blue artichoke

I've just been going crazy this week, doing all sorts of new things. Do you want to know why? It's because, for the first time, I've had a very relaxed and stress-free holiday season. Our Christmas travel schedule is quite hectic, true, but that's because GC and I are getting to see both of our families, plus spending a few days in Las Vegas. How awesome is that? (Answer: very!) Because we're flying all over the place, I tried to do the bulk of my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, so I could take the gifts with us then and leave them at GC's parents house. I still had a few things to buy after Thanksgiving, but most things I was able to order and have shipped. 99% of my Christmas shopping was finished, wrapped and delivered by December 1, leaving me in the unusual circumstance of having time to relax and enjoy the season. That's the first part of this New Thing, finishing shopping early and taking time to relax and enjoy the end of the year.

The second part is using some of this newfound free time to watch Christmas movies. I've never been one for sappy or sentimental movies, which most holiday movies are, so I've never bothered to watch most traditional Christmas movies. I do watch A Christmas Story every year, but I'd never seen It's a Wonderful Life and had only seen bits and pieces of Miracle on 34th Street. I watched It's a Wonderful Life this morning and will watch Miracle now. I'm still not much of a fan of the traditional, sentimental Christmas movie, but I'm glad that finally I will have seen them both. And I'm really glad that I had time to spend watching Christmas movies all morning, instead of running around crazy trying to finish shopping, wrapping and packing before GC and I leave tonight.

30 New Things Recap:

1. Roast a duck
2. Learn to make glass beads
3. Swim in an underground river
4. Sea-Trek
5. Touch a sea turtle
6. Make a chocolate meringue pie
7. Eat collard greens
8. Cirque du Soleil: Ka
9. Make ice cream
10. Eat lunch with a down's syndrome guy
11. Learn to post pictures on my blog
12. Wear shorts, a tank top and a thong on purpose, all day and in public
13. Join a Ladies’ Disc Golf League
14. Begin Muay Thai lessons
15. Visit a Spa and Got a Foot Massage
16. Pedicure
17. Cookie Press
18. Text Message
19. Christmas Spirit

Merry Christmas!

Getting to Know All About You: What's your favorite holiday-themed movie?

Update: I can't actually watch Miracle on 34th Street today because something is wrong with our OnDemand cable. It won't play any movies. I will watch it, though, just as soon as I can. In the meantime, I think I'll take this opportunity to exercise a bit, before the holiday feasting begins in earnest.