The Xmas thread

[LSPoorEeyorick]

We call ours "Noel Nutballs."

[Mousey Girl]

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate, with either whipped cream or marshmellows!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Only the non Santa gifts are under the tree, the Santa stuff is displayed with the stockings under the coffee table, some wrapped, some not

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
colored. I bought a fiber optic tree, but must still add more lights to it, even the tree skirt has multi-colored lights

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
nope, no real reason to

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Whenever David gets them out of the storage area over the garage

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert.)
gotta have ham on christmas

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
The year my parents and I got food poisoning...Lorene didn't get it because she had something else for dinner that night. All I can remember was seeing the snake around my neck and then what seemed like endless barfing. This has carried on into a phobia of snakes.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
Not a clue... When My mom went in for the first of her masectomies, I was placed in charge of being Santa for my (older) sister. She couldn't be trusted not to open the presents. I was in 19th grade and she was in college.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Nope.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
I decorate my 6 1/2 foot tree in mouse ornaments, exclusivly. I just recently started adding those pretty Mickey icon ornaments to it...

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

12. Can you ice skate?
Nope

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
My Barbie Airplane... I was so busy with it, I didn't notice the bike sitting behind it.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Watching the joy on Nick's face...

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
I make killer fudge, also cookies.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
I love driving around, looking at lights on Christmas Eve.

17. What tops your tree?
An Angel, holding a candle...I keep looking for something else, but so far, nothing else has caught my attention.

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving?
Giving...unless it is cash from The Old People.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
There are a lot that I enjoy..no real favorites

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
yum!
__________________

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by tracilicious

So what do you want?

I drive my wife nuts because, well, I never want anything.

I am completely content with what I have and only want stuff if I need it. Like a new pair of tennies or a jacket. I'd still be wearing the same clothes I owned 15 years ago if my lovely wife hadn't disposed of them over time for a variety of reasons.

So I feel sorry for her. I tell her not to get me anything and I really mean it, but this does not suffice. Well, it's not completely true, but my wish list is stuff like a 2007 convertable Mustang or some such expensive and impractical thing.

Am I odd or are there any other people out there like this?

[Alex]

scaegles, I'm the same way. When I was young I always said "I don't want to be a yuppie, just able to afford the option."

We do well enough, and I am such a firm believer in undelayed gratification, that if I really want something then I already have it. Your only hope is to buy me something I didn't realize I wanted, and since I am pretty self aware that is difficult.

Also, I am not tempted by wrapped presents. Put a present under a tree with my name on it and I can ignore it until the following Christmas. One thing I can do that causes Lani much angst is leave a Chinese restaurant without opening my fortune cookie. Eventually she'll ask if she can open it for me and I'll say "sure, but then it's your fortune" which means she won't want to open it, but we can't leave until the fortune is revealed. It used to drive my sisters nuts that I wouldn't shake presents under the tree.

Originally Posted by MousyGirl

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
The year my parents and I got food poisoning...Lorene didn't get it because she had something else for dinner that night. All I can remember was seeing the snake around my neck and then what seemed like endless barfing. This has carried on into a phobia of snakes.

Something seems to be missing form this anecdote.

[lizziebith]

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?

Hot Chocolate -- nobody has successfully convinced me to try the nog.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?

I am Santa and I carefully wrap the "Santa" gifts in a well-hidden paper. The boy still wants to believe.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?

I prefer the old, large colored ones, but we've bought an "instant tree" (due to laziness and my allergies) and it has white. *sigh*

4. Do you hang mistletoe?

No, that's too much like Candid Camera or the modern Punk'd to appeal.

5. When do you put your decorations up?

As late as possible, and they come down as soon as possible.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert.)

Well, potatoes mashed I like whenever I can get 'em.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:

Falling asleep on the couch on the Eve half hypnotized by the large colored lights on Mom's tree.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?

As in the case of "where babies come from" I figured it out.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?

I don't, but following family tradition the kid opens new jammies.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?

My "theme" is toys: I attach actual toys and toy-themed ornaments. Sometimes I put a train around the bottom.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?

Visit it only.

12. Can you ice skate?

I can, actually. I wish someone would go with me!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?

My Aunt Wendy's handmade quilt. Got lost in a move.

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

Creating good memories for my kid.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?

Pumpkin Pie.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?

Putting out eats for "Santa."

17. What tops your tree?

Kermit in a Santa hat (see above tree theme).

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving?

Oh I like to receive! Am I the only one? But one year I totally nailed the giving thing and every person got stuff they didn't even know they really wanted! That was awesome...

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?

I use the same ones every year. Eat them if you dare!

[mistyisjafo]

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate with marshmellows. YUM. I just find Egg Nog too gross!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Wrap in a bag with a bow. Does that count?

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Both! Extra color though.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Nah, no one to kiss except the cat.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
I started early since I'm going to be gone. Finished before Thanksgiving

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert.)
Any Free Food.


7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
Dressing up like Marilyn Monroe and singing "Santa baby" for my mom and dad. Yea ok, I was like 5! So stop laughing

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I thinks someone ratted my folks out and I saw my mom putting the gifts under the tree. Very tramatic. I haven't fully recovered.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Growing up an only child, I opened gifts three weeks before. It was AWESOME. Now it depends if I got somethin!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
I'm starting to collect a new ornament a year. So far so good. No theme just what I like.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
HATE snow. That's why I live in California. Course I'm going to Chicago for the holiday. So I must be nuts

12. Can you ice skate?
What's that? LOL

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
My grandma would always send me a little piece of jewelry when I was little. I still charish several pieces.

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

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Anything sugary and sweet!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
I don't have any. Huh, never thought of that.

17. What tops your tree?
A big silver bow

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving?
I love getting gifts. But its fun to give too!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Ugh, spare me the Christmas music. PLEASE

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
I'm not a real fan of em. But I like the funky flavored ones!

[wendybeth]

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Tequila. Or Peppermint Schnaps.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Santa wraps, usually under the influence of Schnaps.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
White, with accent colors. (Red this year).

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No. Cats, etc.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Usually right after Thanksgivng- we put them up the weekend prior this year, though.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert.)
Baked ham with ham sauce.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
The year we had a flocked tree with pink and white twinkle lights- it was so pretty I would just lay there staring at it until I fell asleep.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
What truth? Do you know something I don't?

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Yup. Usually several.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
Lots of unusual ornaments, white lights, candy canes and an accent light color. No tinsel or garlands- cats like to eat it, and tinsel coming out of a cats butt is not a fun thing to deal with.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Like to look at it, hate driving in it.

12. Can you ice skate?
No.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
My first record player and Styx album.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Survival.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Baclava- my Greek niece makes some kickass stuff.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Torturing Tori by hiding her big gift.

17. What tops your tree?
A pretty white and gold Victorian angel.

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving?
I really do prefer giving, but if I ever get something that I really like I may change my answer to receiving.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
The First Noel

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
Pretty good dipped in Schnaps!

[katiesue]

Not that I'd know or anything.......

If you put a white fake christmas tree in front of windows that get a ton of sunlight it will magically make the exposed branches brown and dead looking.

[Strangler Lewis]

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Irish coffee or mulled wine. Or something brown with a little ice and a sweater. I did have my annual egg nog in latte form at Starbuck's. That was enough.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Both.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
White. We just do the tree, although my wife just bought a new seasonal icon that's very festive.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No. Then I'd have to kiss the neighbors. We're all respectable people here.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
About a week before Christmas/The first night of Hanukkah.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert.)
Don't have one other than Christmas cookies. This year we will take a crack at latkes because the kids want to.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
A tie between 1) trying to figure out how Santa would get in through the incinerator of our building and then break into our apartment and 2) starting Jewish Sunday school and telling my non-Jewish mother that we could not have a tree because we were Jews. ("This year, mama, the tree stays in the box!")

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
From kids like Euro.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Yes.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
Lights, ornaments, gold leaf eggs and wheat wreaths that my wife hand made. We buy special ornaments every year for everybody that somehow relate to the year that has passed.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Love it.

12. Can you ice skate?
It's been a while since I went regularly, but if I stretch my tendons out in my boots for about ten minutes, I can get going.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Like some of you above, I'm hard to buy for. This worries me a bit because in "The Country of the Pointed Firs," there was a character who knew she had everything she wanted and that meant it was her time to die.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Spending time with family.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Christmas cookies, gingerbread men for the tree.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Decorating the tree. Holiday music. Holiday programs, movies, etc.

17. What tops your tree?
A yarmulke. No, nothing actually.

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

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Johnny Mathis Christmas album. Charlie Brown's cool, too.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
Yuck. Although it was interesting to learn from The Food Network recently that they are bent in their wrappers while warm.

[MouseWife]

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot cocoa with candy canes, marshmallows and cinnamon.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Wraps. Even big items get covered.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Both. Colored on tree, white draped around the house, colored in the windows.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
I have previously and thought it would be fun for the teens this year but I love my Kitty so no.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Should have put some up by now but we get our tree on the Hubsters' birthday weekend, the 11th.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert.)
Homemade sweet tamales.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
After midnight mass seeing Santa at the liquor store in a convertable with some chickies. He played it off, telling us we had to go home and get to sleep before he got there.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
No one ever played Santa to us. We didn't have a chimney and so we figured everyone else was being visited. Hmm. I don't think I quit believing, I think I just gave up.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Most of our celebrating is on the Eve. We have our dinner and then open all of the presents. Christmas Day we have gifts from Santa. Whom our kids know is us.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
A mix-match of ornaments, collected over the years. I love putting up ones people have made for us or that have special meaning. I have one that was almost Goodwill-ed that I used to put on our tree when I was a tot. Probably toxic...

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
I love it and whine by the t.v. to go up to the mountains when it starts up. But, I know it isn't easy to live in.

12. Can you ice skate?
Nope and I am too chicken to try. I would love to go watch the skaters at the Hotel Del Coronado, though. They have a rink this year.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
I really don't remember receiving it but I know it was my favorite because I dragged it around for years. My first X-mas {or second, mom developed pictures slowly...} I received a vinyl elephant with cloth ears. I called it Dumbo. I still have it.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Family and friends.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Homemade sugar cookies. Okay, from a can, whatever, but baked here at home and cut/decorated by us.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Having kids over to help us make those sugar cookies. We get as many together as we can stand, er, I mean have around the table. Gives their parents a chance to get some last minute shopping done and we get to enjoy them for a bit, too. We make sure they take some home for 'Santa' and mom and dad,too.

17. What tops your tree?
An angel holding a candle {or two?}. Her wings move. Gift to the Girl from her grandmother, I thought it would be nice to have on our tree while she grows up so she can take it into her home with good memories.

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving?
I love to give. I ask people not to give me anything because I am not good at accepting gifts. Probably goes back to Santa never visiting me...

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
I love so many. Tiny Angels {sorry don't know the artist, Whittaker?} and Blue Christmas. Won't ever forget the Boy getting 'toasted' on cider and dancing around like Elvis eventually with a lampshade on his head. He says he doesn't remember it and we told him that is called a black out.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
I do not like the fruity ones. Blech! I enjoy my canes in my cocoa or a small one now and again. Too many is yuck. I saw that show, too! I love the Travel Channel.