Holiday Meme

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Both, of course.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?I grew up with pinning my stocking to a place on the couch and all my Santa gifts would be displayed there the next morning. So I followed that tradition with my kids. Of course, they laid awake in bed until I went to sleep and snuck out and saw everything. I learned this a couple of years ago. What a relief when they told me Santa wasn't real so I told them he would not be visiting anymore. Now I can sleep through the night.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? It depends on my decorations. Most years the lights are white. Lots and lots of lights.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Why would I do this?

5. When do you put your decorations up? Probably the first weekend in December unless there is something better to do. Never before December 1. That's sacreligious.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Our Christmas Eve family home evening. We would read Christmas stories and poems, A Visit from St. Nick and act out the nativity. And really bad Christmas caroling.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Some mean kid told me in 2nd grade. I was devastated. I'm sure he's in prison now.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Growing up we could open one present on Christmas eve after the our family Christmas program. It was always a new pair of pajamas from Mom and Dad. I've carried the tradition on with my children. We still go to Mom's on Christmas eve and have a special program. Afterwards we open our presents from "Grandma" and she opens ours to her. We also do an exchange present with one of the siblings in the family and we open that while all the families are gathered on Christmas eve. (This is straight from Booklogged)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? I love coming up with new themes for my Christmas tree. It started with an angel tree with white lights and lots of different angel ornaments that I either made or bought. It now includes gold curly ribbon and gold beads. Very pretty. Next I got into snowmen. It also has white lights and lots of different kinds of snowmen and snowflakes. I like lots of different sizes of ornaments on my trees so some snowmen are small and some are 8 or 9 inches tall. I also have little mittens and red berry sprays. When I got bored with those two, I ventured into the Santa market. This may be my favorite tree. I usually use colored lights and tons of Santas and reindeer and elves and toy ornaments. I have a Ho-Ho-Ho garland that I put in the middle. Then I fell in love with those huge multi-colored light bulbs and came up with color tree. I use the little colored lights and those big lights and jewel-toned ornaments. It's not my favorite tree but those lights put me in mind of Dr. Seuss. I know I have lots of Chirstmas decorations, so I am ashamed to say that this year I will unveil a new tree theme. I hope it turns out well. If so, I will post a picture later, but I won't it describe it yet.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? In a perfect world, it would start snowing just after dark on Christmas Eve. You know the kind of snowing I'm talking about. You go outside and it's so quiet you can almost hear the snow falling. You truly understand the meaning of Peace on Earth. Christmas morning you wake up to a Winter Wonderland. The next day, it melts away. 12. Can you ice skate? Useta could.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? My daughter is a gift-giving wonder. She puts so much thought into it and I always love what she gets me. I really enjoyed the year we all got my mother the Willow Tree Nativity set and she had already bought herself one. I was so disgusted with her for buying her own at Christmas time. You can imagine my surprise when I opened my daughter's gift and there was that Nativity Set. She was pretty disgusted with me since I had bought myself one when I bought one for my mom. Last year she gave me presents with an exercise theme, a nativity theme (Jim Shore with the hanging angel: I love angels) and a relaxation theme. She really overspent.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with my family. My family has so much fun together during the holidays and it's aways so wonderful to get to see those who don't live close. They really are my best friends. Next is listening to Christmas music. I probably own 30 Christmas CD's and I try to listen to them all. My two favorites, this year anyway: Michael Crawford's "A Christmas Album" and Amy Grant's "A Christmas to Remember." Honorable mention to Celine Dion, Alan Jackson, and Mannheim Steamroller.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Something I don't have to make. At Thanksgiving, I would have to say lemon meringue or apple pie. At Christmas, it's all about the candy: peanut brittle, fudge, caramel popcorn.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I love our progressive dinner. One night some time before Christmas, we visit each family member's home in our town to see their Christmas decorations and eat a different course of a meal. We've been doing this for six years and it's fun to look at the pictures we take each year of the families in front of their tree. On Christmas Eve, I like to watch my younger brother read "A Visit from St. Nick" at the speed of light. It's hilarious.

17. What tops your tree? The angle tree used to have a big angel but I now have a star. The snowman tree has a sign that says, "Let it snow." The Santa tree either has a big Santa or a sign that says, "Dear Santa, Define good." The color tree has a great big bow. (That may be why I don't like it as well.) I don't know what I'm putting on this year's tree.

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? I love giving except it is so stressful trying to find good gifts. And my daughter's presents are so thoughtful that I love getting them and seeing the pleasure she gets from it. (Cassie, I don't expect you to do this every year so don't pressure yourself.)

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? I love the way Andy Williams sang "O Holy Night". I love "Ave Maria." I can't sing either of those very well but I like to sing "Silent Night" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." I dislike "Away in the Manger", "Little Drummer Boy" and "I Heard the Bells."

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?? Yuck.