Christmas FAQ's (my first meme!)

Slowly getting into the ins and outs of the blogging thing, and lo and behold...it's all about MEme:
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both - AND...my mother's cloth gift bags (she gets Christmas fabric on sale after the big day and makes bags to use/recycle every year. Handy for odd shapes and sizes, and there's kitsch factor involved when you get one of 'em

2. Real tree or artificial? Real -- love the smell, hate the mess, enjoy the drive and slog up into the hills to pick it out and cut it down, too.

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the second Sunday unless the weather prevents the cutting.

4. When do you take the tree down? After Epiphany.

5. Do you like eggnog? Oh yeah...the real stuff with bourbon or brandy! (Not the "egg-nausea" thick crap from the store)

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Two stand out -- my grandma (she died at 90 in March, God rest her soul) used to buy me a Christmas ornament every year. I have them going back to 1980. Second, a little camel hair coat with a rabbit fur collar when I was about 9 (I learned much later that this was my struggling single mom's revenge for my dad buying his wife and stepdaughter full length mink and rabbit fur coats...but not paying his child support)

7. Do you have a Nativity scene? I have 5! Waterford, large ceramic (from Sam's Club - very pretty!), Spanish terra-cotta, wooden blocks for the kids, and a little Mexican painted terra-cotta set, muy folklorico.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Mom. Her birthday is Christmas Eve, she is picky, we must differentiate between the birthday and Christmas, so the pressure is intense.

9. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Identical things (sweaters, Barbies, etc.) to the evil stepsister. Especially when we got the same Barbie, but she got all the accessories, house, car, airplane, etc. I just got the Barbie and was not allowed to touch the other stuff during subsequent custodial visits.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Both...but let's face it, I haven't even sent out birth announcements yet!

11. Favorite Christmas Movie? "A Christmas Story" (I actually saw it in the theater!), and "It's a Wonderful Life"

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? A bit here and there after Halloween

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Does returning a winter coat I received from the evil stepmother to help pay my electric bill count?

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Everything. OK, if I have to pick one seasonal thing, it's those Bahlsen dark-chocolate covered gingerbread cookies. Wow!

15. Clear lights or colored on the tree? I like clear, the family likes colored, so I lose.

16. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night ("Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!" = good stuff)

17. Stay at home or travel on Christmas? Home. Back in our military days, we used to haul ourselves across the country with cheap flights on Christmas Day to visit inlaws and show off the grandkids, but no more. I love my house, it was built for entertaining (by wealthier people than we will ever be back in the 1920's...servant's rooms and all), and contrary to public policy and child labor laws in many states, I have conscripts (ages 13 and 10, upon whom I have graciously bestowed my DNA) who become servants and sleep up on the third floor when the house is full. Living the dream....

18. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Yes, if pressed

19. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star was a casualty in our new dog vs. cat tree-toppling atrocity 4 years ago, so currently we have a fiber-optic winged angel who has stopped lighting up. Annoying.

20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Back to the Mom thing. We had to watch her open her birthday presents on the 24th, but wait until the 25th to open ours. So now that I am free of maternal tyranny, I have instituted a more benevolent dictatorial custom of my own -- we give gifts to each other the night before, and wait until morning for "Santa" presents and stockings.

21. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Malls. And about 90% of the secular-maniac people I know talking about all horribly expensive crap they are getting for their kids -- PDA's, cell phones, Wii's, iPods to replace the "outdated" one they got last year...ridiculous. (When I was 13 I was happy to get crazy stuff like a few sweaters, some perfume and maybe a new U2 album...)