These are a few of my favorite things...

In the tradition of Oprah, here is a list of twelve of my favorite things (after raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles, and warm woolen mittens):

1. Interesting, and adorable earrings from etsy.com
I have already gifted a few pairs from here. I don't have these earrings, but I crave them:
2. Fair isle slipper boots. My feet love these everyday.



3. Holiday music that doesn't make me gag. I love this one:
and I want this one:

4. NPR. I wake up to it everyday. Check out their link to holiday book recommendations. (How about that Dickens?)

5. Which brings me to favorite holiday books. A tie this year between

and

6. Peanutbutter Pieces. Sorry -- top secret recipe given to me by my aunt Peggy can't just be posted online! E-mail me if you really really want it. I can promise you this: it's almost 3 sticks of butter that you won't regret.

7. Ceramic Space Heater. This little bugger was on sale for $17 and has been my best friend since mid-November.

8. Doggie stockings. Personalized, of course, for Little Mac and Cooper. But they had better be on good behavior if they want stockings filled with treats and and toys and chewies.

9. Advent Calendar. My poor hubby had never had one of these growing up (tragic!). So I bought him one this year. He is really enjoying that mid-grade chocolate.

10. Christmas cards! Ours have been trickling in and one of my favorite things is digging through the catalogs to find the hand-written envelopes. The ones that include real letters are the best, of course.


11. Plush blanket for cold nights. We got a lovely one as a gift last Christmas last year. My puggle loves to snuggle -- he wants to be under the covers whenever we curl up on the sofa with a blanket. So he spends a lot of time hanging out under this.



12. A gift you give yourself. So although it is true that these material things bring a certain amount of happiness, we all know that Christmas wouldn't be any fun at all without friends and family. Even our in-laws. So D and I are preparing ourselves for our annual Midwest Holiday Tour. In less than a week we will drive about 1,000 miles (from St. Louis to Nevada, MO, to Hutchinson, KS, to Kansas City, MO, back to Nevada, and back to St. Louis). While I am grateful for the friends and family who will make that visit fun and exciting and full of love and laughter, I also know that we need to make sure our holiday spirit doesn't get lost somewhere in eastern Kansas. So D and I are treating ourselves to pre-holiday massages. Sure to be one of my favorite things this holiday season!