Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

Christmas meme

I found this over at Ted's, and a bunch of other Munuvians have done it as well. I actually copied the questions and answered before I really read them, so I wouldn't be influenced. I'll go read the others now.

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
Y'know, I have never understood the appeal of egg nog. It's like drinking raw scrambled egg. I'm not a particular fan of hot chocolate either, but I'd take it over egg nog in a heartbeat.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Wrapped. I'm really not good at wrapping, though, so now it's usually gift bags. If I can find bags that become part of the present (like some colorful knapsacks I found for my niece and nephews this year), so much the better.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Mine are all colors. The white looks classy, though.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No. With my luck, the nitwit dog would find a way to eat it and I'd spend Christmas running up a giant bill at the emergency vet.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Early December-ish. It's usually a progressive project.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
If I eat beigli for breakfast instead of dessert, does that count? Oh, and Victor's dad's tamales, which I have been known to eat thirds of instead of dessert. Oh, and kielbasa.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child:
I can't think of a favorite...all the holiday memories start running togther, and they're all pretty good.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I never did believe in Santa. I've asked my parents if they specifically set out to teach us that there wasn't a Santa and they said no. Apparently we just took for granted that Santa was a character like the Pink Panther or Snoopy, not a person.
(One of my theories is that even as a young kid, I saw that the various Rankin-Bass Santa stories didn't add up, so obviously they were all fiction.)
I do remember this: I couldn't figure out why the other kids in the neighborhood did believe in Santa Claus, and my parents made me promise not to tell them the truth. That's when I got the "Santa is a wonderful symbol" lecture.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
When I was a kid, we opened presents with my grandparents on Christmas Eve, along with my grandfather's birthday party. After that it varied. Now, we open gifts all month, it seems.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Colored lights. All my childhood ornaments (the ones I made, the ones people gave me), Victor's ornaments, and the ones I've had made recently with pictures of the pets. I sometimes use the mylar strands of tinsel, but it just doesn't drape the way the old lead stuff used to. This year, we gave it up.
Overall, my tree is much more whimsical that traditional.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
It looks nice, I guess, but I don't like it on Christmas Eve/Christmas, because it makes travel dangerous, and I feel bad for the plow drivers who don't get to be home with their kids.
I guess the perfect scenario is snow on Dec. 21, with cold enough weather that it stays pretty on the grass until Christmas.

12. Can you ice skate?
Not very well. I did get my first pair of skates as a Christmas present, though, now that you mention it.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
I wish I could find the picture...when I was about seven or eight, I got a Bobby Clarke street hockey set. There's a picture of me in my Christmas dress, wearing my new Capitals stocking cap, holding the stick, and grinning a big gap-tooth grin.
This might surprise some people, since it is contrary to my tomboyish persona, but I also got a Baby Brother Tenderlove doll the year my brother was born. I was really into that doll.

14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Family.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Beigli and chrusciki, of course. And tamales.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Ultimately, being with my family. The specifics of the traditions have had to change over the years, but I can roll with that.

17. What tops your tree?
Usually a Tasmanian Devil with angel wings and a halo, but he didn't want to sit up straight on this year's tree. (You can see it in this picture.)

18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving?
I love it when I can surprise someone with a really good but unexpected gift. By the same token, when somebody finds something for me that I didn't request...that I didn't even know existed...but it is perfect, I am beyond touched and thrilled and delighted.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
Just today I was thinking about my grandfather teaching me Deck Us All With Boston Charlie.
Seriously: Angels We Have Heard on High for the religious songs, Silver Bells for the secular.

20. Candy canes:
I'm not excited about peppermint, but one year I found some that were root beer!

21. Favorite Christmas movie?
It's A Wonderful Life. And it's not a movie, but I love the Rankin-Bass Year Without a Santa Claus, because of the Heat Miser and Snow Miser.

22. What do you leave for Santa?
Interestingly, since we never believed in Santa, we still had the tradition of leaving a plate of cookies out for my father Christmas Eve. We knew that Dad would eat them, and we left a note reminding him that his choice of milk or beer would be in the fridge. We did this until I was nearly an adult. I can remember being in the kitchen and calling to him in another room of the house: "Hey, Dad! Do you want just the chocolate chips, or should we put out some of the sugar cookies too?"

Posted by Nic at December 16, 2006 06:33 PM | TrackBack