Tuesday, December 11, 2007

I'm Memeing Of A White Christmas, Or; Hey, I Stole The Meme, Might As Well Steal The Title, Too

As stolen from Joke.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?

Both, although this year, I'm thinking of giving people those green shopping bags instead of paper gift bags. Whole Foods has nice ones and they're only a dollar a piece. On the down side, they're huge, so the gift shall have to be appropriately large, too.

2. Real tree or artificial?
Fake. I have toddlers. And a cat.

3. When do you put up the tree?
If I had my way, it would go up on the 23rd, but instead, usually around the 15th or so. Comes down after Three Kings Day (Jan. 6th - we're Spanish. Why this is important, I do not know, but it's what my father always said. "It'll come down on Three Kings Day. Because we're Spanish." Ok, dad.)

4. When do you take the tree down?
Whoops. See above.

5. Do you like eggnog?
I always think I like eggnog, but then I have a glass and realize, no, not so much.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
I always got a not-quite-right gift. When I was four, I wanted a Winnie The Pooh bear but got a regular bear whose fur zipped off (I guess for ease of cleaning.) I loved him anyway and called him Winnie, but still. I wanted a powder blue dotted swiss dress that I saw at Jordan Marsh when I was about 8. Oh, how I longed for that dress. It had ruffles and puffy sleeves and a wide, satin sash and a tulle petticoat and it fulfilled all of my Laura Ingalls Wilder/Little Women/Gone With The Wind dreams. Instead, I got material and a pattern that wasn't even close. I can still taste the disappointment over that one. And it's a good thing my mother doesn't know about this blog because I never said anything to her about it.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes. It's Lladro. It hasn't been out since Shriek Sister #1 entered the scene, though.

8. Hardest person to buy for?
Me. For myriad reasons.

9. Easiest person to buy for?
The Shriek Sisters. And my dad and his wife. I get them wine. They get me half a cow.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
The re-gifted dessert plates and the two diet cook books given to me, in the same gift bag, by my crazy-ass stepmonster.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Neither, recently, because I suck.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
It's A Wonderful Life, followed closely by A Christmas Story. Fa-ra-ra-ra-ra ra ra ra ra

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
End of October, early November.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Yep. Mostly Yankee Candles and booze.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Linzer cookies. Brownie Drop cookies. Mexican Wedding Cakes. Trifle

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Clear.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
I Saw Three Ships
A Consort of Choral Christmas Carols - PDQ Bach

18. Travel for Christmas or stay home?
I usually go to my mothers. It's not really traveling, since she's only an hour away. I'd love to just stay home, but all my family is near my mother's, so we go there.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers?
Yes.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
A very sad angel that I've had forever and really should replace.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Christmas morning. It's traditional, dammit.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
The crass commercialism seen in the ads that imply that if you don't buy your wife a diamond or your husband a huge flat-screen tv, you are a failure as a human being.

23. What I love most about Christmas?
The cookies. All of the food, really. Not eating it, so much, although that's nice, too, but the preparation of it.

10 comments:

Fairly Odd Mother said...

Great meme! And, we keep our tree up until the 6th and we're not even Spanish! I think it may be a European costume, or at least that is what my mom has always said.

Whirlwind said...

Great Meme - like FOM said. We keep our tree up to whenever we get around to it - or until the kids annoy the crap out of me by removing the ornaments! Last year we did all paper ornaments so they couldn't get broke. We have a fake tree for the same reason you mentioned!

Joke said...

PDQ Bach. Good stuff.

-J.

Joke said...

P.S. The Jan. 6th thing is because the 6th is Epiphany, and signals the last of the twelve days of Christmas.

-J.

motherbumper said...

Hey - we had to keep the tree up until the 6th because we were Irish.

I'm probably going to steal this meme because I was rattling off answers while reading yours.

Too bad you aren't in the Tdot, we could do a totally cool cookie exchange and have yummy cookies coming out the wazoo.

OhTheJoys said...

Give me ur cookiez!!!!

Life As I Know It said...

Love A Christmas Story. In fact one Christmas we did in fact eat at a chinese restaurant. Long story. Maybe a good blog post...

Anonymous said...

#11. I have one of those too!

And don't tell but the present I give her every year is always regifted to her. I'm not spending my money on her!

Chicky Chicky Baby said...

Ooh, what are brownie drop cookies? They sound yummy.

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