our parents as well.

9. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
Like I said before, one white beautiful tree, and one colored fun tree.

10. Snow! Love it or dread it?
I’m OK with snow momentarily, but I really am a southern girl at heart - I much prefer watching it through the window while I sit by a fire and drink hot chocolate.

11. Can you ice skate?
I don’t think so. I’ve only tried once or twice, cause we don’t have a lot of ice down here.

12. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Retrospectively, my little brother (his birthday is the 19th - I can’t believe he’ll be 20 next week!) . . . in the moment, hmm. I remember loving Cabbage Patch Dolls, a FANTASTIC Barbie Dream House, and some great techy presents, like a Palm Pilot.

13. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you?
The whole experience is amazing to me. I love spending time with my family, sharing fun activities together, and having the chance to give gifts to others.

14. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
We don’t have anything that we make EVERY year . . . chocolate cake is always welcome though ;-). Sometimes we throw a good cheesecake in there too!

15. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Advent wreath, Christmas cards, baking, CHRISTMAS MUSIC, Christmas movies . . . and I think we’re gonna get to go to church at our home church for Christmas Eve this year! We’ve always been out of town, so we haven’t been able to do that!

16. What tops your tree?
Angels on every tree!

17. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving?
Surprises are a lot of fun to get, but I definitely prefer giving - I’m a big giver in general, so Christmas is just a super special time to do that! The process of finding a gift for someone that I know they will enjoy is such a treat for me.

18. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
“O Holy Night” and the entirety of The Nutcracker . . . and this year I’ve been really into listening to the Classical Christmas station on XM Radio

19. Candy Canes! Yuck or yum?
Yummy yummy!

20. What Christmas gift do you hope to find under the tree this season?
I REALLY want a Kitchen Aid mixer . . . I keep coming up with recipes that I want to try and can’t because I don’t have a mixer, haha! Yes, I’m a housewife/Martha Stewart hybrid stuck in a 22 year old’s body . . . I’m strange.

Hat tip: Windows To My Soul

If you can’t tell by my silence on here, this weekend’s another busy weekend! I’m at home in Florida - flew in on Wednesday, and I fly back out Sunday afternoon.

It’s amazing to me how different the weather is here at home. This is the first time I’ve been in FL during October since 2002, my freshman year, and it is most definitely not fall here, LOL! It’s not blasting hot here, but the weather is most certainly warm! I guess I didn’t realize how much we’re into fall in Winston-Salem until I got back to the land of palm trees!

Back in North Carolina, as we were driving to the airport, I noticed that all the trees were changing colors. The past month, the weather is increasingly cooler, especially when the sun isn’t out, which happens earlier in the day. Every now and then you can smell people’s fireplaces on, and it’s really nice!! It’s exciting to be able to see fall happen, especially since I’ve lived in south Georgia and north Florida all my life . . .

Now if only it keeps from getting any colder in North Carolina, LOL! My theory is that if it’s cold, it better be snowing . . . and after a couple of days in the snow I’m REALLY ready for Florida!!!

A Plan and Some Questions for Y’all!!!

1. After my sad post the other day, I did some hardcore searching for state blogging groups/rings/sites.

2. My results? There’s not much. At all. As in, I found groups for only a handful of states, none of which are in the South!

3. So what should I do? Take Bug’s suggestion - start something myself.

4. However, I decided that just starting a ring for Florida or North Carolina wasn’t going to be enough. There’s obviously a lack of Southern blog groups out there - and there were a couple I found that were just Southern in general, but they were definitely aimed at women (which, while I obviously have no problem with that, it does kind of leave half the species out of the running).

5. So I’m working on a new project. It will be a place for Southern bloggers to find both state and regional representation. Contests, spotlights, possibly memes . . . all the good stuff ;-)!

6. However, while I am totally prepared to take over the majority of the work, I am going to need to coordinate some with a representative blogger from each state. Which brings me to my questions . . .

7. Are you a blogger? Do you live in one of these states?

-North Carolina
-South Carolina
-Mississippi
-Florida
-Alabama
-Georgia
-Louisiana
-Texas
-Virginia
-Tennessee

If so, please email me or tell me this in the comments. Even if you have zero interest in helping out with this, I’d love to get an idea of where people are from!

8. Do you consider your state Southern, and it wasn’t mentioned above? Let me know!

9. Are you from all over the South? For example, I was born and raised in Georgia, I’ve technically lived in Florida for about 10 years, but I’ve been up here in North Carolina for the past four and a half years because of college. If I had to pick just one state to join, I’m not sure which one I’d pick!

10. Are you a Southerner, but you live somewhere else now? I’ve got ideas for you too - let me know who you are!

11. And now, a few non Southern-centric questions. In a blogging group, what are the most important things you look for? Contests? Awards? Memes?

12. If there was one thing that you absolutely cannot stand in a blogging group, what would it be?

13. If you think that this is really cool, and you KNOW you want to help out, please let me know!

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Leave me a comment and I’ll give you a shout out!

I have read (and LOVED) the book The Five Love Languages, by Gary Chapman many times. It’s a fantastic book, and I highly recommend it to everyone!

Well, there’s a quiz online to see what your love languages are. I’m not surprised at all to these results, I’ve always suspected that these two were my love languages. I definitely express love by Acts of Service, and I receive it by Physical Touch. Just an interesting thing to note :-)!

The Five Love Languages

My primary love language is probably
Physical Touch
with a secondary love language being
Acts of Service.

Take the quiz

Hat Tip: Debi