It's All About Meme!!!

Thanks to Morning Glory for this fun Memes! I’ve been Meme-free for several weeks and figured it was a perfect transition back into the ‘deep thoughts’ that are a bit lacking following a weekend of food, family and of course mega-shopping and Christmas explosion!

So without further adieu:

Holiday Time Meme

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate of course!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
He wraps them though sometimes he also hides them and forgets where he hid them until later in the year.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Colored lights on the house, white on the tree (pre-lit to prevent frustration).

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No, it’s never been a part of my Christmas. I’m not opposed to kisses, just don’t need prompting to get them from the person I want them from!

5. When do you put up your decorations?
I put them up the weekend after Thanksgiving. I prefer to put them up on Thanksgiving evening/night, but this year they went up on Saturday as my husband was unavailable to do the ‘attic hunt’ until then. I have attic-phobia.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Probably broccoli casserole or ham. Because we have a large, traditional Thanksgiving dinner, several years ago we started a Christmas tradition of having ‘our favorites’. Everyone submits a favorite snack or food item to mom and either brings it to the Christmas gathering or she prepares it. We have sort of an Hors D’oeuvre meal that we snack on all day. We have ham roll-ups, meatballs, scalloped potatoes, chipped beef dip in hollowed out bread of choice… I much prefer this to a formal dinner. I would prefer to go out to dinner than see anyone stress over prep and clean up and that will be my own tradition one day.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?
I think mine would be my brother and sister and I figuring out new and less conspicuous ways to ‘unwrap’ gifts and also trying to keep from ‘spilling’ about our crime until well after Christmas.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
Santa has, and always will be a huge part of Christmas. The truth I learned is that even when the gift from Santa is missing, the spirit is present. Jesus is the reason for Christmas…Santa is the spirit of Christmas giving.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
We used to open one gift (parental choice) on Christmas Eve. Invariably it was pajamas…which as a child were a bit disappointing…but as an adult we have opened all gifts on Christmas morning…early!

10. What kind of decorations are on your Christmas Tree?
I have a collection of annual ornaments my mother has given each of us since we were children. I also have sparkly, bright words and some randomly collected ornaments from travels. I typically buy an ornament on a trip as well as each place we have lived. We have a mix of many different types of ornaments. Perhaps I’ll post a Christmas tree picture when the tree is lit up at night.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Dread it with all my heart. The only redeeming thing about winter for me is Christmas. I am a SUMMER girl. I wouldn’t mind snow if it came just at Christmas and then left by the time I had to get back on the roads…or if I were retired and didn’t have to go anywhere on ice or snow-packed roads. As we all shout: “It’s not ME I’m worried about…it’s all those other drivers!”

12. Can you ice skate?
Spending a few years of my early childhood (ages 5,6,7) in Alaska EVERYONE learned to ice skate. Our backyard was a skating rink throughout the winter. Our playground at school was an ice rink throughout most of the year and everyone took their skates to school daily. Yes, I can ice skate. I haven’t been in several years, but after a few times around the rink, it all starts to come back to me.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
I think my favorite gift memory is probably the year I got my bright yellow bike with the yellow banana seat and handles with the fringe on them. I loved that bike! And it was SUCH a huge surprise.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Being with family and the incredible joy I find in my search for the perfect gift for loved ones. I also love ‘creating’ things with my hands and gifts that are created by others.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Layer Dessert; the crust, cream cheese, chocolate, whipped cream…and 2-3(?) other layers of delicious-ness.

16 What is your favorite holiday tradition?
My favorite recent tradition (for the past 4 years) is “Cookie Saturday” where my husband and I go out to a small town just north of here and make cookies with two of our dearest friends. We spend the day baking, frosting photographing, and tasting our creations. Each year we each bring a new cookie cutter…or more...(My friend bought 10 new ones this year...EGAD!) and deciding which cookies are worthy of ‘gifting’.

The first year the guys only got to frost the broken ones…but we’ve eased up a bit since then. Last year we did Eiffel towers, Fleur de lis, snowpeople, little people, snowflakes, little dresses and miscellaneous other cookies and…well here is a picture of some of them.

17. What tops your tree?
I actually bought a new tree topper this year. We used to have a white tree (does anyone remember the real ‘flocked’ trees), it had a fiber optic Santa atop (not so much my style) the whole tree began to yellow so last year my husband bought a new green tree and it needed a new topper. Now we have a simple, gold (albeit sparkly) star.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
Giving…love, love, love giving! My favorite thing is to search and find the perfect gift for each person!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
I think probably either “All I want for Christmas is you” (Vince Vance and the Valiants… or Mariah Carey), and “Santa Baby” (Eartha Kitt), and “I’ll be home for Christmas” (Bing of course)…and many, many others.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yummy?
Yucky…unless used to flavor coffee, or in chocolate bark.