Ten Little Things (i'm looking forward to about the holidays)

The holidays are coming up. In fact they're just around the corner. Snow falling, Christmas shopping, holiday parties, baking sessions and other festive activities are coming up oh so soon and I am so. excited. These are a few of the things that make me most excited for the holidays.

1. Decorating the tree. It's your call whether you prefer white lights or colored lights, mismatched or matching ornaments, homemade decorations or store-bought. But either way, decorating the tree is one of my favorite activities of the season.

2. Driving around my hometown to look at Christmas lights and (if I'm lucky), finding the people who hand out free candy canes.

3. Drinking excessive amounts of hot chocolate.

4. Buying holiday gifts. And wrapping them, too. Buying gifts is an art in my mind. The amount of thought that goes into these purchases is borderline ridiculous.

5. Snow days. Maybe? Okay, probably not, but maybe. I now have a 'real person job' so the chances of an impromptu snow day are much lower. But I still have hope that maybe, just maybe, it could happen.

6. Christmas music all day everyday. I have no shame about how early I start listening to festive holiday songs. And the holiday stations on Pandora? Perfection.

7. Baking, baking, baking. Cookies, cookies and more cookies.

8. Annual Christmas parties. My best friends from high school have a Christmas party every year. It's amazing being able to catch up with some of my closest friends who I only see once or twice a year.

9. Getting to see family that I haven't seen in awhile. Even though the vast majority of my family lives in Minnesota, I still don't see any of them very often at all. The holidays are the perfect time to get together and catch up.

10.  A wedding. My brother is getting married three days after Christmas, which means I get to extend the festivity of the season for three extra days this year. I love weddings. Like a lot. And I get to be in this wedding, which is just excessively awesome.

What are you all looking forward to most about the holiday season?