A Christmas Meme
December 19, 2007I snagged this meme from a blog that I was reading – the blog’s author encouraged sharing it. Anyway, it looked like fun, and a good way to jump start a bit of writing, so here it is:
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
2. Real or artificial tree?
3. When do you put up the tree?
4. When do you take the tree down?
5. Do you like eggnog?
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
7. Do you have a nativity scene?
8. Hardest person to buy for?
9. Worst Christmas present ever received?
10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
11. Favorite Christmas movie?
12. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
15. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
16. Favorite Christmas song?
17. Travel or stay home?
18. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
19. Star on the top of the tree?
20. Open presents on Eve or Morning?
21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
22. Best thing about this time of the year?
Respectfully submitted by She Wolf
1. Wrapping paper, mostly. It’s more fun to make it fancy with ribbons and bows. And it’s also harder to peek. Our Lyra is a champion peeker and re-wrapper, the stinker.
2.Artificial, unfortunately. The real deal makes me sneeze. So we have a white tree in the front with red and white decorations, and a green “everything tree” in the family room.
3. I am still putting the trees up. I try for about two weeks before Christmas, but sometimes it takes a little longer for both trees.
4.I don’t take the trees down until the Twelth day of Christmas. That’s why I put them up later.
5.I love eggnog. I don’t need eggnog. I love eggnog.
6.Best gift when I was a kid? That’s a tough one. Probably my bicycle, or maybe the “upgrades” I got for my bike when I was older – high rise spyder handle bars and a cool glitter blue banana seat! Boy am I dating myself! There were some books that I re-read for years, too.
7. We do have a Nativity scene; two them actually. I’m not sure where the good ceramic one is though, and I’m afraid to put up the bigger floor one because of certain canine bulldozers in the house.
8.My husband is the hardest person in the world to buy for, bar none.
9.I don’t think I have a worst Christmas present. They are all given with love and that’s what counts.
10. I mail Christmas cards. I make them, too, most years.
11. I love the Christmas movie A Christmas Story. I can probably recite great chunks of it by heart.
12. I start shopping for Christmas not long after Thanksgiving most years. This year I was a little late and didn’t start until last week. Almost done, though.
13. I don’t think I’ve recycled a Christmas present. That would require being organized and remembering where you put it from one year to the next. Right.
14. I love the sour cream pound cake I make at Christmas. I like it other times, too, but I usually only make it at Christmas. It is way to rich and easy to eat to keep around.
15. I love colored lights. If we still had real trees, I would even go for the larger older lights. They always looked magical to me when I was a child, especially the clear ones. I loved the little metal- paper reflectors on them too. I still have a set….
16. I love all the “moldy oldy” Christmas songs. The First Noel and O Holy Night and Hark the Herald Angels Sing all rank right up there. It’s hard to choose.
17. We usually are home for Christmas itself, although a trip to Denver and Pat’s family usually happens sometime right around Christmas.
18. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen – and Rudolf. The poem The Night Before Christmas is part of my Christmas memories.
19. I have angels on the tops of the trees, but I keep considering a star if I can find one I really like. The angel on the white tree really needst to be replaced as she is a little the worse for wear after 4 kids and a lot of Christmases.
20. We open gifts on Christmas morning. I like to prolong the agony…It can be fun watching them all twitch with anticipation.
21. What really gets me about this time of year is the way the stores start with Christmas stuff right after Halloween. Then, when those of us who do things later decide to get busy, all of the good decorations, etc, are gone. Phooey.
22.The best thing about this time of year is all the family time. I love that. Since my family is mostly grown, I treasure each year that everyone is still home for Christmas.
1. I HATE wrapping gifts so I use bags and decorated boxes whenever I can.
2. I love real trees but am allergic to them like Jane. I never got an artificial tree because I don’t have room to store it. As a child, my mother used to put up a white artificial tree with plain gold balls. Very elegant, actually.
3. As a kid, we’d put the tree up about three week before Christmas. We really had no specific day.
4. My mother insisted that it be left up until January 1 so that the good cheer of the holidays would enter the new year with us.
5. I like eggnog, especially the kind with a little spirit.
I also LOVE fruit cake (but please do NOT feel like you all need to send me yours…)
6. My favorite gift as a child was a microscope. Yes, yes I was a weird kid. Still am.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, but I never got around to putting it up this year. Sigh.
8. Hardest person to buy for? Aging parents.
9. Worst Christmas present ever received? Socks and underwear. Zzzzzzzzzzzz………………….
10. I mail my cards. And like Jane, I will occasionally make them.
11. Favorite Christmas movie? I can’t think of any. Usually I am put off by the sentimentality.
12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? The SATURDAY after Thanksgiving. I refuse to face the Black Friday mob.
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No, I’ve never recycled a gift someone gave to me; however, I am, this year, giving my collection of used rubber stamps to my sister.
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Tamals.
15. I like tiny white lights and those deep blue, almost indigo, ones too.
16. Favorite Christmas song? The Carol of the Bells and Angels We Have Heard On High
17. I travel about 7 miles.
18. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Almost. I forgot Vixen and I was not sure about Cupid because it occurred to me that Cupid is a weird name for a reindeer.
19. Star on the top of the tree? No, an angel.
20. As a child we opened our big gifts on the Eve and the little stocking stuffers in the morning. Then when I was about 10 or so, we switched to opening everything in the morning. Now, we open gifts at noon when everyone gets to my dad’s house.
21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? TRAFFIC!
22. Best thing about this time of the year? I’m usually on vacation from work.
Okay, here we go:
1. I wrap gifts. First, I spend a lot of time buying the right paper–usually a color theme I’ll do for that year. I make beautiful bows, meticulously wrap (worked in a gift shop once and was forced to learn), add fun things on top of the packages and use 3D name tags.
2. Up to now it’s always been real. However, if you read my Christmas Tree drama story recently–well, I might just start a new tradition of an artificial tree!
3. The tree usually goes up within one week of Thanksgiving — no later than Dec. 1.
4. The tree comes down on Jan. 2 if I can keep it alive enough by then. I spray the tree everyday and make sure it has fresh water.
5. I like eggnog but I don’t think it likes me. I’m sensitive to lactaid. When I do have it, I really like it with a little bourbon in it and nutmeg on top.
6. Best gift as a child? I’d have to say an Etch-a-Sketch (I think it’s why I’m a digital painter–i got good at that toy) and a Chatty Cathy (perhaps I was too influenced by this doll since it might explain why sometimes friends call me Chatty Cathy).
7. No nativity scene. However, my sister makes up for it since she has at least six displayed.
8. My father — he’s not a man who likes “things” and at 82 and on a breathing machine, there are only so many ‘golfer’ gifts he can have in the house.
9. Worst Christmas present I ever received were the years I didn’t get one because I lived away and money was tight for family.
10. I mail Christmas cards. I usually have them printed with my own artwork design and a poem or message inside I wrote.
11. I’m a sucker for all the Christmas movies and have about 50 DVDs. Though, White Christmas, A Christmas Carol and Miracle on 34th are longtime favs.
12. I shop throughout the year. Then, the real shopping begins the day after Thanksgiving. I buy about 1/2 of the gifts online and about 1/2 from stores.
13. Yes, I have recycled a Christmas gift. Well, sort of. A friend came by on Christmas morning and told me she didn’t receive anything for Christmas. When she went to the bathroom, I grabbed a present from my sister, pulled the name tag off and got a pen and wrote her name on the present from Santa. She was so appreciative and touched.
14. I love to eat exotic food — if I can’t have gourmet, then I love cheeses and crackers. More important is the wine! I love buying a really good bottle of wine and savor it.
15. Clear lights on the tree. Outside, I like deep indigo and clear.
16. O Holy Night is my favorite sone though I love all the classics.
17. Since I’ve moved alot, it’s always depended upon where I was, my finances — alot of Christmases have been spent at my sister’s house in Las Vegas. Last year, my mother (I was caring for her then) and I spent four months at my sister’s. Then, my brother and his wife came in the middle of December and stayed until the first week of January. Good thing my sister and her husband have a really, really big house. It was so much fun for all of us!
18. Yes! I recite them throughout the holiday season. There’s Rudolph with his nose so bright — come Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and Vixen. On Donner, Blitzen, Cupid and Comet!
19. No star! An old fashioned Santa in deep red velvet holding a bag of toys.
20. Some years (depending upon where i am), presents are opened on Christmas Eve. Some years on Christmas morning. And, some years like this year — there will be presents opened on both!
21. Lori, you nailed it! TRAFFIC! It’s why I do 1/2 of shopping online.
22. Best thing about this time? Many things — the end of the year so time to reflect, time with family and friends at special gatherings, dressing up in holiday clothes, food everywhere you go, buying something for someone they wouldn’t get for themselves, the music and movies of goodwill and cheer.
1) Both, ot depends on the gift and the person that is getting it.
My Mum, if she wasnts something she goes out and buys it.
2) Artificial, the desert is too dry for a real one!!
3) When we get around to it.
4) When we get around to it.
5) Oh yeah!!! With or without spiking.
6) My Jane West Doll, and my Junior Scieintist Kit, replete with a microscope!!
7) No Nativity here.
9) No worst gift, every gift was precious, even something as prosaic as a scarf and matching hat. They were special because my Grandma DeShaw knitted them for me especially.
10) Mostly E-mail, That way I know I can afford the postage!! LOL
11) No doubt… “Mixed Nuts”, I love Madeline Kahn in this. One of her lines has become a catch phrase for my family.
12) The first time I/We find somethihng that would be perfect for ______.
13) Nope.
14) My grandma DeShaw’s French Meat Pie hot, with Giblet Gravy… It’s no wonder I am a 3X gal!!!
15) Both, the mixture of them makes it look more like a starfield.
16) This year it is ‘Rudy the Skid Row Reindeer” see htttp://magicway.wordpress.com/
17) Travel a tiny bit, drive to the next town to celebrate with family.
18) I sure can!! Dansher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen, and Rudolph, and now Rudy. LOL
19) Sometimes an Angel and sometimes a star, dependiong on our mood.
20) We spread it out over three or four days, there are gifts to one another, the rest of the fammily, and then family by choice.
21) All of the rude, grumpy people. We know there will be crowds and lines, so why not make it more pleasant by sharing a smile and a cheery word?
22) The people who remember what the season is all about. Love, hope and a renewal of faith; not what you’re getting or giving.
Bless all of you for Christmas, Hannukah, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa, and all other holidays this time of year.
1. Both, though I hate wrapping paper and have no patience for making it look pretty.
2. Real tree, but I’ve been debating getting a fake one to save a few trees.
3. It’s not up yet: hopefully over the weekend! We always wait ’til last minute.
4. After New Year’s.
5. Yes to eggnog!
6. A guitar.
7. No nativity scene.
8. My boyfriend’s stepfather: he’s a tough one to figure out.
9. Pez.
10. I mail Christmas cards, though some years I slack off.
11. A Christmas Story (Naddafingha!).
12. Rarely but sometimes during the year if something jumps out at me; mostly shortly after Thanksgiving.
13. I can’t recall recycling a Christmas present. Really!
14. My mom’s cookies.
15. Clear lights on the tree, but I’m getting bored with them.
16. “Someday at Christmas” by Stevie Wonder.
17. It varies from year to year if I travel or stay home. This year, I’m home and my parents are coming for dinner.
18. But of course! However,at this point it’d just look like I was copying…;)
19.There’s an angel on the top of our tree.
20. We open presents on Christmas morning, generally. Growing up, we’d get one present to open the night before, which was usually a new pair of pajamas.
21. Traffic and overspending.
22. When people really get the point behind it all, which to me transcends whatever you happen to be or celebrate. Peace!
1. wrapping paper, usually
just a precaution)
–my only rule is it has to be DECEMBER before we put the tree up–and that midnight on Dec 1 Eve does not count as December
2. both, lol–we have our little baby live tree in a pot, which we plan to plant once we own our own home–and we have several small trees (less than 1 ft tall) here and there–we have a ‘main’ tree, which is in the living room (small this year, 3 ft due to being in an apt and having 2 kittens
3. we put up the tree the first week of December–because I won’t let my kids do it on Thanksgiving–or Summer Solstice either–they’d have it up all year if they could
4. before Jan 1-to start the New Year without last years ’stuff’
5 .no, thank you, not now, not ever
6. a bunch of doll clothes my mom had hand-made for a doll she got me at the same time
7. yes, the kids really like all the animals, so we have a small one-although my 6y keeps telling me when we own our own house we will have a big one, with lots of animals and ‘guys holding staffs’
8. me, hands down
9. a rutabaga — I told you I was hard to buy for and my dad got fed up one year when I was a teen-ager and that is literally what (and all) he got me
10. both–not everyone we know/are related to has internet
11. The live action Grinch Who Stole Christmas–followed closely by the Nightmare Before Christmas
12. depends on when I think about it and what I am doing–I usually like to have as much done before Thanksgiving as possible as I prefer to avoid all but the grocery store til it’s as close to February as possible
13. yes, but I do it very carefully-although I did once give my former mil something back that she gave me–she’d forgotten it but I hadn’t-and she just loved it
14. I actually don’t eat any differently at the holidays than I do any other time
although I do miss my grandmother’s pizzelles
15. coloured lights-whether I like it or not
16. Frosty The Snowman — makes my 4y ds giggle madly
17. prefer to stay home
18. yes–but to steal an answer I’d be copying at this point to repeat them all
19. depends on dd’s mood when we put up the tree-this year I won and we have a star–last year we had a faery (think barbie-like)–the year before Darth Vadar (stop laughing! come on! I have small children!)
20. both-usually we open presents from relatives christmas eve, and presents from Santa on christmas day
21. the nasty attitudes of so many people as they fight traffic and overspending and family visits and everything else-it’s so scary some days
22. it only comes once a year and it’s gone before you know it
oh, all right–driving around looking at christmas lights
I like the idea of Darth Vader on top of the tree!
Or maybe even Yoda. A talking one!
“Water this tree needs.”
“Presents you seek.”
“Eating tinsel the cat/dog does.”
no-Yoda we had under the tree-standing guard so to speak–Vadar talked