Holiday Meme
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Egg nog is specific to the holidays, while I drink hot chocolate throughout the autumn and winter.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa does both. Santa leaves a display of some gifts to give pizzaz to the first glimpse in the morning, but there are always one or two from Santa wrapped under the tree.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? My husband is absolutely adamant that they are to be multi-colored. This was not a negotiable item when we got married.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No.
5. When do you put your decorations up? When the boys were little, I would put up decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving so that we could enjoy them throughout the month of December, but then they came down at Epiphany promptly. Now that they're older, I wait a little since there is only a very small living room area in the house. (I'd put the tree in front of the front door, were it not for the fire escape concerns.)
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Sorry - Christmas is ALL ABOUT dessert (petit-fours, fudge, etc)...But my family is particularly fond of Irish soda bread for Christmas morning. Warm and crumbly and full of raisins. This year, I'm also thinking about trying something like overnight french toast as Offspring #1 loves the stuff.
7. Where do you hide your Christmas gifts? I have generally hidden the gift purchases in my closet. I flattered myself the guys didn't know that all those bags just blended in with all the other "Stuff" in Mom's closet. Then one summer they were comparing notes with their cousins and it came out that the eldest had known for quite some time...
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I'm pretty sure I was roughly about eight or nine and my eldest sister felt it her bounden duty to share.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Always! It was always a set of new pajamas when I was a little girl, but sometimes something else as well. (There was the memorable year my mother had made an entire basket of Barbie doll clothes by hand.) Mom said we didn't go to sleep that night until far, far too late. My boys, when it came to be their turn, insisted that they be permitted to pick out their own gift to unwrap on Christmas Eve. I let them, unless there was something that would give away a surprise on the next morning.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? A mix of simple wooden ornaments and some other store-bought ones that have special significance for the family. My husband, being a comic book fan, has a Superman; I have a gargoyle reading a book; one son has a creche ornament that he asked for when he was only about four and the other has a number of vehicles (snow mobiles, locomotives, double-decker bus, etc.). We also have a number of handmade ones from my mother and mother-in-law as well as some made by the boys in elementary school. It's very much a family tree.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Generally dread it, although now that I can work from home it doesn't bother me as much as it did. Ideally, one gets a great snowstorm with just enough notice to get the house loaded up with food and ensure that the heat won't go out. Once those are assured, you put on your sweats, pick up a good book, and watch it come down.
12. Can you ice skate? Nope
14. What tops your tree? Some years it has been a star and other years it has been an angel. Much, of course, depends on the height of one's tree and the height of one's ceiling.
15. Which do you prefer -- giving or receiving? I really wish I could perfect my giving. I'm afraid I'm that dreadful aunt whose gifts everyone makes fun of.
16. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Angels We Have Heard On High, Good King Wenceslas, and just about every other Christmas song in the Episcopal Hymnal.
17. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?? I am utterly indifferent to candy canes. I don't loathe them; I just can't get worked up about them.
Also seen at Pages Turned , BlueStalking Reader and In Season
