Tis the Season

For a change of pace from my recent tales of woe:


Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's
what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy (not
forward) this entire email and paste into your blog (or even an email)Change
all the answers so that they apply to you. Let me know if you play!

Tis the Season to be NICE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
I use both --- usually gift bags for people to whom I'm personally bringing gifts. Wrapping paper for gifts I'm mailing. I recycle gift bags!

2. Real tree or Artificial?

Definitely real, and only balsam fir need apply. Our tree is always nice and fresh, about 8 feet tall.

3. When do you put up the tree?

I like to get it up about by Dec. 15th, but the last two years has been the weekend before Christmas.

4. When do you take the tree down?

We usually take it down on Epiphany - there are 12 Days of Christmas, after all, and I was taught to wait til the Three Kings came on Jan. 6th.

5. Do you like eggnog?

Yes. Especially with rum or whisky!


6. Favorite gift received as a child?

I can't name one --- I always loved my presents, and usually got what I really wanted. I think I loved opening my stocking the most.


7. Hardest person to buy for?

Definitely my husband. He doesn't ever ask for things, doesn't have a hobby, and is the kind of person that if he needs something, he goes and gets it when he needs it. My younger son is getting hard now too.

8. Easiest person to buy for?

Anyone who gives me a list, or who has a definite hobby. Every year though I have the problem of finding lots of perfect gifts for one person on my list, and nothing for anyone else!

9. Do you have a nativity scene?

I have 3. A small stained glass one my sister sent me one year, a traditional creche with fixed figures, and my favorite - the Willow Tree Nativity my mom bought me the only time she came to spend Christmas with me.


10. Mail or email Christmas cards?

I mail cards. I don't particularly like email cards, because I can't hang them up as part of my decor.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?

A guitar when I was in college. I wanted a record player (portable stereo) for my dorm room. My father bought me a guitar --- my sister wanted one, and he got a deal. He bought each of a guitar. I never even tried to play it.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?

I absolutely love The Christmas Story --- the one where Ralph wants the beebee gun. "You'll shoot your eye out!!" I hate "It's a Wonderful Life,". I do like the original, Miracle on 34th Street.


13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?.

I make a half-hearted attempt to do some shopping in late summer or early fall. I say half-hearted, because it's not usually intentional. A friend and I go outlet shopping a couple of times a year, and I will sometimes make an effort to look for gifts then. Most of my shopping is done between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and 90% of it is done on-line. I abhor malls.


14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

I don't think so.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

Cookies -- Ginger crinkles, cranberry almond biscotti, Mrs. Greenhill's shortbread, and my sister's butter cookies. And for Christmas breakfast -- Best Buttermilk Poundcake from my mom's recipe files via Farm Journal.

16. Lights on the tree?

Definitely -- small, multi-colored, and non-blinking.

17. Favorite Christmas song?

Depends on what mood I'm in. I favor traditional carols. I love O Holy Night, Do You Hear What I Hear, and Angels We Have Heard On High. Joy to the World, too. My favorite Christmas recording is a very old record --- from the 60's The Harry Simone Choir. I loved the traditional carols, and the scripture passages quoted between the songs. I also love an Ed Ames Christmas album from that time period also.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?

Usually stay home. When the kids were really young, we would travel to my parents' in Indiana, but once they got school age we stayed home. Santa had a really hard time then.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's?


Absolutely



20. Angel on the tree top or a star?

Definitely a star. We sing: "Last year on top of our Christmas tree, we had a lovely star. It made us think of the wise men three, traveling from afar."


21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?

As kids we opened one tiny present on Christmas eve, but oh, Christmas morning!!! It would start with our stockings. Santa left them outside our bedroom doors, or at the foot of our beds. We were allowed to stay in our rooms and open them. We would have to wait for our parents to wake up before we were allowed downstairs to see what Santa had brought. Santa was always more than generous with presents for 5 kids. He brought unwrapped gifts that were spread around the tree. We also had a huge pile of wrapped gifts from our parents, aunts, each other. With 7 people the mound was huge. We took turns opening gifts, one at a time, and the opening would last several hours. We still open presents on Christmas morning. But it's only 4 of us, and we have pared down the parcels over the years. . . .My parents didn't buy us much throughout the year, but they more than made up for it at Christmas.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?

Christmas commercials and decorations that are up before pumpkins and Pilgrims.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?

Our ornaments are eclectic and often sentimemtal rather than traditionally beautiful. Their beauty is in their memories.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?

For Christmas Eve --- Swedish meatballs and egg noodles.
For Christmas Day --- a rare roast of beef --- either a standing rib roast or other luxury cut.



25. What do you want for Christmas this year?


Right now? Electricity!

26. Who is most likely to respond to this?

My blogging friends.





Merry Christmas!