The First Day of Xmas with Krystal Lake: My Favorite Things of Xmas

I’m a spooky gal and as such, Halloween will always be the holiday that is #1 in my heart. However, Christmas will always be a close second… followed by Independence day. What can I say, I love a holiday that ends with a bang! Today is my first day of twelve where I will be talking about my favorite things about Christmas from horror films to cocktails. I will also share look back on the previous year as well as past Christmases and share a few stories. While I do cover a lot in the upcoming eleven days, there is still a lot I don’t. So here are five of my favorite things of Christmas that won’t be covered!

1. NUTS!!!!!!!!

Yeah. My Grandma on my moms side has a recipe for bourbon spiced pecans and they are basically the most addictive nut you will ever taste. My Grandma’s nuts have shamed fellow nutters for years. I don’t know what I enjoy more… watching my friends enjoy their ration of nuts I disperse over the holidays or the looks from my neighbors when we open our doors and all you can smell is bourbon. In any case, both reactions are epic! At this very moment, there are about twenty pounds of pecans in my kitchen waiting for the magic to be worked! #soon I will not give out this recipe. There are plenty of them online, but ours is sacred. 

2. Candles!!!!!!

I have a candle problem. I’m talking I have an overstock on tea lights (scented and unscented), small ones, large ones, three wick, special ones that a decoration only, and a wide variety of scents. I keep 3-5 lit at a time most days. I wish I was lying. I have one in my long hallway, one on the tv stand, one on each book shelf, and sometimes I have one lit in the bathroom. This time of year is my favorite. I love marshmallow scents and balsam fir. I call them my calming scents this time of year. In fall it is anything apple and pumpkin. When spring and summer hit, I like floral scents and “ocean” scents. I say “ocean” because they never smell like the beach unless they remind me of sunblock. Just saying. #getontheboatthebananboat

3. Candy Canes!!!!!!!!!

I love candy canes. I love peppermint. I have two boxes of them on my coffee table. They also remind me of myself because we are both sweet and twisted. #shamelessplug

4. Christmas Cookies!!!!!!!

I love a good Christmas cookie and I have a feeling that this year I will sit and cry while I eat them. I know… sounds like a bad episode of The Biggest Loser: Xmas Edition. When I was a kid, someone always made those butter, drop cookies with a Maraschino Cherries. I hated them. I ripped out the cherries and ate the cookie. My grandfather on the other hand, loved them! As I got older, they kind of grew on me. This will be my first Christmas since my Grandfather passed away and I have a feeling those cookies are going to do me in this year. But none the less, I will always enjoy baking, sharing, and eating Christmas cookies. I always find baking cookies to be a great stress reliever. 

5. Christmas Lights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I’m obsessed with Christmas lights. They are my favorite of all the Christmas decorations, ever! I love putting them up, I love creeping around neighborhoods to see what everyone else has put in their yards, and I love a good professionally decorated display. I even line my hallways and living room with lights where a boarder would be near the ceiling. I have to!!!!! It makes me warm and fuzzy. I also have special battery operated lights that I keep on my tv stand year round. Ohhh, and I have a spider web candelabra that has lights on it year round as well as some other weird web lights and led spiders. What can I say? I stock up every Halloween! If you can’t tell, I really like spiders. 

Alrighty! I was trying to keep this first post short and simple and filled with exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!! and I think I have succeeded. What are some of your favorite things about Christmas? Let me know in the comments below! 

Don’t forget to check back tomorrow when I list my favorite Xmas Horror films! Did Krampus make the list? You’ll have to wait to find out! 

Stay Sweet and Twisted, 

Krystal Lake

PHDS: Post Halloween Depression Syndrome

At this very moment, I am looking around my house at all of my Halloween decorations and I am dreading taking them down. Yes, this spooky ghoul has special Halloween decor that I only bring out for the season. Right now, my biggest struggle is knowing I need to put away my Spooky Town Village. So many little pieces and so many boxes to pack up and move. They wait all year to be put out on display and now I have to crush their dreams and put them away. I know… suck it up cupcake and just do it. I know… I will. Trust me, I don’t want an animal or tall husband accidentally breaking any part of my village and I sure as hell don’t want to have to dust this mini village every week. Nope. I know what I need to do, but I don’t even want to get up from the couch. I don’t want to wear anything except pjs. I don’t even want coffee because I am worried it will make me perky and take charge and before you know it every speck of Halloween has disappeared into some box packed away in a closet. I can’t! If any of this sounds familiar or relatable, you too might have PHDS: Post Halloween Depression Syndrome. 

Don’t laugh. PHDS is all too real for us creepy folks. Sure we get excited for the sales after Halloween is over, but it still breaks our hearts at the same time. Home Goods is one of my most favorite stores to buy spooky home decor. They are responsible for more than half of my coffee mugs, hand towels, and tablecloths alone! I have a deep relationship with Home Goods as the season goes on and then I notice things… suddenly the shelves don’t get restocked like they used to. All of a sudden this holly, jolly son of a bitch named Santa starts showing up. At first he is here and there and then it’s like he never leaves! When Halloween finally shows up, Home Goods says, sorry boo, this is our last day together; I want a divorce. Without even thinking, Home Goods tries to get rid of everything that brought us together with cheap prices. I’m not even down from our Halloween high when I realize all that’s left of our love is a small clearance bag of gourmet candy corn with half the candy crushed and the decorative ribbon no longer in a perfect bow. My soul is crushed just like the candy corn. So what do I do? I try and see friends who will understand. 

I visit Target, craft stores, Hallmark, and even Home Depot. Hey! Home Depot has awesome decor for your front yard and is a great place to pick up a hammer to cover in blood for a photoshoot. Don’t judge me! Anyways, guess what happens when I arrive at these places???? They have all sided with Home Goods and have replaced our friendship with that jolly SOB! Damn it! I go home in defeat and start looking on-line. I find solace in Etsy shops and websites like Horror Decor. I can start to breathe. I know the first month will be the hardest, but I will move on. I will conquer this depression. 

When I finally come out of this funk I will take great joy in the fact that come September, Home Goods will be begging me to come back for more; which just goes to show, no one can resist a spooky girl. I will go back and once again, and I will restart the vicious cycle that always ends with PHDS.

Pride

I know, I know, my cynicism on this is going to be somewhat overwhelming for some of you, but just hear me out...

I don't understand hate for the sake of hate....hating someone for their race, sexual orientation, etc, it's all just bullshit to me, but I know that it's there, I just can't wrap my head around it.  So when the question of "Why didn't you change your FB profile pic to "Celebrate Pride", it really made me start to think about why it wasn't an automatic reaction for me...I support gay marriage, a large number of the people within my immediate group of loved ones are gay, of course I support their right to marry, duh....but it's deeper than that.

Sometimes I wish I was that person that can revel in small wins, that could be happy for even just a moment when we get something that has been fought for, but shouldn't have to be.....I'm just not that person... I find it hard to celebrate when although it's legal for same sex couples to marry across the US, it is also still legal in a large number of states (the majority, actually) to discriminate against these same people for their sexual orientation or gender identity.  Huh?  "What was that again?", you say.  Click the link, check out the map, it's appalling and disgusting and quite frankly, brings me to tears. We made it legal for same sex couples to marry before they get basic rights as individual human beings in most states.  I can't be the only one outraged by this.  I'm not criticizing the decision, I do support it, but why stop there?  It can't stop there.

I personally find it hard to celebrate this victory as if it's the be all, end all....it's just the beginning, folks....So, when asked why I didn't "Pride" my Facebook profile page, the conclusion I came to is that the fight is not over.  Now I understand, it's a small gesture to show support, but those around me already know they have my support.  I'll show my support by loving people for who they are (unless they're assholes, I don't care what gender, sexual orientation, or race you are, if you're an asshole, you're an asshole, and I won't waste my time), by fighting for and helping as many people as I can.  I find it hard to join in on the corporate mandated "support" by not really doing anything but changing a filter...Now I do understand how big this victory is, I don't want to diminish that, but at the same time, we need to remember that like when Segregation ended, racism did not.  It's showing a change in the tides, which is good, but I'm always cautious not to take my eye off the prize and celebrate prematurely.  That's when you get knocked down.

I'm thrilled for all of you that can celebrate this, but after all the hate that's been in the headlines the past few months, I hardly think this one gesture evens the score, but it certainly is a good start...I look forward to seeing where we can go with this.

Just my two cents.....

~Lily White 

Conspiracy 101 Introduction

Conspiracy 101

            Have you ever wondered what the world might be like if we did not have to work for a living, or maybe just work if we WANT to? What about ponder over how our monetary system works, as far as who makes the money and who gets to decide how much is produced in order to dispense it among the people of the US? Religion, as always, it can be a touchy subject for everyone, but haven’t you ever thought about why there are so many religions and how is it possible that with all the different types of religion, every individual believes wholeheartedly that their religious beliefs are right and others are wrong…how is this possible & what makes them think this? Finally, what about our privacy? When it comes to privacy how far is any government willing to go?

            These are all questions that I started to wonder about since the 9/11 event occurred in 2001. After the towers collapsed I began to hear teachers and friends throw the idea around of how it could be possible that this was no act of terrorism or accident. It was around that time that I thought I’d start to poke around and do my own digging to disprove them. Not too long after that I began to cross lines with other theories related to government, religion, science, etc. As I was researching and clicking away, I found myself asking questions left and right about what I had just watched and read. There seemed to be an abundance of facts that followed as well, which made my search much more intense. It’s taken quite a long time, 14 years actually, for me personally to fully feel as passionate about looking into all the possible alternatives to life as we know it. It is simply amazing what you can find out with a little detective work. The best part of looking into conspiracy theories is when all the questions you once had about the “what if’s” take a turn and actually start to connect and bring to light that central idea that you once asked yourself when researching you’re topic of internet. See, when you’re looking into theories concerning money, and then let’s say you jump to theories on vaccines, but then switch to looking into population conspiracy, it becomes easy to get lost. I know I would get lost and its only recently within the past few years that I remember to consolidate, so to speak, all of what I’ve researched and put it into one single perspective. However, it is important to sort out what is actually fact and fiction when doing your conspiracy hunts. The good news is that if you simply think logically about what ideas are being presented to you then you’ll be in good shape.

            So you must be asking yourself, what is the point of conspiracy 101? Simple, how to start a journey to alternative perspectives on conspiracy such as government, privacy, religion, global warming, and many others. However, these topics are only topics of interest to me; you can use these ideas to help generate thoughts for your own theories and ideas. Remember, knowledge is always a great power to have, a little curiosity never hurts. So let’s dive in!

                                     

Annica Bankster