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These are a FEW of my favorite things about Christmas Time in no specific order. I couldn’t say which is the most favorite because they’re all most favorites:

1)Setting up the Christmas tree whilst listening to Amy Grant’s Christmas CD (Breath of Heaven anyone? If you haven’t heard it...hear it. With your ears! A lot!)
2)Buying Presents for the people we drew names for the weekend after Thanksgiving because thats when all the sales are (whoa, run on?). That’s also when all the crazy people are out so I guess that makes it a love/hate. Mostly a love, but a little bit of hate. Not that I hate crazy people, just the ones who can help their craziness. Like crazy Walmart shoppers.
3)Getting presents from the people who drew my name. Probably my favorite presents, though, are the mom gifts. Last year, my mom sent my husband a bag of nuts, after-shower body spray, some beef jerky, and a few other random items. When asked about the "bag of nuts" gift, she said, "They were gourmet!" And two Christmas’ ago my sisters and I received matching scarves. Cute right? Wrong. They looked like they were made out of the fur of an animal that had been run over several times and then dyed into bright, hot colors. I was lucky enough to get the hot pink one. Thats not all. These scarves were more than just scarves. They could also be made into a head dress, a halter top, a tube top, and even a dress! But only if you want to look like a hooker. Feast your eyes on this.

p.s. My moms gifts are usually great, but sometimes I think she's focused on quantity over quality:) Love you mom!

4)Traditions! Actually, I should say tradition. Although there may be other, smaller traditions in the Carr family, the one tradition that stands out in my mind is Christmas morning. EVERY year before we open any presents we read the Christmas story out of the Bible. When we were all kids we would actually have our own little play every Christmas morning and ACT OUT the Christmas story. The parts were as follows: Carrie=Mary, Aaron=Joseph, Jamie=wise man, Curtis=baby Jesus (until he wasn't a baby anymore, then we just used a doll and Curtis became a wise man) Andrea=the angel (of course), Aunt Sharon=lamb (ha! We actually have her on a home video going "bhaaa bhaaaa" when we were trying to read the story! She really got into the part). We dressed up and everything! I wore a white gown with tinsel in my hair, the wise men and Joseph had towels or blankets around their heads and Carrie had this blue dress with a head piece and everything. Then we would pass the Bible around and read our parts. My dad was the Narrator. Great memories!

5)The snow. The only way to justify cold weather is to have snow. I hate being cold, but I love snow! Looking at it, playing in it, throwing it, sitting on it, eating it (what?). The only exception is driving in it and putting up with other people driving in it. Utah drivers are bad enough without snow in the equation. My husband doesn't share my love for snow. He hates everything winter, including the lovely little flakes that fall from the sky.