Holiday Decorations

It's no secret at my house that I'm a Christmas fanatic. I have two huge tubs of Christmas decorations and ornaments and I have the feeling I'm going to have to buy another after this year is over.

Since we have limited shelf space in our apartment (as in none except our shelving unit) I didn't put everything out that I would have liked to, but here is a glimpse of some of the things I did put out.



My collection of snowmen



This is from my great-grandma. I was a baby when she passed away, but my grandma handed it down to me from her.



My Santa collection



My ceramic Christmas tree from Nove.

One of these days I'm hoping we'll have a mantle so I'll be able to decorate it with lots of holiday goodies.

Question of the Day

Today's question is Christmas or whatever holiday you happen to celebrate based.

Do you have any special traditions this time of year? If so, what are they?

Favorite Christmas Movies

I have to admit that when the holidays roll around, one of my favorite parts of it is the movies.

Today I'm featuring my Top 5 Christmas movies.

5. Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. I'm a sucker for the claymation version of this. I try to watch it every single year.



4. It's a Wonderful Life. I watched this today and cried. Enough said.



3. White Christmas. Love, love, love it! Love the songs, love the acting!



2. Home Alone. I remember seeing it in the theater and I've loved it ever since.



1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I watch it every single Christmas Eve with my family and this year I'm watching it with Sean. My Dad and I love to quote lines with it and I own a t-shirt with the "Old Family Truckster" on it. Best Christmas movie ever!



What are your faves?

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

Join in over at Wife of a Sailor!



1.What is the best gift you have ever received or given?
Hmm...I got a horse one year from my grandparents, but that actually wasn't my favorite gift. I think one of my favorites is the Barbie Dreamhouse I got.

2.Do you celebrate holidays differently when your loved one is deployed/gone or do you keep tradition?
When Sean was gone last year I went home and so Christmas was as it had been before we got married. This year since we can't go home I'm continuing the traditions that my parents started with me.

3.If you celebrate Christmas, do you put an angel, star or something else on the top of your tree?
I actually have nothing at the top of my tree. The PX here has a craptastic selection and so this year my tree is naked up top.

4.What are your three favorite websites?
www.flickr.com
www.oldnavy.com
www.thepioneerwoman.com

5.On your man do you prefer… boxers, briefs or boxer briefs? Or commando?
Honestly? I really don't have a preference. I'm not a fan of briefs, but other than that I really don't care.

Verona Christmas Market

Last weekend, Sean and I decided to hit up the Christmas market in Verona. I'm not sure how Italian Christmas markets compare to those in say Austria or Germany (ask me next week after I've gone to Austria this weekend) However, the one in Verona was pretty fun.

To be honest, I'm not usually interested in what they have for sale. It was a lot of scarves and some stuff you'd see at a state fair. I'm more interested in the food and the vin brulee (spiced wine).



Meats from Tuscany, note the boar's head. Boar meat in Tuscany is called cinghiale.



An assortment of olives. I think I even got some artichoke hearts in the picture too.



An enormous decoration coming off the Arena



More goods for sale



A nativity scene in one of the squares



Sean had beer, I had vin brulee. Isn't my souvenir mug cute?



I loved this huge Christmas tree! Made me think of the Griswolds.



Clowning around in Christmas land.



I know this is random, but this guy was hanging out in the main square. Evidently his story is he was an alcoholic, he stopped drinking a couple of years ago and needs donations.

Now for the treats we got at the market:



This was basically a chocolate covered and stuffed pastry. This was Sean's. It was a little too chocolately for me.



Chocolate cookies with Nutella inside



Pistachio cookies with marzipan inside.

My very favorite thing that I had to eat was a frittelle. Basically it's a doughnut ( a large one) that is deep friend, dusted with sugar and Nutella is spread on it. Delicious! But far too messy for me to take a picture of it and eat it at the same time. It was all over me!

Always An Adventure

Time for another post about Boomer aka The Naughtiest Min-Pin EVER!



For those of you on my FB, you've already heard this story, so please excuse me retelling it on here.

So, after weighing Boomer the other day and finding out he gained about 3 lbs in the last year, Sean and I decided to put Boomer on a diet. We've been bad about letting him eat people food, so we decided to stop feeding him things he didn't need.

Needless to say, he hasn't been taking this well. In fact, I think it's made him a little crazy.

Yesterday I took Sean to post to drop him off to catch the bus to Germany. When I left, Boomer was still in bed. There was at tied off trash can in our kitchen that I was going to dispose of later in the day, but I thought it was safe since Boomer was still asleep. Lo and behold I come home to find an empty tuna can and a pork chop bone in my bed. Of course the pork chop had to have some kind of sauce on it, which resulted in me changing the sheets and blanket on the bed.

I thought the naughty actions were done for the day, but I should have known better. I went to dinner with a friend and when I returned I found wrapping paper and a half eaten bag of treats on my bed. Boomer had rummaged around under the tree, found a gift of his, unwrapped it and then ate half the treats. By that time, I was pretty much done with the naughty behavior and took him to bed.

I have to say, at least he keeps things interesting!

What Is This?

So the other morning I went in the kitchen and decided to have my usual breakfast of whole wheat bagel. I got the bagel out and noticed something black on the bottom of the bagel. At first I thought it was just a little burnt, but that wasn't the case.



I'm honestly not sure what this is. It doesn't have the consistency of ashes or plastic and I don't know if it's part of the conveyor built or one of the machines the bagel was on. I still have no idea wat it is, but I think I'm going to contact the company just so they know that something that shouldn't be on the bagels is there.

Weird no?