
I've been wanting to find a Christmas themed meme and
cmk had this on her blog so I'm going to do it too.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
For the most part I wrap my Christmas gifts but I do the gift bags on a few things. (Whenever I give someone a birthday gift I always put them in gift bags with colored tissue) I used to go all out and put beautiful ribbons and bows on my gifts but as I have gotten older and apparently lazier I just slap one of those sticky-backed to/from labels on them and leave it at that.
2. Real or Artificial tree?
The last real Christmas tree I had was the Christmas of 1981. After that we bought a huge artificial tree which didn't look artificial at all. After my divorce I sold it because it was just too big for where we were living. Then we had a medium sized one and now I have a very small pre-lit tree that my mother gave me last year. It is really cute and I decorate it with about fifteen counted cross-stitch ornaments my aunt has made and given me over the years.
3. When do you put up the tree?
It varies. I never get it up real early. I think the Christmas of '02 I didn't even put up a tree except for a small ceramic one I have. That was the year that I had been so sick.
4. When do you take the tree down?
I am always very late in getting it down. I'm too embarrassed to tell you the longest I have ever had my tree up.
5. Do you like Eggnog?
Bleah. I might try a little sip but I can do without it.
6. Favorite Gift you received as a child?
Wow there were so many. I loved my Chatty Baby doll that I got when I was about five...I remember my cousin got the Chatty Cathy that year too. Some other favorite dolls I got for Christmas were Thumbelina and one called Teary Deary and of course my Barbie dolls with Mom's beautifully handmade clothes. Another year my mother had hosted a toy party a few months before Christmas and there was a doll on a stand (it was only to look at and not really to play with) that I wanted so badly. We have pictures of me opening it up on Christmas morning and by my open-mouthed look of shocked surprise on my face you would think I was going to cry.
Another favorite toy was something called a Doodle Bug? It was a battery operated writing pen shaped kind of like a gun but it was a bug with plastic wings on it. I got it in the early 60's and the pen would spiral around in circles as I drew pictures with it. I remember chipping a small part of my tooth on it while trying to open up the battery compartment. Some other early childhood favorites were Colorforms and my Slinky. I loved the Dip It Flower kit I got when I was about 12.
When I was a teenager my favorite gift was Peter Frampton Comes Alive album. Okay...I think that is enough of my favorites.
7. Do you have a nativity scene?
I have one from Home Interiors that my parents gave me for Christmas several years ago. Dad made me a rustic wooden manger with a roof and I lay straw in there and place the pieces in it.
8. Hardest person to buy for?
My father and my daughter. Dad has everything he needs or he just buys what he wants. I have run out of ideas with him. A few years ago he was reminiscing in great detail about a couple of his favorite childhood books and I found them on a rare book website and gave them to him for Christmas. This year I am giving him some comfy fleece sweat pants, a book called
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid and a golf related dvd movie called
The Greatest Game Ever Played.
My daughter was easy to buy for when she still lived at home. Now that she is on her own with her own home she is much harder to buy for. She has very eclectic taste and her home is very modern in style. She doesn't like clutter. Her music style is completely different than when she was younger and I have never even heard of any of the artists she listens to. She rarely will tell me what she would like for Christmas but a few weeks ago she slipped and told me she would like a shower cd/mp3 player so she is getting one from Santa. I'm giving her an Egyptian cartouche pendant that says "I Love You" on it and I hope she will like that.
9. Easiest person to buy for?
My sister and my mother. We all like the same kind of things.
10. Worst Christmas gift ever received?
Probably the glass four-bottle set of bubble bath (I only take showers) that didn't smell very good or the used wallet that had crumbs in the creases, would not close properly and had a forgotten piece of gum wrapper in one of the compartments. Both were from my sister-in-law and I am embarrassed to even count them as worst gifts received because I think times were rough. It just made me want to hug her.
11. Christmas Cards...Snail mail or E-mail?
I used to send out Christmas cards every year but now I hit and miss with that. Last year I sent out several hand made cards that I bought off a nurse at work who is into the whole scrapbooking/card making craze. This year I will send out a few cards probably.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
A Christmas Story. I also just bought a dvd of one I loved when I was a kid and I look forward to watching it again and finding out if I still enjoy it. It is called
The House Without a Christmas Tree.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
This year I started shopping in October and picked up a few things even in the summer but usually I am right down to the wire in getting things bought and wrapped!
14. Have you ever 'recycled' a Christmas present?
One year I got some Christmas tea towels from a co-worker and I ended up putting them in my Mom's Christmas stocking! So yes, I have re-gifted.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
I like my Mom's date nut bread, her turkey and noodles and her cheesecake. I like my sister-in-law's sugar cookies too.
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Colored.
17. Favorite Christmas Song?
Little Drummer Boy, Silent Night, Oh Holy Night and The Chipmunk Song Christmas Don't Be Late.
18. Travel at Christmas or Stay Home?
Stay home! I certainly do not want to be at work on Christmas but looks like I will be this year.
19. Can you name Santa's Reindeer?
Okay, I am not going to cheat and look it up. I can think of Dancer, Prancer, Comet and Cupid, Donner and Blitzen and Rudolph...oh my I guess I can't remember them all! It reminds me of trying to remember all of Snow White's dwarves.
20. Do you have an Angel or a Star on top of your tree?
A star. I have had an angel before but usually I have a star.
21. Open the Presents Christmas Eve or Morning?
My family always gets together on Christmas Eve and opens gifts and then my daughter would open more on Christmas morning. Nowadays our family gets together on the day that I am off work. Last year was the first Christmas morning that my daughter didn't open up anything from "Santa"...I had her open them up Christmas Eve before we went to my parents' house.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Pressures I put on myself and not seeming to have enough time to do what I want to prepare. I started my shopping early this year so I am not feeling too much pressure this year in regards to Christmas.
23. Shopping ... Mall or online?
I've done almost all of my shopping online this year.
24. Do you decorate outside for Christmas or just inside (or at all?)
I never decorate outside. Just inside.
25. Favorite Christmas cookie?
This is my favorite chewy
chocolate chip cookie recipe. I also like my sister-in-law's decorated sugar cookies.
26. Do you own Christmassy clothing or jewelry?
I have a pair of Christmas earrings and a snowflake pin.
27. Do you believe in Santa?
I wish Santa existed. It would be easier on my pocketbook.