Favorite Things (adj., noun), def: things I love (or things I love to do) Italian favorito, past participle of favorire to favor, from favore favor, from Latin favor, First Known Use: 1583 / Middle English, from Old English, thing, assembly; akin to Old High German ding thing, assembly, Gothic theihs time
I did what I think of as my "Oprah Edition" of Favorite Things here, and while the overused term of "these tough economic times" is one of my *least* favorite things, there are many things that are free or very low cost that are also my favorite things.
Here's a list of my favorite things with a small price tag or none at all--
1) Stringing popcorn with my family or making a paper chain where we write down the names of all the people we love.
2) Watching all the old Christmas shows on ABC, my favorite being The Year Without a Santa Claus (this is the best one because it has Heat Miser & Snow Miser).
3) Painting Owls on rocks:
4) Having Oregon Chai Tea before bed or in front of the fireplace and/or Christmas tree.
5) This may be a Northwest thing-- but after a windstorm, I go for a walk and pick up fallen evergreen limbs and put them on my porch and on my mantel inside.
6) Going on an artist date. Go to a gallery or museum with a notebook and a long afternoon.
7) Spend 15 minutes writing a poem.
8) Spend 15 minutes reading the same poem again and again.
9) Taking a walk with your cellphone or digital camera and taking photos of the beauty of familiar things.
10) Toilet Paper Tube Book Characters. Here's Where the Wild Things are--
11) Driving around and looking at Christmas lights (with the price of gas, this little activity has gone up, but I still love to do it.)
12) Christmas Music 24/7 on Seattle's WARM 106.9 FM channel (free streaming here)
13) Going to a cool old hotel (maybe even fancy-shmancy) with a good book and sit in their decorated lounge area. For extra flavor, order tea, a martini, or bring a friend.
In Seattle, I recommend the Sorrento hotel (I meet a group of writers here every so often) and here's where we try to sit, right by the fireplace--
14) Writing a postcard to someone.
Kelli Russell Agodon
www.agodon.com
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