Totally Stolen from Erin’s blog Holiday Questionnaire
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate anytime, especially that new drinking chocolate from Starbucks that I’m desperate to try (hint hint, Starbucks gift cards would be cool)
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrapped. I was SOOO PO’d that Gene never gift wrapped Santa presents for the boy. I swear sometimes I want to have a kid just to do things “right”.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White. So cleeeeeasy.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No.
5. When do you put your decorations up? Typically sometime after Thanksgiving, maybe around now. We’re not doing a tree this year (wahh) and I just don’t think I’ll get around to decorating the house. Last year it was so beautiful so I’m actually pretty disappointed.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? The fruit salad we always had at Xmas at my house (well, technically my paternal grandparents house).
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? For years I got up an hour earlier than I had the year before. Got up at 7, then 6, etc. I think it topped out when I got up around 4. For the life of me I can’t remember how in the heck I managed to keep body and soul together until my slacker family woke up.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Xmas in the mid 1980s, Macauley and I went to Illinois before my parents went and by the time my parents were ready to come up, the roads were closed. Santa Claus wrote us a letter telling us to wait until they got there to open stuff (!!!!!), but Santa’s handwriting looked an awful lot like my grandmother’s very distinctive handwriting. The boy has finally been clued in so no more Santa until the nephew gets older!
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? After my grandmother died and we celebrated Xmas at my parents house (from about 6th grade on), my brother and I decided to open our presents to each other on Xmas eve. I love my baby brother.
10. What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him? The boy didn’t make it here until Xmas day, so we never bothered while he was younger, and I think we just left whatever cookies were around when I was a kid.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it only if it’s enough to keep me home from work.
12. Can you ice skate? No, but that never stopped me. I had a chance to ice skate at Rockefeller Center in NYC when I was in high school, and I declined (WHY???), but I did finally ice skate with Julie and Amanda Spring Break of our junior year, in Texas. Yes, The Lonestar State.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? For years and years my grandpa would give me an office supply catalog and I would pore over it like I do the Nordie’s catalog now.
14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Days off from work. And this year, spending Xmas Eve with my family instead of a “You again?” Xmas with my in-laws.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? See above re: fruit salad. I could totally go for some of that!
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Sorry, the fruit salad still comes to mind. We don’t have many traditions for Xmas.
17. What tops your tree? A giant mauve bow. I was so excited when I bought it, until I realized our ornaments are RED, so the tree clashes. (Hint hint for Xmas -a really awesome big RED bow for my tree, even if I’m not putting it up this year)
18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving? I like getting things, but I like buying, when I have enough time and money to do it properly.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Carol? Traditional: Joy to the World, Alternative: Fairytale of New York by the Pogues w/ the late, great Kirsty MacColl.
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Blech. I haven’t even bothered putting any on my Xmas trees since I’ve lived here in Cheesecake City.