Christmas Survey

from the mom

I enjoyed reading this on another blog and decided to help some of you explore your thoughts on Christmas.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? I like both but if I am going to partake of that many fat grams in a beverage, give me a Gingerbread or Pumpkin latte or a Peppermint Mocha.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
The Santa in our house likes gift bags.

3. Colored or white lights on the tree and/or house?
It depends. Sometimes colored but when someone uses just white and does them just right, it is bee-auuu-tiful. There is a house on our street in just white and blue lights and it is classy.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Sometimes. But we don't need it to catch the spirit.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
When we get a tree. That is anytime it isn't raining or really muddy, or when we wake up and realize it is the 22nd. This year, I'm going easy on myself and skipping decorations.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
My favorite Christmas foods are dessert. I guess I would have to say "mashed potatoes" because I never make them and I love my starches.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child.
When we thought my grandpa wouldn't be home for Christmas (because he was driving long-haul) and he surprised us. I still remember watching his face peak through the garage door into the kitchen on Winterbrook Lane. But sleeping around the Christmas tree with my cousins is right up there too.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I never was told the "untruth" about Santa. But I learned all about St. Nicholas and how the legend of Santa began when I was in England at age 24.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
That's when we always opened gifts as a child. Now, we wait until morning, but M and I are very bad about waiting. So we might have opened something already.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
M has an ornament for every year of his life and now his mom has included us all in the ornament gift. So we use our unique collection, along with lights.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
LOVE IT! I've only had a few white Christmases and they were so pretty.

12. Can you ice skate?
It has been awhile but I use to and I think I still have that much balance.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Not a favorite, but my mom's family always drew names and my Uncle Ray was the best at gifts. One year he bought me a walkman CD player which I thought was soooo cool. The most memorable was glass cookware that he gave me the Christmas I was 21. He died suddenly less than two months later. So those are my treasures. And then M bought me a claddaugh necklace when we had been dating two months and not only was it beautiful, but I knew things were really going somewhere.

14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you?
The Incarnation of Jesus. Christmas is where it all got started.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Pumpkin pie

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
I love Christmas Eve service. This year we'll be taking the kids to a service that starts at 10pm and ends at midnight. A close second: Christmas cards, letters, photos. I feel bad that I didn't get to it this year.

17. What tops your tree?
I think we turned an angel ornament into a tree-topper.

18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving?
Giving. I love giving. Since I have no money, I like to call my brother and give him suggestions on what to get for people.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
O Holy Night
but I love these too:
O Come O Come Emanuel
Silent Night (in German)
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (kinda fun)

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or yum?
Could I have chocolate instead?