Thursday, December 4, 2008

A Holiday Meme

Most memes are kind of annoying, but I found this one on one of the knitting blogs I read, and I thought it was kind of neat, so I thought I'd do it. Anyone else who wants to can consider themselves tagged. Go for it, dudes!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial. And way too big. But we're not going to go there.

3. When do you put up the tree? Soon...probably this weekend.

4. When do you take the tree down? As soon as I can without my kids calling me "Scrooge" and "horrible mother"...which generally means once they have gone back to school.

5. Do you like eggnog? *gag* Bailey's Irish Cream is my alcoholic beverage of choice. That or a nice, cold Guiness.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Mastermind (the game...when it first came out it was only available in England, and one of my English friends had gotten it from his Nana for his birthday, and I wanted one desperately, and my Nana sent me one for xmas that year.)

7. Hardest person to buy for? My dad.

8. Easiest person to buy for? My mum.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? No--we're not religious.
(ETA--although after RamblingMad's comment about having a Lego Star Wars Stormtrooper in the manger, I may have to rethink that one...)

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Neither.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? The Dreaded Clown Cookie Jar that my sister-in-law gave us the first year we were married...even if clowns never ever gave you nightmares before, this thing would have!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Hogfather...and we also have a fairly new tradition of trying to watch the entire Lord of the Rings extended cut over the xmas holiday.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Summer...I give a lot of homemade gifts like wall quilts, beaded ornaments, and now, knitting, so I generally have to start pretty early if I'm going to meet my own expectations.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No. (Given the number of friends and relatives who read this blog, I dare not say otherwise, do I?)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Wine gums (English candy, which I've just started finding in the international foods sections of some of the grocery stores over here) and anything drenched in chocolate...decent chocolate, I mean...

16. Lights on the tree? As many tiny fairy lights as we can get on the thing...
(ETA: 1050 lights this year...the most ever...the kids were ecstatic!)

17. Favorite Christmas song? Anything on any of the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas albums...and I also like George Winston's December CD.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes, and I even know about Rudolph and Olive...

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? A teddy bear, actually...

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Rampant consumerism and loud xmas music in the stores.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Homemade beaded ornaments (made with all those sparkly little glass seed beads...I haven't done any yet this year, I've been too busy with the knitting...)

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Lasagne (The Chief is Italian, so there's not a whole lot of room for negotiation on this one, and since I am a vegetarian, I have to make two trays--one meat, one veg).

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Yarn. Although I've been thinking it might be interesting to learn how to spin, so maybe I should just ask for a sheep?

26. Will you bake any cookies? Oh, yes...Death by Chocolate Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies, which are used for the crust for my white chocolate cheesecake, gingerbread men (and women)(which are so yummy they are death to any diet plans I may have), chocolate covered digestive biscuits (an English thing), cranberry-white-chocolate chip cookies, and crunchy bar...which is more candy than cookie, but since it is made in a 9x13 pan, I consider it baking anyway...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial. Three of them.

3. When do you put up the tree? The Friday after Thanksgiving while all the other saps are struggling through the stores.

4. When do you take the tree down? The 6th of January, or the weekend following it, whichever comes later.

5. Do you like eggnog?
Oh, HELL to the NO.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Probably my Chrissy doll. The doll whose hair would "grow" by pulling it out of the top of her head, then you could turn a crank on her back to shorten it.

7. Hardest person to buy for?
Darling Daughter. She hates everything.

8. Easiest person to buy for?
Darling Sister. She needs everything as she's very hard on things.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, and usually the manger is occupied by a Lego Star Wars Storm Trooper.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, although soon there will be none. If I don't get 'em in return, I don't care who you are, you're off da list!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
A waste basket and bag of trash bags for it.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
"A Christmas Carol" starring George C. Scot as Scrooge.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Whenever I see something that might be cool to buy.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Possibly, but if I did I can't remember it.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Swedish. Swedish potato sausage, potatoes, rice pudding, lingonberries, julekage...My paternal grandmother was Swedish, and we always celebrated Christmas with my dad's side of the family, ergo it was always Swedish Christmas. Gives me warm fuzzies.

16. Lights on the tree?
As many as we can safely put on. Two trees are in steady clear, and the main tree is in color with a hint of twinkle.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Anything on any of the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas albums.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Home. Well, travel to the outlaws' on the other side of town, but that's still home, right?

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Yes, and I will include Rudolph, although he's not an "official" reindeer.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
One star, one lighted snowflake, one red velvet bow.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Christmas Eve with my sister's family, Christmas morning with Darling Husband/Son/Daughter, Christmas evening with the outlaws.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Ridiculous consumerism that our entire economy DEPENDS on. How ridiculous is that?

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
I would love teal and purple, but my trees match my decor (mostly). Burgundy and navy downstairs, light blue and silver in the living room, red and green (in lieu of beige) in the family room.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? See #15 above.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
Mostly Rosemaling supplies.

26. Will you bake any cookies?
I never do because nobody eats them and I end up throwing them away.

Jazz said...

I love the idea of the Lego Stormtrooper in the manger! I might have to acquire a nativity scene just so I can do that!

soulful sepulcher said...

love George Winston! and Mannheim steamroller, i just posted one of their you tubes this weekend.

last year i wrapped all packages with brown paper and string, and maps. looked cool and was diversion from my life!

i used to love getting a new doll when i was a kid, and a new nightgown.

i love eggnog, spiked or not.

i haven't had a 'normal' christmas in 4 years due to being at psych wards w my daughter, and last year was still in that zone, i cried at a christmas tree lot and the man who owned the lot tied a tree to the roof of my car....and asked for no money.

i cried all the way home with that tree on my car, i guess that could be one of the best gifts received, a random act of kindness.

happy holidays!!!!

Jazz said...

Stephany,

Random acts of kindness are the things that stick out most in my mind.

I hope this is a better holiday season for you, Stepany, and that you can start making good memories again!

Give that lovely dog of yours a nice scratch behind the ears for me.