Holiday Meme

Picked this up from Ruth and thought it'd be fun!

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, Just copy this entire blog and paste into a new blog. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. If you play along leave me a comment and a link to your blog I'd love to see what you have to say!

1. Wrapping Paper or Gift Bags? Oh I am all about the gift bags. :)

2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial. We had this great artificial tree growing up that had little plastic needles clusters. Some families bond over going to the woods and chopping down their tree, while in my family we bonded over using the hot glue gun to stick the plastic needles back on.

3. When do you put up the tree? Friday after Thanksgiving. DH puts the tree together for me and that's the perfect time since he has the day off.

4. When do you take down the tree? Sometime before Martin Luther King Day. Heh.

5. Do you like Egg Nog? I do actually, except growing up we always had it half and half with milk, so drinking it straight tastes too weird for me.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Gosh. Probably my teddy bear necklace that I got when I was three. I remember I accidentally left my favorite bear in the family room and Christmas morning I came out and it was wearing a new dress (that I later learned was one of my Mom's old doll dresses) and necklace with a fuzzy teddy bear on it. I wore that thing all the time. And the bear wore the dress until it practically disintegrated.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yep! I have a great VeggieTales nativity scene that my Mom got for the kids a couple years ago. Baby Jesus is a Baby Carrot! Heh. L used to call it the Baby Cheezit. J likes to play with the cow. It flies, you know.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My husband. He works so hard, he hardly has time for a hobby.

9. Easiest person to buy for? L, hands down. She's so appreciative of everything she gets. At her birthday party this year, she would exclaim after opening a gift, "______! I LOVE _____!" even when she didn't know what it was. She opened a needlepoint set and had this excited look on her face. I leaned over and whispered "Needlepoint." and she said, "Needlepoint! I LOVE needlepoint!"

10. Weirdest Christmas gift you ever received? A long string of brightly colored chickens sitting one on top of the other. I have no idea what it is, but it's hanging on my wall.

11. Mail or email Christmas Cards? I do mail the Christmas cards. I like that at least once a year we get correspondence the old fashioned way. Now whether they get there before Christmas, that's a another story...

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Muppet's Christmas Carol. I can't tell you how many times I watched it before I picked up on the Jacob and Robert Marley joke. Bob Marley! Hee Hee Hee.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? November, otherwise I forget what I purchased.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Um yes. But only things in pristine condition that the recipient would REALLY like.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I loved Rum Balls. I haven't made them in years, but I remember making them with my Mom.

16. Clear lights or colored? Colored!

17. Favorite Christmas Song? Secular: Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas, sung by John Denver and Ralph the dog. Sacred: Tie between O Holy Night and Silent Night. I love how at the Christmas Eve service, the church is lit by candles alone during Silent Night. It brings this amazing feeling of hope and togetherness. That is until your 3 year old daughter almost lights her hair on fire. But that only happened once. :)

18. Travel or stay home at Christmas? Stay home. It's fun to travel occasionally, but I think I like staying home the most.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s Reindeer? Dude. I'm a former music teacher. Do you KNOW how many times I've sung Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer?

20. Angel or Star on the top of the tree? A lovely plain burlap angel that was on top of my childhood hot glue gunned tree as well.

21. Open Christmas Eve or Morning? Morning. Our kids take after both Mom and Dad and are seriously early risers.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Crabby people.

23. What’s the corniest family tradition you do or miss doing? We watch the Muppet Christmas Carol every Christmas/Eve.

24. What’s the worst thing you’ve seen related to Christmas? I don't like this question. I prefer to look for the best things I've seen related to Christmas. For me, it makes me so appreciative of family and friends and reminds me to be grateful for the things that I have. It reminds me that gifts are not always things; that they can be actions or memories or friendships. :)

25. Which looks best, theme trees or homey trees? Homey trees!

26. Gingerbread or Sugar Cookies? I like both!

27. Do you like fruitcake? Not particularly, but I do love Panettone. My cousin sent us some a few years back when he lived in Italy and I've been hooked ever since.