[LSPoorEeyorick]

Hurrah, your first Christmas!

I can't really think of anything I truly want this year. Pardon the mush, but I got a little misty listening to Christmas music in the car today because I realized it would be my first Christmas where I'll get to be with Tom the entire time. No "All I Want for Christmas is You," no "Blue Christmas," no "I'll Be Home For Christmas." We'll be together from the trek up to his family, to the Christmas Eve redeye flight to Michigan, to the ringing-in of the new year with my parents. How could I want anything for Christmas? I already have exactly what I want.

And as for traditions and memories, I'm going to paste in a fun survey posted on the board I moderate (along with my answers.) Anyone else game?

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Nog, but only thinned 5:2:1 nog:water:booze

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Neither, silly. Santa's ELVES wrap them. And I wrap the ones I give, usually something fun like brown paper with elegant fabric ribbon, or silver bags with an ornament hanging as a bow.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
White, please. White battery-op candles in the windows, white spotlight on the green wreath. Elegant! I miss having a house, though-- we live in a condo with no-exterior-decorating rules.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
*smooch* *smooch* *smooch* I'm sorry, did you say something?

5. When do you put your decorations up?
The Sunday following Thanksgiving, generally with my collection of holiday specials on DVD playing in the background. It's almost time!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert.)
Excluding dessert? What kind of a holiday eater ARE you? Holidays are dessert-eaters' high holy days. Hmm. I guess holidays are also religious high holy days. But, priorities!

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
The first Christmas both of my older siblings were in college, I missed them terribly. The night we were expecting them, the Sound of Music was playing on TV as my mom mulled cider on the stove. She'd put her array of holiday cookies (noel nutballs, polish butterhorns, church windows, fudge, date balls, and the all-important pressed cookie dogs and stars and trees and wreaths) out on a tray and I munched as we put up the tree. Then, at 10:00 PM (late for a seven-year-old) they rolled in the door, snow-covered and bearing gifts. And suddenly we felt complete again. You can mock me for saying this, but just typing this memory out made me feel a little misty.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
Hey! The truth about Santa is that he is in all of us. And I always knew that. (The logistics were revealed to me when, on Easter night in second grade, I asked and found it to be true.)

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Just one, and it's almost always pajamas. Except for that one year, when it was a trip the next day to New York City. Yay, Mom and Dad!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
My parents bought us one ornament every year. So I've amassed a quite a collection. As I got older, I veered away from the Hallmark keepsakes (though I still hang them) and I started selecting my own baubles, a lot of royal blue with pretty white piping, some neat stained-glass mosaic ones. Now Tom and I pick one out together. Ooh, and though I grew up stringing popcorn and cranberries, it's not as much an option in toasty SoCal... but I use this great silver and blue fabric ribbon as a garland encircling the tree.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Miss it! A little. So I go back to Michigan for a week every December, and then I don't miss it again for another year.

12. Can you ice skate?
Poorly as a child, not at all now. When did I get to be clumsy? I'm graceful enough on my feet.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Yes, and it also became my least favorite. I really, really wanted the talking Cricket doll (a little girl doll in the style of Teddy Ruxpin.) I thought I wouldn't be so lonely (this was also the year my siblings were both away at college.) But it didn't really interact, and so I was still kind of lonely at home... not to mention terrified, once I saw Child's Play and requested that my parents put her up in the attic.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Gathering and celebrating with family and friends.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Aha! Here it is. I love to make my pumpkin cheesecake with pecan crust... but you also can't go wrong with an assortment of homemade holiday cookies.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
We're pretty tradition-oriented, so there are a lot of them. And I love them all! Especially the present order: one on Christmas Eve after midnight mass, then bedtime. Then stockings, breakfast, and the rest. Ahh, the torture! I'm a little sad, though-- this year, Tom and I will be flying from his family (northern CA) to mine (MI) on Christmas Eve, and so we'll miss every part of this.

17. What tops your tree?
A blue stained-glass star sculpture. I love it, it's my favorite decoration.

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving?
I love giving. Receiving is pleasant, but it's not as fun as thinking about the people you love, imagining what would make them happy, and making that happen.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Judy Garland's heartbreaking recording of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
In moderation, thanks.