(Completely and unceremoniously ripped-off of Megan who ripped it off from her lovely friend Missy's original post here.)
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Actually neither. I don't like either one. We introduced Anne to hot chocolate for the first time last night. We made a big production out of it, waiting until Joseph was down for the evening, stirring it up, adding chocolate chips and marshmallows. She had her first sip, flung her arms around Brian and said, sincerely, "Oh, Daddy! Thank you SO MUCH for this FAN-TAC-TIC hot choco-wat." And then I melted into a puddle on the floor.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
This is the result of much hard bargaining (I am pro-Santa, Brian is anti-Santa). So the compromise is we "do" Santa but he only does a stocking. No writing letters, no endless lists of stuff they want. But we do the cookies and carrots out for Santa and Rudolph. And in the stocking, there is a note that says "Merry Christmas! I am giving presents because I love Jesus, too!" (Don't laugh. He drives a hard bargain.)
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
We are very opinionated about lights, I'm afraid. (Are you surprised? Evidently, we have opinions about EVERYTHING.) We love old-fashioned coloured lights. The uglier and less-matchy-match the better. We like homemade ornaments and mismatched colours. We like it to look like a family tree and not a decorator tree. I contemplate writing a poem entitled "Where Have All the Coloured Lights Gone?" but Bri thought it was a bit much.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Nope. There's enough kissing in this joint without encouraging it.
5. When do you put your decorations up?
Brian is American so he always likes to do it the day after American Thanksgiving. Which is amazingly early to me. But we usually do it and then I am so sick of them by December 26, that they are all back in the box in short order. This year, because of the move, we didn't get our tree up until the middle of December so it might actually make it a bit longer this year. We'll see.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
My mother's cabbage rolls are a big favourite. I also love dessert. Just being real here.
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?
Spending Christmas Eve at church, the candle light service and then spending the night in bed with my sister. We shared a room most of our childhood, until I was 12 or so. But we ALWAYS spent Christmas Eve, curled in bed together, whispering and "having a sleepover." (I mean, we even did it when we were in our twenties.) We would get up early, open our stockings quietly and then my parents would wake up for coffee and pressies.
When I was very young, my granny and grandpa would come over first thing in the morning to watch us open our gifts. I loved that too. (They would park outside in the cold at 5:30 in the morning, waiting for a light to go on. As soon as a light turned on, they'd rush out and ring the doorbell and bustle in. So my mother would run around, in the dark, threatening bodily harm if someone turned on a light before she'd brushed her teeth. Good times.)
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I don't know that I ever really believed in it to the point that it was "real". I mean, we were allowed to imagine like crazy - fairies, mermaids, fantastical creatures of all sorts - so flying reindeer and Santa just fell in with that, I suppose. But I remember figuring it out when I was about 7. My mother was teaching me cursive writing which resulted in many hours at our formica kitchen table, copying her letters one after another (for all of you that compliment me on my script handwriting, this is the origin of it). So by Christmas morning, when "Santa" left me an art easel with "Merry Christmas, Sarah! Love Santa" on it, the gig was up. I knew that woman's handwriting pretty well by that point.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Just one each. My tinies open their gifts from their Auntie and her tiny opens the gift from us. And Brian has carried on the tradition, always buying me jammies for Christmas Eve. (I have an unholy longing and adoration for jammies.)
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Open the box. This pole goes here, this pole goes there. Fluff the branches. String the lights. Plug them in. Realise they don't work. Unstring them. Drive to Canadian Tire. Buy more lights. Restring the lights. Then start hanging ornaments on the top of the tree. Most valuable/cherished at the top. Nothing on the bottom 60 cms of tree. Wrap a ribbon around it all. And finally, alternately years, Brian lifts a tiny to place the Ugly Angel with a Cracked Face at the very top.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
I love snow and enjoy a white Christmas. But then it can leave. Which is why I live in BC now and not in the prairies any longer.
12. Can you ice skate?
Oh, this is a sad one. I grew up skating and was a very good skater. We had a rink in our back yard like almost every kid in Regina in those days. (Dad just flooded the backyard and ta-da!) I took CanSkate and was a pretty good figure skater. I spent hours - HOURS! LITERALLY! - in my skates as a teenager at the lake and on dark rivers in the evenings. But this last winter, when we took Anne, I put on a pair of rented skates and I. Could. Not. Skate. I was horrified. I felt like Bambi out there. I need to re-learn it, evidently 8 years in the southern US has removed my skating sensibilities.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
When I was 6, I wanted a Minnie Mouse nightie for Christmas. My mother looked and looked but couldn't find one. So she sewed it herself. She found a Minnie Mouse fabric, cut her out, sewed a beautiful yellow nightie with long sleeves and lace, right to the floor and then sewed Minnie right onto the front of it. I have never been quite so excited on a Christmas morning as I was that day when I opened it up. And when my Mum told me she had made it herself for me, I almost took flight. We still have it but it's in my mother's keepsake box.
14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
The celebration of Emmanuel, God with us. And being with my family.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
My mother's butter tarts.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
So many little ones like certain stories being told. Reading the Christmas story before opening gifts. Praying together on Christmas Eve. Washing dishes in the kitchen with my mother and sister after the feast. Tearing bread for the stuffing with my mother. The after-supper-clean-up complete, sitting down with coffee and pie to finally relax.
17. What tops your tree?
A rather ugly and cheap Wal-Mart angel with a cracked-and-glued-back-together face. We bought her our first Christmas that we were married and have now become rather attached to her. Anne dropped her two Christmases ago but I fixed her up in a jiffy with some crazy glue.
18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
GIVING.
19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
Traditionally, it's "O Holy Night." I never tire of it. But to be honest, I just adore "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey.
20. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum?
I like them but when there is much finer fare at Christmas, I can't be bothered.
21 Favorite Christmas Show?
I love the oldies like the Rankin Bass ones and Charlie Brown. I also adore "Love Actually" for a modern Christmas tale.
22. Saddest Christmas Song?
I'm not good with sad Christmas songs. Even Christmas Shoes makes me roll my eyes, I'm afraid.
How is your Christmas-ing going so far?
