BIC's 2021 Holiday Fun and Year End Countdown!!!

[greeneyedgirl107]

This is a special area for us to talk about all the fun of the season.  No matter what you celebrate or how, we want to share it!  This is a thread inspired by those of veronika23 from yesteryear.  You can post about beauty, memories, traditions or anything you want.

I'd like to continue with the idea of having a prompt for each day.  Feel free to post as often as you'd like...and to add your own prompts.  

December 1: What puts you in the holiday spirit the most?

December 2: What fragrance gives you total holiday vibes?

December 3: What holiday movies are on your watch list?  Which ones haven't you seen yet?

December 4: Who would you like to kiss under the mistletoe?

December 5: What is your decorating style?

December 6: If you could give Santa an insane beauty wish-list, what would be on it?

December 7: What traditions do you like to follow?  Are there any new ones you want to start?

December 8: What holidays songs (or singers) are some of your favorites?  (And which ones do you cringe when you hear?!)

December 9: What was the best gift you ever received?  What gift was the best you ever gave?

December 10: What kind of greeting cards are your favorite to send...and to receive?

December 11: What is your go-to holiday red (or pink) lip?

December 12: Snow...yay or nay?

December 13: Do you have a favorite holiday drink?  

December 14: What holiday sale do you look forward to the most?

December 15: Do you have a most-loved holiday food or snack?

December 16: What's your best (and worst!) holiday grab-bag experience?!

December 17: Is there a holiday memory that stands out for you?

December 18: What kind of nail art are you into this year?

December 19: What holiday TV shows/episodes are your nearest and dearest?

December 20: What beauty product has been your saving grace this year?

December 21: What's your gifting style?  

December 22: Sound off on beauty advent calendars!

December 23: Who is someone special you're thinking of this season?

December 24: What's a makeup look you are loving?  

December 25: Post a holiday wish!

December 26: Any gifts you already know that you'll be returning?

December 27: What is your favorite kind of sweater to wear in the winter?

December 28: If you could design a beauty gift set for the new year, what would be in it?  (And what price would it be?)

December 29: What beauty hacks did you use this year?

December 30: What BIC threads were you on the most this year?

December 31: Post a resolution - be it beauty or otherwise.

P.S. I'm posting this off the cuff, so I may be editing the OP.

[lnum]

December 8: What holidays songs (or singers) are some of your favorites?  (And which ones do you cringe when you hear?!)

Jingle Bell Rock, Santa Baby, Let it Snow, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer. I’ve gotta say the Mariah Carey sing is so played out for me. 

December 9: What was the best gift you ever received?  What gift was the best you ever gave?

Hmmm…my partner got me the most beautiful pearl necklace for my birthday a few years ago. I lost it which I greatly regret, first piece of jewelry I ever lost in a long time. I got him a one of those kindle tablets a few years ago and he was very surprised and pleased. 

December 10: What kind of greeting cards are your favorite to send...and to receive?

The holiday ones are so cute with all the little animal characters dressed up in winter attire and playing in the snow. 

[Titian06]

@lnum - How terrible to lose your pearl necklace!  I love pearl jewelry so I feel for you!  😭

[lnum]

@Titian06 Thank you! I hope one day I can find a similar one and replace it. 😢

[Ispend2much6]

@lnum  Oh, no!  You must have been gutted.!  Pearls are so gorgeous.

Long story, but I had stopped wearing my engagement and wedding rings because I had gained too much weight for it to fit, and didn't want to admit it and get them resized.  So, I lost some weight, got them resized one size instead of the probable two, and all seemed well. 

Until one day I went grocery shopping and spent a good bit of time searching through the frozen food section. 

On the way home, I went to look at my ring and admire it, and the diamond was gone!  We never found it, and we didn't have it covered by insurance.  My husband had gotten a good deal on it too; it was a very nice diamond that a co-worker who had a jewelry business on the side procured for him. 

Best we can figure is that the prongs were not fastened securely around the diamond.  The jewelry company would not help at all either, nor even admit they messed up.  I had shopped plenty of times with the original ring before.

[Titian06]

@Ispend2much6 - How awful!  I can't imagine what that would feel like!  😞

[Ispend2much6]

@Titian06   Sheer panic, and then much sadness.  Still married though, so that much is good. 🙂

[lnum]

@Ispend2much6 OMG!!! That is awful I’m so sorry!!! 

[Ispend2much6]

@lnum  Me too; thanks. Someday...

[Samtian]

December 10: What kind of greeting cards are your favorite to send...and to receive? My answer is the same for both. Either vintage looking ones or ones with family pictures on them. 

[eshoe]

The family picture ones are fun to receive, @Samtian. Although from personal experience, they were always a bear to take! 

[Samtian]

@eshoe I tried to get my family together for one and it hasn't happened yet lol. 

[eshoe]

I guess that is a great opportunity for a collage, @Samtian 😉

[mishanyc]

December 9: What was the best gift you ever received? I got engaged several years ago on Christmas Eve.  We were going to his mother's that year for Christmas Eve and I was shocked when my parents answered her door. He told my parents he was going to propose.  My parents planned a little party with his family for us. It was so nice having both sides together celebrating.   What gift was the best you ever gave?  It was probably a Skylight picture frame. My parents love photos of their grandkids. I'm able to upload the photos for them from my phone and they get new ones in seconds. They really appreciate when my brother and I send them. 

December 10: What kind of greeting cards are your favorite to send...and to receive?  I'm a stationary lover so I like old school Christmas cards. 

[Ispend2much6]

@mishanyc   At what age did you become a stationery lover?  For as long as I can remember I would buy the most flowery writing tablets I could find whenever I went to a drugstore or Hallmark store.  I had collected quite a few.  Maybe I should have stuck to collecting those instead of lipstick. 😂

[mishanyc]

@Ispend2much6 I've loved stationary ever since I was a kid. It was always a treat to go into stores like Papyrus and see the beautiful cards.  I would go home and try to make them without much luck. But I loved the process.

[eshoe]

@mishanyc that is such a beautiful proposal story! How thoughtful to have your parents show up, not only so that they could have there to share the moment, but also that it meant enough to him to include them. What a special guy 🙂

[mishanyc]

@eshoe Thank you!  I'm still blown away everyone was able to keep it a secret. 

[quspork]

December 10: What kind of greeting cards are you favorite to send?... and receive?

Honestly, I love all greeting cards. I kind of hate that over the last few years fewer and fewer people are sending out actual cards. I know it's not environmentally friendly, but receiving them always put such a big smile on my face. Plus, with so many friends doing pictures of their kiddos, it's nice to be able to see some of them who I might not be able to catch up with regularly. We do have one aunt and uncle who do the "Christmas Newsletter" every year to update on all of the happenings for the year with their family and I love it. They have so much fun with it and it's great to see them re-living some happy moments from throughout the year. 

And because I've missed a few days, playing some catch-up here:

Spoiler

Day 9: What was the best gift you ever received?  What gift was the best you ever gave?

Ever received: So the one that sticks out most is this one-- a stuffed Shoney's bear. (For those unaware, Shoney's is a chain family diner in the US). In the lobby area of Shoney's they have a little general store area. For YEARS when we were growing up, Shoney's was the place we stopped to get breakfast going to the beach every summer. Every year, we'd eat breakfast there and I'd eyeball the teddy bear wearing the Shoney's shirt at the front register. But we never got to buy one. Well years later when I was 14 or 15, it somehow came up in conversation with my dad that I had always wanted one of the bears whenever we stopped to eat, but had never gotten one. Well, Christmas morning that year, there was a Shoney bear sitting atop my "Santa" gifts on the couch. Even then, I really loved and appreciated that my dad went out of his way to make sure that I got something that I had wanted but hadn't received. 

Ever gave: LOL........ In 2019, I surprised my husband with tickets to a Formula 1 race in Belgium for 2020 🤣 Needless to say, still waiting to "redeem" that gift. 


December 8: What holidays songs (or singers) are some of your favorites?  (And which ones do you cringe when you hear?!)

OMG, I LOVE holiday music. Listening to it right now in fact. Favorite songs: O Come All Ye Faithful, Silent Night/Stille Nacht, Nat King Cole's version of The Christmas Song, so many! One's that make me cringe though? Definitely the Christmas Shoes song (hate that song) and Do They Know It's Christmas (ugh). 


December 7: What traditions do you like to follow?  Are there any new ones you want to start?

We have a lot of traditions that we follow. I always put our newest dated ornament on the tree first, front and center. When opening gifts, we always take turns and go oldest to youngest. My parents' Christmas Eve party. Mimosas with Christmas breakfast. Driving around to look at lights and decorations the weekend before Christmas. There are a bunch. 


December 6: If you could give Santa an insane beauty wish-list, what would be on it?

Probably some Chantecaille because I just haven't been able to bite the bullet on their makeup but I always love the look of it. 


December 5: What is your decorating style?

Clark Griswold? We definitely go all out. Our house is on the local holiday light tour LOL. And we have just as much inside. In truth, it's because I'm overly sentimental and have so much stuff from my parents and grandparents that I don't want to part with. There's a whole tree that's just ornaments from my grandmother and there so many special memories attached to different things. We're definitely a hodge-podge style as opposed to a theme because of that. 


December 4: Who would you like to kiss under the mistletoe?

I mean, don't tell my husband but if Idris Elba or Alexander Skarsgard showed up under the mistletoe then... well. How could one not steal a little kiss??


December 3: What holiday movies are on your watch list?  Which ones haven't you seen yet?

Mickey's Christmas Carol, Scrooged, Christmas Vacation, It's a Wonderful Life


December 2: What fragrance gives you total holiday vibes?

Mint. I love the smell of fresh peppermint this time of year. It's clean and bright and reminds me of snow. That's probably a big reason why I love scents like Voluspa's Crushed Candy Canes and Yankee Candle's North Pole.


December 1: What puts you in the holiday spirit the most?

Listening to Christmas music

[eshoe]

@quspork I have family members who stopped doing Christmas cards years ago to reduce their carbon footprint. Although I am all for that, I miss their annual update. Snail mail is a dying art!

[quspork]

Yes, it really is, @eshoe. We try to be pretty green in our household as well, but this is just one of those things I do really miss! 

[Ispend2much6]

@quspork   I hope a trip is in your near future.