Get To Know Me, Christmas Addition

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I totally stole this idea right off Leah's blog, South Breeze Farm. I thought it was a fun way to get to know someone by learning more about how they celebrate and feel about this holiday season.

* Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Gift bags are easiest, but I have to wrap some gifts. They usually turn out looking like a five-year-old wrapped them.


* Real or Artificial tree?
Real. I've always had real trees, but sometimes I think an artificial one would just make everything so much easier.


* When do you put up the tree?
I like to put it up early so we have it up for a long time. This year we're hoping to put get it and put it up this weekend (weekend after Thanksgiving). I remember as a kid, though, there was one year when we didn't get it until Christmas Eve.


* When do you take the tree down?
The week that the city tells us the trash service will collect them. (I had a flute teacher in high school who didn't take her tree down until Easter one year. Talk about fire hazards!)


* Do you like eggnog?
Blech. Reminds me of mucus.


* Favorite gift received as a child?
My Little Pony


* Hardest person to buy for?
My mother


Easiest person to buy for?
Me, unfortunately.


Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes, this year, for the first time. I had to buy two different Marys, since one is alone and one already has the baby Jesus in her arms. I don't want to put that one out until Christmas Day.


Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail. I love sending cards in the mail, and I love receiving them, too. It's so much fun to get Christmas cards from friends and family and put them all over the house.


Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Eye makeup that had already been used. It was from one of my (extremely wealthy) students in Colombia. The makeup was even wrapped up as if it had been professionally gift-wrapped, so I knew he hadn't just taken it off his mom's dresser on his own and wrapped it himself. Some adult had decided that this would be a good gift.


* Favorite Christmas movie?
Christmas Vacation and Elf. I like the humorous Christmas stories. I really want to see Four Christmases this year.


* When do you start shopping for Christmas?
I try and shop, to some extent, year round. If I find something that people would like, I get it and keep it until Christmas. (Of course, half the time I forget I've gotten something, or I can't find where I've hid it.) Most often, though, I start too late, and have to deal with the rest of the crazy shoppers racing around at the last minute.


* Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Yes, and birthday presents, too. I figure, if it's a really nice gift, but just not my taste, it's better off with someone who would appreciate it than sitting in some closet collecting dust.


Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Candy! Chocolate! Cookies! Dessert! My favorite Christmas treat of all time is my friend's mother's chocolate-covered toffee with almonds. Pure heaven. (And almost pure butter.)


* Lights on the tree?
Yup. Small, white, non-blinking ones. My parents have always favored the large, colored, blinking variety, so when I was growing up, that's what we had.


* Favorite Christmas song?
O Holy Night, especially Mariah Carey's version. The way she hits the high notes at the end is incredible.




* Travel at Christmas or stay home?
I've done both, but I prefer to stay home and have a relaxing Christmas when possible. It is fun to travel, though, too. It makes it more exciting.


* Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Let's see, "On Comet, on Cupid, on Donner and Blitzen." Prancer, Vixen. Rudolph. How many are there? I just had to Google the names and I saw that I left out Dasher and Dancer, so I guess that's a no.


* Angel on the tree top or a star?
Star, but it's varied through the years. Growing up, we had an angel; that is, until our dog chewed it up.


* Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Christmas Day evening. The boys are with their mom on Christmas Eve, we pick them up at a midway point on Christmas Day where we then go straight to their aunt's house to be with the rest of the family. We don't come home to open presents with the immediate family until that night.


* Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
I agree with Leah on this one: That it starts before Thanksgiving is even over. I also don't like that it's so commercialized and all about spending money. I would be perfectly happy to perhaps just exchange a small gift and simply spend quality time with family.


* Favorite ornament theme or color?
Don't have one. Our Christmas tree is a smörgåsbord of ornaments we've received as gifts, bought on travels, ones we made as kids, and ones that have simply caught my eye over the years.


* Favorite for Christmas dinner?
Don't care, I'm just in it for dessert, for which I love creamy pies or sugar cookies, or chocolate, or...


* What do you want for Christmas this year?
A credit card bill that doesn't take too long to pay off.


* Favorite thing about Christmas?
Time spent with family, baking cookies, watching Christmas movies, decorating the house, seeing all the Christmas decorations in the neighborhood. I guess I can't pick just one.