Anybody ever watch Christmas with the Kranks? Jamie Lee Curtis takes a break from hunting down her masked-murdering brother at Halloween to throw herself into holiday festivities. Of course, she has to do this incognito so she’s taken on the identity of Nora Krank. She takes the suburban frumpy housewife look to outrageously boring heights with a bad bob, no makeup, holiday pajamas, and a Christmas turtleneck that 1988 wants back.
Nora Krank is THE quintessential Christmas Carol. She does it all. Bakes the cookies, decorates the house, throws the parties, makes “Hickory Honey Ham” from a gelatin-filled can, volunteers at the hospital and local soup kitchen. She listens to music and creates wonderful dinners on normal nights complete with wine and candles. She has her holiday cards and party invitations custom-printed from a delightful young man named Aubie. If it wasn’t so quaint, it would be sickening.
Her husband talks her into skipping Christmas and going on a cruise. The antics that follow are hilarious.
But what I laugh at the most is her VEST. She has to have her vest on when she’s in full holiday mode. When things go awry on the cruise deal, the first thing she needs is her vest.
She is the most cliche’d Christmas lady out there. Full on holi-hectic and loving every minute. Living in a cul-de-sac with other women just like her only adds to her compulsion to be the perfect Christmas Carol (Nora).
And now I’m a few steps closer to being just like her. Let’s just examine the evidence.
I wanted something sweet. Did I tear off a pouch of Swiss Miss into a mug and grab a Little Debbie cellophane-wrapped goodness?
Nah. I took my perfectly clean kitchen and made gingerbread cookies with rum hot chocolate from scratch. IT TOOK ME 2 HOURS, PEOPLE!!! I could have thrown together the Millennial Special in 3.5 minutes but noooo….I had to be all fancy.
Buy a few better looking ornaments from Target? Oh no. We have to paint ours from All Fired Up. And while I’m speaking in slight sarcasm, this is something we love doing and will continue to do.
Christmas cards quick and easy with printed off labels from an Excel address file? Too easy.
I actually loved watching a couple of movies while printing each envelope and thinking back to some great memories with all these families. Next year, I’m stepping up my game by ordering some glitzy somthing from Shutterfly. I’ve received a few of those from friends and they are gorgeous! #goals
Color-coordinated ON PURPOSE wrapping paper. Again, a couple of movies watched while drinking some cheer in a Gansta Wrapper Mug. If “fall basic” is a thing, I just punched my card for “Christmas basic”. I just need Buzzfeed to come up with 15-20 things all Christmas basic girls do in the winter. Nora Krank is the original. I’m just the loyal follower.
Last year, not one blog post in December. I don’t have any pictures or memories of fun things we did in that month. I know we hosted one party and we had family over for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I know I ordered Christmas cards but I never sent them. I remember the days after Christmas when I finally got chances to enjoy hot chocolate by the fire in January.
This year, I enjoyed EVERY LAST MINUTE of the holiday season. There were some times of high stress for sure. But there were so many evenings spent with Stephen and Atlas watching movies and enjoying boring meals during the week. There was much needed down-time for me. I made it through the season without being burned-out and sick. I’m facing a shiny new January with zero regrets about how I’m ending 2018.
If that means I need a new vest and steal a turtleneck from 1982, BRING IT ON!