Episodes

Merry Christmas Happy Tuesday

Santas and Jack
Part Kris’ Santa and Snowman collection with Jack Skellington playing the part of Elf on a Shelf

Happy Tuesday everyone! And MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Today Kym and Kris talk about personal Christmas traditions, and also announce THE WINNER OF OUR CONTEST!

The winner is FERN ROUINTREE! Check out our photos from our last blog to see the contents, and here’s latest addition to the box:

The TMT mug!
We got the coffee and we get THE MUG! We like the mug! The gift box is almost complete! Just waiting on the TMT coaster.

Today we dive into our personal traditions at Christmas time. There’s the annual ornament purchase:

As well as what to get as stocking stuffers (and when we open them), Christmas Eve pajamas, special feasts, the songs, the movies, and the activities, like making snowflakes to hang around the house, and collecting our favorite Christmas icons (Kris gets a new Santa every year, and Kym is partial to Tomtes).

Snowflakes
It’s snowing in Kris’ household! There’s flakes (of glitter) EVERYWHERE!! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
ITOMTE
Kym’s FAVORITE! A classic Swedish gnome called Tomte.
Santa & Snowman Collection
Part Kris’ Santa and Snowman collection, including her latest tin Santa drummer (bottom right corner).

But one of our favorite traditions both of our families celebrate is to look at Christmas lights in Orange County. There are neighborhoods all over Orange County that go absolutely over the top, but two in our area are Olwyn Dr. in Tustin, CA (Olwyn Dr. and Redhill Ave.), and the historic section of Orange, CA (the Old Towne Orange Holiday Decoration Contest  held by the Old Town Orange Preservation Association).

In Orange, this year’s theme was the Stories and Songs of the Season. Awards are given for various categories, including Most Beautiful, Best Use of Lights, Most Whimsical, etc. And while it’s something residents throughout historic Orange participate in, it seems that one of the awards (Best Block) consistently goes to Pine St. (and deservedly so). Parking and walking (or driving very slowly) is something both our households look forward to participating in every year. If you’re interested in leaving the driving to someone else, you can ride on the trolley to see the lights in style.

Some of the families in both neighborhoods even offer up candy canes, hot cocoa, and bags of popcorn to go with the music, lights, and lots and lots of happy people oohing and aahing all over the place. If you’re in the area definitely check out these neighborhoods.

Some highlights from Pine Street:

Old Orange Decorations 5
One of the more fantastic homes (even without decorations) on Pine Street in historic Orange, CA
Old Orange Decorations 7
ITOMTE! Kym’s FAVORITE!!
Old Orange Decorations 1
The theme on Pine Street in historic Orange, CA was Stories and Songs of the Season, and this family chose “Elf”
IMG_1654
One of the many award-winning home decorations on Pine Street in the historic area of Orange, CA. This family always decorates with bears, and they had Winnie the Pooh to tie in with the theme.

Old Orange CA Decorations 8

Old Orange Decorations 3
One of the many award-winning home decorations on Pine Street in the historic area of Orange, CA. This celebrates the song “Winter Wonderland”.
Old Orange Decorations 2
One of the many award-winning home decorations on Pine Street in the historic area of Orange, CA. This family did a bang up job with their “Home Alone” theme.
Old Orange Decorations 1
This place. Unbelievably cool. Amazingly so. Don’t know what their theme was. Doesn’t matter. Winner winner chicken dinner you get the trophy because SPECTACULAR.
Old Orange Decorations 4
The lovely gentlemen still participated with decorations (he and his wife lovingly decorated with the rest of Pine Street in historic Orange, CA every year), even with a broken heart. 

Check out our MERRY CHRISTMAS HAPPY TUESDAY episode on  iTunes/Apple Podcasts, SpotifyOvercast, Libsyn, Pocket CastStitcher or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Then all you need to do is 1) subscribe 2) download and 3) listen! AND!!! 4) If you enjoy what you hear, please leave a rating and a review (pretty please?). The more subscribers and reviews we get, the more opportunities we get to grow this podcast and bring you richer content.

And don’t forget to follow us here at themuglytruth.com (click that blue WordPress Follow button on the right side of your screen) so you get notifications every time we post an episode blog! You can also follow The Mugly Truth on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

© The Mugly Truth 2018 and © The Mugly Truth Podcast 2018. All rights reserved.
Intro and outro music, “Clever as a Fox”  by Espresso Music through premiumbeats.com