Christmas Meme

I've read this meme on several blogs, but really enjoyed reading my sister, ItyBty's version. It brought back many of my own memories, so I decided I wanted to do it, too!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate, but only just barely more than egg nog. I have a lot of great memories of drinking "made from scratch" hot chocolate with my husband after he gets home from work late, even in the summer! One year, my brother, who was working in the dairy dept of Albertson's, brought home about a dozen quarts of egg nog that were about to expire. We drank it in huge glasses. It was sooo good. But, I think I drank a too much, and I don't love it quite as much as I once did.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? He wraps everything, and writes names in a big black permanent marker on the front, just like when I was a kid.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White, all the way. The only place I really love to see the colored ones are at Temple Square.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No. But, it is a very romantic idea!

5. When do you put your decorations up? I usually start the day after Thanksgiving. I'm still working on it though. I love the decorating and do a ton, but it takes me awhile because I'm trying to squeeze it in amongst regular life activities.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Christmas ham with homemade cranberry sauce.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: The Christmas that my dad quit the military and went back to school. It was a very lean year, despite the fact that my dad was working his tail off doing several jobs, including delivering papers. Everything we received for Christmas that year was handmade: marionettes, ring toss sticks, a bean bag toss box with different target images on each side, pioneer rag dolls, and a wooden kitchen. Nobody in the neighborhood had anything like what we had received. It was very special to me, because I knew how hard my parents had worked to still give us a special Christmas. I really knew that they loved us and were very self sacrificing for us. (My mom had a severe burn on her arm that she was self treating because we had no health insurance. It made sewing those dolls very difficult.) I have saved very little of my childhood toys. The two main ones I still have are that doll and a clown marionette.

8. How and When did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember learning the truth about him. I do remember learning that the tooth fairy and Easter bunny were my parents and thinking that made sense, but Santa? He HAD to be real!

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

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? In an assortment of ornaments with special meaning to us. (See previous post.)

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it! I miss Utah winters. We don't get nearly enough snow here. I've never been crazy about driving in it, but I remember watching it snow at night out the window as a kid and thinking it looked so magical and beautiful. I don't like it as much when it is half melted and blackened along the sides of the roads, though.

12. Can you ice skate? Yes. And I can do turns, but not jumps or backwards. At least I used to.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? See #7. I also loved coming home with DH on Christmas eve a couple years ago, just as the delivery truck from the local music store was pulling out of our driveway. Inside the house they had just set up a piano! He is way better than I at surprises.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Making sure I and my family feel the Christmas "spirit". Not just the magical, charitable feelings you get, but the joyous gratitude that "God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever shall believe in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Homemade berry pie a la mode.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Spending time together as a family decorating the tree, cooking and baking, watching traditional Christmas movies, etc.

17. What tops your tree? A silver star that my parents purchased in Germany around the time that I was born. We had a gold one just like it on our tree growing up.

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Receiving! It's so much easier than trying to come up with just the right gift. But, I do love the feeling you get when you really hit the mark and get something they absolutely love and were not at all expecting. Its too bad more of my gifts aren't like that. Although, I try! And I do love seeing the excited faces of children opening gifts.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? "Sleep, Sleep, Sleep". It's a lullaby to Jesus that I learned in high school choir. Every once in awhile the Mormon Tab sings it. I'm really hoping they will at the First Presidency Fireside tonight.

20. What is your favorite Christmas story? Besides the nativity, It's a Wonderful Life (I cry every time)and The Bishop's Wife (The original Cary Grant one). I'm not a huge movie watcher, but I'm a sucker for sappy Christmas ones.

That was fun! Feel free to play, too!