What I am Most Grateful for this Christmas.

Merry Christmas to everyone reading this today. And if you’re reading this afterwards, I hope you hade a wonderful, merry Christmas. Or Hanukkah. Or Kwanzaa because that is tomorrow.

Now, I know being thankful and giving thanks for is mostly considered a Thanksgiving thing. And that’s fine if you agree. However, I do not.

I have always been of the opinion that one should give thanks for the good in their lives. And I feel this way especially around the holidays because I have so much and feel endlessly grateful for it all.

So, in not so many words because I’m sure we all have things we’d rather be doing than readings the ramblings of some woman on the internet, I would like to express gratitude to all the things in my life that I am thankful for.

Starting with, my family. I have endless support and unconditional love. Especially when I’m snappy, and moody, and really don’t want to socialize with anyone. I could not be who I am, I could not be happy if I did not have the wonderful people in my life who I get to share a name with. And, if any of you are reading this, thank you. So, so much. I don’t express it, but it really does mean the world to me.

I am grateful for my ability to do this. To put myself out there, in a safe, introvert-friendly way. I am grateful to share my thoughts and ideas, my progress. And sometimes even just random things that really have nothing to do with a writing blog, but I find lots of fun.

And because I want to keep this list short, I’ll end with this.

I am grateful for you. Yes, you. The person reading this blog. Whether you leave a like, or comment, or follow, or not. I am grateful that you are here. I am grateful you take the time to acknowledge my existence and my scattershot thoughts even if they didn’t register as anything more than ramblings. I am grateful for every last one of you seventy people(at the time of posting this) who are following me. Yes, even the spam/bot accounts. And I’m fine with that because it means my words are reaching at least seventy different places, and I know in comparison to some that is so small, but that’s a lot to me. So, thank you. Thank you for caring enough to give me some time and prove in my darkest hour that this will be worth it. I appreciate you more than words on a screen can convey.

And I will leave it at that before I beat the dead horse and start to sound redundant.

So, no matter what you celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful day. And if it isn’t wonderful right now, I hope it gets better. Because I honestly hope for the best for you all. And I will see you next time.

-T.R. Flynn.

Best Christmas Movies to Watch

Ah, movies. The perfect thing to curl up with the people you care about and enjoy in your downtime.

They’re mindless entertainment or thought-provoking pieces of art to be enjoyed for generations to come.

So, what are some of the best movies to curl up with this Christmas eve with your loved ones and enjoy?

Well, if you don’t mind my completely biased opinion, I can give you some pretty good suggestions.

The Polar Express
The age-old tale of being young and believing in magic. Do we grow to a point where we stop believing, or are we forced into not believing because that’s what expected of us when we get older? This a beautiful movie full of magic, joy, excitement, and wonder. It’s the perfect thing to bring out the kid in all of us and have us hoping to hear the bells and hoofbeats of the reindeer, and maybe even a characteristic ‘Hohoho’ of the big man himself.

A Christmas Carol
This is probably a classic for everyone around this holiday. Finding your Christmas spirit beyond your scroogish ways is a heartwarming story of love, family, and the true embodiment of what the Christmas spirit is. Whether you read the book or watch any of the many renditions of this in movie form, it’s still a beautiful message and a wonderous story for people of all ages.

Home Alone 
I am referring to the first, original, Home Alone. The spirit of the season is rampant in this movie. And the added comedy and adventure of a young kid running around to thwart thieves is a perfect contract to the innocence of the main character. In my own opinion, this is the best of the entire Home Alone franchise. Beyond this, it all feels very samey and rather bland. But opinions are as they are.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas
While there are many renditions of this classic, my personal preference is the animated movie from 1966. I love the art style of it as it’s very similar to the style of cartoons I grew up watching, back when everything was hand-drawn, and I really like the music for it as well. But whether you’re watching this one, an older one, the live-action one with Jim Carey, or any other variation I might have missed, this is a wonderful, heartwarming tale that, I feel, really cuts to the heart of what Christmas actually is. It’s not about the gifts and feasts, it’s about togetherness and love.

So, that’s all I have for you today. Happy Christmas Eve if I haven’t said that yet.

There is still one more post that will be coming out tomorrow, so I guess technically this is the 13 days of Blogmas instead of the 12, but I digress.

To those of you who celebrate Christmas, what is your favourite movie to snuggle up with loved ones on Christmas eve? And what are some of your favourite snacks for the night too? I’d love to know if you’d like to share.

I hope, regardless of what you celebrate, you are having a wonderful Christmas eve. If it is not as wonderful and magical as it should be, I do hope it gets there for you. You deserve to be happy and to relax. Thank you so much for reading, and I will see you tomorrow for the last day of Blogmas.

-T.R. Flynn.

Christmas Ask

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a Christmas Ask!

I love these sorts of things, so we’re doing this again. Let’s go!

1. Favourite kind of Christmas cookies?
Chocolate chip is probably my favourite. But I also really like ginger snaps. We don’t have those every year, but I love them when we do.

2. Do you have tinsel on your Christmas tree?
Nope. We’ve never had tinsel on our trees. We’ve always had animals and my parents didn’t want them eating it and getting sick, so we’ve never had tinsel. Generally, we’ll put ribbon on our trees, but that’s about it.

3. Do you open gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
Usually, we’ll do it on Christmas day. In the most recent years because of my dad’s work schedule and my siblings in other places we do it on whatever day everyone is around for. My Nana was German, so when we were young and would go over to her house for Christmas, we would do that on Christmas eve, and then have our Christmas the next day.

4. Do you have a special Christmas morning breakfast?
No, not generally. We’ll snack on things leftover from our Christmas party, but we generally hold off until Christmas ‘dinner'(we eat at like 1).

5. Favourite flavour of hot chocolate?
Peppermint.

6. How do you help those less fortunate during the holidays?
Buying nonperishables to donate to the foodbank is one of my favourites. If we have a bit of extra cash there are a couple of stores around us that have an angel on the tree program. So you select an angel off the tree they have, and all it has on it is their gender and their age range. And you buy a present for the child and the staff at the store wraps it and sends it off for Christmas to the family. I always feel really good after doing that.

7. When do you decorate for Christmas?
I try not to do it before December first. This year we did it shortly after November eleventh, but we were also decorating the restaurant too so I can’t be too upset about that.

8. Best Christmas memory?
I think my favourite has to be just sitting around the living room with my family after we opened gifts and watching Christmas cartoons on the tv. No one was complaining about them, and we were just sitting together enjoying one another’s company.

9. Favourite holiday candle scent?
I really like crisp scents for Christmas. I don’t really care for the overly sweet ones. But I love the crips ones. Like fresh snow, winter sleigh ride, first snowfall, etc. I don’t like pine though. I feel like that’s always a very fake scent and way too overpowering.

10. What do you typically get in your stocking?
My siblings and I all usually get about the same things. Little toiletries like shampoo and body wash, as well as chocolate. Sometimes there might be things like socks or lottery tickets, or some other small things. Nothing exciting, unfortunately.

11. What’s at the top of your Christmas list this year?
I don’t really have a list this year. Something I would really like to do is go and see lights again with my family. That would be nice.

12. Does it snow where you live?
Yes, but also, no. It does snow. I live in Canada. But It’s not the kind of snow that either lasts, is packing snow, or when we get it it’s not until after Christmas which sucks.

13. Do you leave cookies and milk for Santa?
I used to. Not anymore.

14. Do you have a themed Christmas tree or do you have miscellaneous ornaments and decorations? If it’s themed, what is the theme?
I wish we had a themed tree. But no. Generally, it’s just miscellaneous ornaments. Mom’s made it a habit in recent years of bringing out ornaments that we made when we were little and putting them on the tree. Those are always a fun walk down memory lane.

15. Do you have an advent or Christmas countdown calendar?
Every year my mom makes sure we all do. So I have one of those chocolate countdown calendars.

I took this from Tumblr user acozytimeofyear. If you would like to check out this original ask or the user themself.

That’s all I have for you today. Before I go I’d like to tag anyone who’d like to do this. If you decide to do this, please tweet me a link @TRFlynn2. I would love to read if you would like to share.

I hope you’re having a great day, and if it’s not great, I hope it gets better. And I will see you tomorrow.

-T.R. Flynn.

Christmas and Winter scents

Every season and holiday have their own distinct and wonderful scents. Preferences change from person to person, obviously. But the distinction is still usually there.

So, to me, what are some of the most iconic scents of Winter and Christmas.

Crisp Snow
Some of you might not realize that snow actually does have a scent. It’s very fresh and clean. It’s very subtle, and often times overpowered by the chill in the air. I find it’s most strong at night though.

Cinnamon
Cinnamon sticks, apple cider full of spice, cookies lined with cinnamon. Decorations made of the lovely little sticks. It hangs in the air with the colourful lights, fending off the chill from the wind and snow.

Pine
I’m not talking about that artificial pine scent you get in most candles. I’m talking about the scent of a fresh cut pine tree as it’s pulled into the living room and put up in a tree stand. The strong, earthy smell of walking through a pine forest in winter. Mingling with the light, crisp scent of the snow.

Smoke
Fire in the fireplace as logs crackle and hiss. Roasting marshmallows or chestnuts, or even reclining back and enjoying the heat it’s putting out. It’s calming, and warming, and a perfect addition to any Christmas picture.

Sugar and Butter Cooking
Baking, basically. The scent of cookies baking in the oven as butter browns and the sugar caramelizes. Chocolate lightly dusting the scent of cookies or mixing with spices to create that homey feel.

These are some of my favourite and most iconic scents of Christmas. What are some of your favourite holiday scents? Are they the same as mine, or do you think I’m completely wrong? I’d love to know if you’d like to share.

And Happy Hanukkah! I hope you have a wonderful day and have time to spend with your loved ones. If it isn’t wonderful I hope your day, no matter what you celebrate, get’s better. And I will see you next time.

-T.R. Flynn.

Christmas Goodies Recipes

The Christmas season is the season of indulgence.

Parties, gatherings, family dinners, gifts of chocolate and cookies. Food is flying around left right and centre, hopefully not literally though.

One of the biggest things I’ve always associated with Christmas is baking.

As such, on the ninth day of Christmas, I’m bringing to you recipes for some of my favourite Christmas goodies.

Chocolate Chips Cookies
A basic recipe, but probably the most loved. Everyone who I’ve shared this with has absolutely loved it, and now I’m going to be sharing it with you.

1 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(177 degrees C)
• Whisk together flour and baking soda, and set aside
• Combine butter with both sugars until fluffy
• Add salt, vanilla, and eggs. Mix until smooth.
• Add flour mixture and mix until just combined.
• Stir in chocolate chips
• Use a cookie scoop, or approximate tablespoon, to drop dough on a lined cookie sheet approximately 2 inches apart.
• Bake until golden brown, 10-12 minutes
• Let cool for 10-15 minutes and enjoy.

Peanut Butter Cookies
For those of you with a nut allergy, I am sorry about this. If it’s just peanuts you can’t have, you can always swap out the peanut butter for another kind of nut butter. But peanut butter cookies were always a huge staple for me and my family during the holiday.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup shortening
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F(190 degrees C)
• Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder, set aside.
• Cream shortening, peanut butter, and both sugars.
• Beat in vanilla and eggs.
• Stir in flour mixture, blending well.
• Shape mixture into 3/4 inch balls, place on lined baking sheets.
• Flatten each ball with the lines of a fork.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges.
• Allow to cool for about 10 minutes and enjoy.

Ginger Snaps
For the person who prefers a spicy kinda sweet in their lives.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup white sugar, or as needed

• Mix the flour, sugar, oil, molasses, egg, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in a bowl until well combined.
• Refrigerate dough for 1 hour
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(177 degrees C)
• Pour remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl
• Roll dough into 1 inch balls and coat in sugar
• Flatten coated balls on a lined baking sheet
• Bake until edges begin to harden, about 7 to 10 minutes
• Allow to cool on the pan for about 10 minutes before removing and allowing to cool completely.

So that’s all I got for you today. What are some of your favourite holiday treats? And if you make any of these yourself, take a picture and send me your thoughts on twitter @TRFlynn2. I’d love to know if you’d like to share.

I hope you are having a great day, and if it’s not great, I hope it gets better. And I will see you next time.

-T.R. Flynn.