Jenni tagged me for a meme, and for once I am on the ball. Here it is:
1.Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate. I used to like egg nog a lot, but I think too much about what's in it now. And it kind of skeeves me out. Though I will still probably drink a little bit of the store-bought kind if my Dad buys it.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? Definitely wrapped. They were always in different wrapping paper from the others and had different handwriting on the labels. My parents always gave us one gift; Santa brought the rest.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? On the tree, it depends on the ornaments. On a tree I would do for my house, I'd probably put white lights and matching ornaments. Maybe some ribbon. But on my parents' tree at home, it's a free for all. All of the ornaments my siblings and I made as kids and all the ones my Mom made during her super-crafty years are joined by all the other ornaments purchased over the years. I think the lights that end up on the tree are whichever ones my Dad comes across first, either colored or white. In recent years my siblings and I have taken to switching the lights to the different patterns (blinking, etc.) while my Dad's not looking because it makes him a little crazy. He hates it, and it's funny to see him get a bit worked up over the Christmas tree lights. My parents have never put lights on the house, though they recently bought those netted lights that Dad tosses (somewhat willy nilly) over the bushes in the front yard. He also acquired a lighted reindeer that now sits in the front yard slowly turning its head back and forth. I won't comment further on those "decorations".
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No. I don't think I could identify mistletoe, even if it were labeled.
5. When do you put your decorations up? It would never be before Thanksgiving, I know that much. But sadly, I usually don't decorate my own apartment. In years past it's been the case that I was leaving to go home mid-December and it wasn't worth the effort to decorate for only 10 days or something. But even this year, when I'm still not sure when I'm going home yet, I haven't decorated. It just seems a little silly and unnecessary for one person. I did buy a little, real tree one time several years ago, though, and it certainly smelled good. It was very cute in the corner of my apartment.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? There's a casserole that my Grandma made many years ago for Christmas that sounds really gross, but is actually freakishly good. It's pineapple casserole with cheese and breadcrumbs. I have no idea where she got the recipe, but we loved it and my Mom has continued to make it ever since. We're stunned every year that we like it because on paper? Kind of gross.
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: My birthday is 3 days before Christmas. For my 5th birthday party, my Mom hired a guy (turned out to be a college kid, I learned later) to dress up as Santa Claus and come to my party. We were in the middle of the party (eating cake) when the front doorbell rang. I raced to the door, opened it up, and Santa was standing there in all his Santa glory. He had come down from the North Pole just before Christmas for
my birthday party. And he brought little gifts for everyone! I felt like the most special kid in the world. So it's not exactly a Christmas memory, but it's close enough.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? My mom told me! It was in a "you know he's not real, right?" context, but up until that point I was still holding out some hope that it might be true. I guess I was probably 10 or so, so I should have known. (About 10 minutes after the Santa conversation, I also had her confirm explicitly that the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny also fell in the Lies My Parents Told Me category).
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Nope. There is no gift-giving love on Christmas Eve in our house. Most of the presents don't even come out until late Christmas Eve night, even now!
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? If I did my own, it would be very neat and tidy. Very Martha Stewart-ish. Though I love our tree at home, too, because it has literally 30 years of ornaments on it. If I ever have kids, I'll definitely do a tree like that with the same homemade ornaments to bring out year after year.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it. It rarely snowed where I grew up, but it did once on my birthday. I don't remember if it lasted until Christmas, but I do associate Christmas that year with snow so maybe it did.
12. Can you ice skate? Yes. I love it.
13. Favorite Holiday movie: The old school Rudolph. With the animatronic, fuzzy, claymation characters. I love it every year.
14. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? My mom makes tiny pecan pies that I love. I don't really like pecans all that much, but something about the tiny nature of the pie makes it just perfect.
15. What is a favorite holiday tradition? We go to Mass on Christmas Eve. And every year, Mom says that we have to get there 45 minutes early because Church will fill up quickly. And every year, someone in the house is running late. So we inevitably get there only about 20 minutes early and have to look for seats in odd places. Some years we manage to find a pew off on a corner, some years we're on the overflow chairs set up in the back of the Church. A couple of years ago we were even on chairs on the side of the altar, literally in front of everyone. It's always chaos, but it's almost tradition at this point. And it's almost the only time all year that my whole family is together at Mass. Despite any lingering whining about tardiness on the way to Church, I enjoy it. We still go to the same Church my siblings and I grew up in, so there's a sense of familiarity about it that makes me genuinely happy.
16. What tops your tree? My parents used to have a lovely angel that went on the tree for many years. Something happened to the angel a few years ago, though, and now it's a really terribly gold star. It looks very odd. I always think I'm just going to take it off just to put it out of its misery, but I never do.
17. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Giving. Definitely. I get so excited about seeing people open my gifts! (But looking back, I gave my parents some HORRIBLE gifts when I was young!)
18. What is your favorite Christmas Song? The First Noel.
19. Candy Canes? Love 'em. But only the peppermint kind. The fruity ones are a little bit nasty.
So now I have to pass it on. I'll tag
Jackie,
Pigs, and
Eddie. Happy holidays! :)
