Holiday Meme

Got this great Holiday meme from Stacy at Exceedingly Mundane and thought I'd give it a whirl. By the way, there's lots of great recipes and reading lists at her place - not at all mundane!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Neither. I'll take a skim decaf Peppermint Mocha, half the syrup please!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa doesn't come to our house (no we're not anti-Santa!) - the "Fat Guy" does. The Fat Guy always wraps the presents. And he always sneaks the presents under the tree - never let the other person see you put a gift under the tree!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Colored, I think. Although for a few years I was into the white lights, red bow & popcorn them. But whatever color they are, they absolutely must not twinkle!

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No. And I feel quite good about this, since I recently learned the origins of the misteltoe plant: Origins of its name - The common name of the plant is derived from the ancient belief that mistletoe was propagated from bird droppings. This belief was related to the then-accepted principle that life could spring spontaneously from dung. It was observed in ancient times that mistletoe would often appear on a branch or twig where birds had left droppings. "Mistel" is the Anglo-Saxon word for "dung," and "tan" is the word for "twig". So, mistletoe means "dung-on-a-twig". So hey, if you want to kiss your sweetie under bird dung, be my guest!!!

5. When do you put your decorations up? Whenever I get around to it. It's not a priority. I start with the tablecloth and kitchen stuff the week after Thanksgiving. If I have it all up a week before Christmas, I feel good. (And maybe treat myself to Starbucks!) One year I was still making decorations on Christmas eve! The goal is to get them down as quickly as possible afterwards - ideally by New Year's. One year my sister and I left our tree up until Valentine's Day!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Hmmm. This is hard. My gram used to make lamb at Christmas sometimes, and that's probably my favorite. Nowadays, I prefer Thanksgiving dinner - turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing - to most of what I get at Christmas.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Wellll . . . I was always the investigative type of child. I just had to try and figure things out. My mom never wrapped our presents, instead she'd put them in the livingroom on Christmas eve after my sister and I went to bed. We each had our own beautifully color-coordinated arranged array of presents - matching of course. A doll for each of us. Pajamas. Etc. Once I figured out how they got there, I started getting up early Christmas morning and going out and switching gifts around. I wanted the blonde-haired doll this year. Or that Nancy Drew book. I was very quiet and very good at it because my mom never realized this was going on until I told her about it years later! Poor mom - she was always second-guessing herself on Christmas morning and chalking it up to the late night!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? When I found the boxes from the life-sized dolls in the gameroom one year. Those dolls were a little freaky too - they were about 36" high!

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? My husband and I always do. And we go to my dad's side of the family on Christmas Eve and that always used to involve a gift exchange too.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? The last few years it's been with raffia bows and a wooden bead garland I made myself. But Mike hinted last year that he prefers the shinier stuff - he likes those old-fashioned glass-blown ornaments so I've been collecting them and will try something new this year. I thought about doing two trees - NOT!

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it when I'm inside with nowhere to go and a fire in the woodstove!

12. Can you ice skate? Yes. I have a rather unique style I developed myself. I hang on to the side of the rink and try to avoid falling down (I'm paranoid of falling, for some reason) or getting knocked over by some little three-year old Olympic-champion in the making! (I hate ice skating, really!)

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? When I was a kid, my gram bought my sister and I each a perfume and powder set. Really nice stuff - Elizabeth Arden or something. But the most useful gift has to be the set of good knives my parents got me one year.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Gotta ditto Stacy here: Being with family and remembering the reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Hands down, give me a shortbread cookie or two!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Mike and I give each other a nice card every year. That's the first thing we open on Christmas morning. We always date the back and write a silly note there. I put them away with the Christmas decorations each year and we read through them again the following year as I put up the decorations. Big deal huh?

17. What tops your tree? A little cornhusk angel we bought at a craft fair the week before we got married.

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Giving.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? All time favorite has to be The Carpenter's Christmas Album. But last year I bought myself a new CD and the music really spoke to my heart. I can't wait to start playing it this year.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?? Yuck and Yum. I hate sticky old candy canes that have been hanging on the tree for too many years. I like a candy-cane in my hot chocolate though!

Open tag here: if you want, share on your blog and post a comment here so I can go check out how you celebrate Christmas!