This is something she put on her blog, and I couldn't resist! Copy and answer these 25 questions about Christmas.
1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? This is a toss up for me. Egg nog brings back memories of childhood. I like hot chocolate too-although I don't have either of them very often. Honestly my splurge drink of choice is Chai Tea. The first time I tasted it I called it "Christmas in my mouth". That should count, eh Misty?
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? When I was growing up, Santa wrapped EVERYTHING. I don't know how/where my parents managed everything! Since having my own kids-I followed my friend Heather's tradition. The item that the kids want most is from Santa and it is unwrapped and un-packaged. The rest of the presents are from us. This way I don't have to be too sneaky AND that Santa doesn't get the credit that Matt and I so righteously deserve. Kind of a funny story...I was so traumatized when I found out about Santa that I always swore I would never feed that line to my kids. When I shared this with Matt he looked at me like I had just slapped his momma. He told me that it was such a great thing as a kid to be all excited over Santa-we could never take that away from our kids. I have to admit-it is a blast and I love to see the excitement in my kids faces. Plus-the whole "Santa is watching" blackmail/bribe thing TOTALLY works wonders.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Either! I love the elegance of white lights, and we had them on our tree for our first eleven Christmases. This year we invested in blue and white LED lights and I LOVE them!
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Never have.
5. When do you put your decorations up? I like to put mine up right before Thanksgiving...since my birthday is around that time...I like to have my Christmas decorations up when my family comes over for my birthday party. This way my family can see my tree.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without ham. My mom always makes a great Christmas meal...it is sort of like a Thanksgiving Part 2. I better learn some of her dishes SOON so that one day I can be a wonderful cook like her.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? A favorite? Gee-they are all SOO good. My mom had hand painted all of our wooden ornaments that we had on our tree. I thought they were the neatest thing ever. I always loved decorating the tree. We had a big picture window in our second story front room and I loved how the tree would shine down onto the street.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I told you that I was traumatized. My best friend growing up, Heather and her brother, who lived across the street FOUND their stash of presents. The secret was out. I was devastated. I can't remember how old I was...I just remember being hurt that everyone was "lying" to me. Hopefully it won't be as hard for my kids. There has to be a cool way to break it to them, right? Hopefully I have a few years to figure it out.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Never have.
5. When do you put your decorations up? I like to put mine up right before Thanksgiving...since my birthday is around that time...I like to have my Christmas decorations up when my family comes over for my birthday party. This way my family can see my tree.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without ham. My mom always makes a great Christmas meal...it is sort of like a Thanksgiving Part 2. I better learn some of her dishes SOON so that one day I can be a wonderful cook like her.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? A favorite? Gee-they are all SOO good. My mom had hand painted all of our wooden ornaments that we had on our tree. I thought they were the neatest thing ever. I always loved decorating the tree. We had a big picture window in our second story front room and I loved how the tree would shine down onto the street.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I told you that I was traumatized. My best friend growing up, Heather and her brother, who lived across the street FOUND their stash of presents. The secret was out. I was devastated. I can't remember how old I was...I just remember being hurt that everyone was "lying" to me. Hopefully it won't be as hard for my kids. There has to be a cool way to break it to them, right? Hopefully I have a few years to figure it out.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? OH yes. So..my Louisiana family-my HUGE family makes a big deal about Christmas. EVERYONE gives presents to EVERYONE. THAT is a LOT of presents! As a kid and as the packages came in throughout December we would drool over the mounds of presents. Every Christmas Eve as a kid, we would go to church, get Little Caesars Pizza and wait to open presents. Every year my dad would do the little song and dance and tease us by letting us open one present. Then every year we would beg and beg him to let us open them all. I think he enjoyed the torture! It was so much fun! We still do the same routine, well almost every year. Last year we didn't go over to my moms and tonight Matt remembered that and said "That sucked, we can't miss that this year", I love that he loves my family and spending time with them as much as I do.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Matt does the lights...he is a bit anal at it. This year we bought new decorations, more sophisticated ones. It also has all the ornaments we have collected over the years. He gave me the first "couples" and "dated" ornament in 1995. I gave him one in 1996...and ever since then-we go back and forth...he has the odd years and I have the evens. We now have a HUGE collection-it is awesome. I wonder what Matt will come up with this year.....or if this might be the first year without one as he does not want to go shopping at all.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Love it if I can stay inside and just look at it. Dread it if I have to DRIVE in it.
12. Can you ice skate? No, not at all.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? There are way too many. I really have been spoiled over the years. As a kid there was the Cabbage Patch doll that I got when I was in probably second grade. I was so happy! I still have ALL of them in my basement!
14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Spending time with family, and being reminded of all the people that love and care about us. It is a time to reflect about the birth of Christ and how "giving" gifts is a reminder of all that He gave to us.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Frosted sugar cookies. Matt's mom's recipe. Matt's sister Kristen promised she would bring some to me tomorrow...I can't wait! It is the one thing I can NEVER resist.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? There are SOO many. One I couldn't live without is driving down "Christmas Street". Matt grew up on this street that has signs in their yards telling the entire "Night Before Christmas" story....the yards are decked out. It NEVER gets old. We go there at least a dozen times every year!
17. What tops your tree? A star. This year a color changing LED one. I love it!
18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? UM, BOTH! I feel like I put a lot of thought into my gifts so I love to see people's reactions. It is sooo hard for me to wait to give the gifts-I want to see their reaction NOW!
19. Candy canes: LOVE them! BUT they MUST be peppermint. They also can't be the cheap kind with rough edges. It has to be smooth. I never get sick of them! I think, as a kid, I ate them ALL myself.
20. Favorite Christmas show? Another hard one!!! I love ELF-we watch it over and over again. I also love The Muppet's Christmas Carol. Scrooged is another one I can't get enough of. We also watch Christmas Vacation at least a dozen times. Matt always loved A Christmas Story..but I think his favorite is Reindeer Games. My kids also love Home Alone. I think I may love Christmas movies MORE than I love Christmas music (don't hate me Misty).
21. Saddest Christmas song? I'll Be Home For Christmas. I think my biggest nightmare would be NOT spending time with my family for Christmas. I grew up having lots of family far away and now that I have my hubby, kids, parents, and most of my siblings close by-I realize how much I was missing as a kid. I never want to go back to not having my family around on Christmas. Neither of my kids better even THINK about moving more than 20 minutes away from me!
22. What is your favorite Christmas song? Santa Claus and his Old Lady by Cheech and Chong. Years ago I paid a girl on my team $5 to burn me 2 Christmas CDs. She put this gem on it, I had NEVER heard of it and now my whole family LOVES it. The CD also has snipits from movies and all kinds of different songs, it is THE best collection ever! Thanks Heather Tonga!
23. What is the one thing you would change about Christmas? I would not be so freakin' stressed out! I tell myself I am going to start earlier every year...but I never do and I always procrastinate and NEVER sleep during December!
24. Worst present ever? I will NEVER forget this. One year, my mean older brother took a huge box of wood and wrapped it in like 100 layers. I thought he bought me something HUGE and I was SOO excited to open it. It was the first present I chose to open. After like an HOUR of unwrapping. I found the wood-and a plastic bracelet and necklace. It was actually a decent present-but the let down and the laughing was too much for me. I cried like a baby.
25. Your biggest wish this year? Without saying too much.....there is someone who is very near and dear to me who is going through a rough time. It hurts my heart daily to see them and those around them suffer. It is hard to feel powerless. SO-I wish for lots of love, happiness, and health for all my family and friends.
Thanks Misty! Anyone else up for the challenge?! I'd love to hear your answers Jami!
2 comments:
Did you add questions to get to a nice 25? I actually thought about it (who ends on #22?) but was too lazy. I'm glad Matt won over telling the kids about Santa. It wouldn't be Christmas without that! And I have to tell you: one Christmas when Adam was younger, his mom asked him and asked him to put his clothes away and he never did....Christmas morning he unwrapped quite a few big packages of the very clothes he didn't put away. I always thought would suck.
K I LOVED this! I'm usually not a fan of the posts where you have to answer lots of questions, but this was SUPER fun! ...and when you challenged 'Jami' to do the same thing, were you referring to me? Well, I might do it anyway :)
Merry Christmas, Rach!
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