A Few of My Favorite Things, or My Top Ten Everything

I have this mental list of my favorite things in life. When I think of a new addition to this list I'll say to Alan, "I'm going to add this to my Top Ten." Some of them are foods, some are places, some are objects, some are events (although I'm sure I could think of a Top Ten for each of those categories.) Anyway, I have decided to write them down to help keep my thoughts organized. You will notice that my list is incomplete. I'm still adding to it.

Here they are, in no particular order (I know, it defeats the whole idea of a top ten countdown):

1. Long, hot showers on a wintry day.

2. Breyer's peach ice cream.

3. Champery, Switzerland. I spent a couple of days of paradise here the summer after I graduated from high school. It is a tiny little resort town where it's snowy in the winter (good skiing, apparently) and green and lush in the summer. Every home looks traditionally "Swiss" and has flower boxes outside every window. I took a lovely walk with some friends around the town, and the people were so nice. One evening as I was in my hotel room I heard a man outside the window yodeling to himself just for fun. Someday I would like to go back. This picture does not do it justice.

4. Christmas music. Not the cheesy pop kind on the radio, but traditional songs sung by oldies like the Carpenters, John Gary, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, the Lettermen. . . my family knows what I'm talking about. I am one of those weirdos who pull out the Christmas music as early as September sometimes.

5. Singing in a good choir in a place with awesome acoustics. This has only happened to me a couple of times in my short choir career. To my fellow high school choir bloggers, do you remember singing "Walking on the Green Grass" and "Beati Quorum Via" in Gardiner Hall for the Festival of Gold?

6. Spending time with Alan, especially if we are going out to dinner at an Italian restaurant. :)

7. A short, lesser-known piece of music called "In the Christmas Tree" from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky. It is such a beautiful segment in between the battle scene and the snowflake scene where the Nutcracker is first transformed into a prince and he and Clara dance together. Anyone who knows me well knows my obsession with The Nutcracker in general, but I honestly think this is one of the most beautiful classical pieces ever composed. It has such beautiful French horns and violins, and I listen to it over and over again at Christmas time. You can listen to a few seconds of it here on track number 9.

8. My cute little Buddy sleeping or resting with his head on my shoulder. He does this every time I am about to put him down for a nap or at bedtime while I sing him songs.

9. ??

10. ??

There are plenty of things I love not listed above (such as chocolate, Disneyland, picnics, Arches National Park, naps, the Anne of Green Gables movies), but I don't know if they are good enough to make my Top Ten Everything list. Maybe they are runners-up.

What is your Top Ten Everything list?