Monday, November 26, 2007

Getting to Know You - Christmas Meme

If you have a blog, you have to do this too.
That's the rule.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bag?
Gifts for family members are usually wrapped.
Gifts for friends, teachers, and so on are usually bagged.

2. Real tree or artificial?
Real. Just like my boobs.

3. When do you put up your tree?
Whenever all four of us have a spare hour or so. (We "hunt" down the perfect tree at a local tree farm. We require daylight to do this.) My desire is that we kill and bag the tree by the 15th. Of December.

4. When do you take down your tree?
It kinda takes itself down. We stop watering it almost immediately because we can never agree whose job it is to do so. By New Year's it's quite dead. By the second week of January it's bare 'naked ... with most of the needles and alot of the ornaments content to be lying on the floor underneath it.

5. Do you like eggnog?
Not so much.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
None stand out as being favorite. I guess they all were equally wonderful. I loved them all the same. Wow. What a wishy washy answer. And it's got me thinking about my own kids. And how they probably don't have a favorite gift either. Because in the end? It's not really about the gifts.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes I do. Three of them. One for the dining room, one for the living room and one for the family room.

8. Hardest person to buy for?
Right now? Today? Everyone is hard to buy for. We all have so much, and looking for a "perfect something" for those I love seems like a futile endeavor. Besides, the gifts I'd like to give can't be bought: new brain for my dad, new bowel for my mom, Math 10 certificate for Max, time warp for Drew so that he can be 17 and driving, contract with a band to shoot a music video for Clint ...

9. Easiest person to buy for?
Drew. He spends the year talking about all things he wants. And when he sees it (like he did last week with his boarding jacket and pants) he puts it on hold and gets me to go pay for it. So, yeah, he's done.

10. Worst Christmas gift you've ever received?
Every single gift I've ever received from anyone, ever, in my entire life has been totally awesome. No really, I'm not just saying that because most everyone that gives me gifts reads this blog.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail. Always mail. Support our post office. And postal workers.
Besides I know how much I LOVE getting cards in the mail. I love it alot.
And it's really hard to email a handmade card.

12. Favorite Christmas movie?
Jingle All the Way? Christmas Vacation?
Whatever the kids want to watch. We haven't all sat in the same room to watch a movie for at least a year or two. Maybe this year ...

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Oh, any day now. I don't get serious though, til a week before Christmas.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
I would never.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
My sister's baking. My mom's turkey and gravy. Chocolate orange (just whack and unwrap).

16. White or coloured lights?
Multi - coloured. WILDLY multi- coloured. With like, pink and orange and turquoise.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
Can You Hear What I Hear?
O Holy Night.
And anything on the Barenaked Ladies Christmas CD.

18. Travel for Christmas or stay home?
I would LOVE to travel. Love love love. But I'm always at home. Always.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers?
Grumpy, sneezy, rolee polee, dumpy, cutie, blitzen and rudolf.

20. Angel or Star on top of tree?
A santa's hat. Because.

21. Open presents Christmas Eve or Morning?
Growing up it was always Christmas morning.
Nowadays it depends if I've got the kids or not. Every other year, we open them on the 25th in the morning. Last year we opened them on the 23rd at Hemlock. Gotta be adaptable. Christmas is whenever you decide to celebrate. The 25th is just a date. If I say it often enough, I might believe it.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
The pressure. The pressure to be "done" with the baking, shopping, cleaning, before the 10th of December. The pressure to make it all special. The pressure to make it all meaningful. The pressure to have God moments, on cue. The pressure to make sure everyone knows it's not about the gifts.

23. What I love most about Christmas?
I used to love the way all the rushing, worrying, frantic getting ready, all fades away when my extended family and I all meet at the cabin for 24 hours of eating, game playing, and movie watching.
I also love the way, despite my cynicism, I end up being in awe of Jesus' birth at some point over the holiday.

OK.
Your turn internet.

2 comments:

raych said...

Real...just like my boobs! Ah hahahaha, oh Jane. I love you.

My Thots said...

Okay I answered it on my blog. No REALLY, I know I know it's been too long since I wrote.