Welcome to the 2006 Holiday Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends! You know the drill. Don't be a scrooge!!!
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Does the egg nog have brandy in it? And does the hot chocolate have peppermint in it?
😀 I'd take either, although probably go for the hot chocolate first. And we found out 2 years ago that yes, you CAN put too much brandy in the nog.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? He wraps and is quite fond of the gift bag with lots of tissue.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? white. definitely white.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? never have
5. When do you put your decorations? good question. family has put up the tree as late as 12/22, but probably no earlier than 12/18 or so. yes- live tree. other decorations go up sometime mid-Dec. at MY house, I've put the tree up earlier when I've done one, mostly b/c I'm not here the week of Xmas to do it. Not sure I'll have a tree this year b/c of the amount of effort it takes vs. the amount of time I'll have to enjoy it.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish(excluding dessert) I really dig
cranberry sauce- the jellied kind. It's just not a holiday meal without the cranberry
sauce with the ridges from the can you just popped it out of.
👍
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child. Going to the zoo every Christmas Eve with my dad. See below for details.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? So dad used to take my brother and I to the zoo every C.E., and when we came home, Santa had filled our stockings and put all of the gifts under the tree. Mom never went with us, and apparently never heard Santa come down the chimney because every year she'd been conveniently upstairs in her room talking on the phone with my aunt. I think one year we just put it together that this all seemed just a little too convenient. However, the neighbors got in on the deal for a while, and my dad had to bring their kids to the zoo with us.
Oh, that and Santa's handwriting looked EXACTLY like either of my parents'. Freaky.
🙄
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? All of them. When we were little, we had to go to grandma's down in Kentucky for lunch, then back to to the grandparents' in Ohio for dinner, so there was no time to do it except Christmas Eve. Tradition has held even though all grandparents are gone.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? At my house, just put the lights on and toss on all the ornaments. #1 rule: No one's allowed to start drinking (heavily) until after the tree is in the stand, stable, and straight. Other than that, whatever goes wherever.
At my mom's, it's not as bad as it used to be, but my brother and dad would discuss how each of the three strands of lights needed to be wound 120 degrees apart from each other... while mom and I sat there bored.
🙄 enginerds
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I love it. I don't even mind driving in it. Unless there are other people on the road who don't know how. That's when the road rage kicks in.
12. Can you ice skate? Barely. I haven't tried since the broken foot healed, so not sure if that would impact it.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? My Cabbage Patch Kid. 1983, and those suckers were IMPOSSIBLE to get. And I got one.
😍 Still have her, too. With the original clothes. (No, she's not on my bed. She's shoved away in a box somewhere.) I remember having opened all the gifts and I didn't get one and I was sooooo bummed and trying to act all non-chalant about it. So my parents hand me a big black garbage bag and tell me to start putting all the shredded wrapping paper in it... and lo and behold- Joan Lila was in the garbage bag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
😍 She was the only CPK I'd ever seen who had a "normal" name, and we have the same initials!
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Being with my family. I've missed every other holiday imaginable because of work or school, but I have never once missed Christmas Eve and Christmas.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Mama Penguin will kick my ass if I don't say her chocolate fudge. She makes batches upon batches of it to give away every year. It's really delightful. Although, honestly? I'm not such a chocolate freak, so my actual favorite is probably pumpkin pie. Don't tell my mom, though.
😳
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Putting up the tree with the family. We've got ornaments which are 34+ years old, many of which have stories behind them which we tell every year. Never gets old.
A close runner up is on Xmas Eve when all stockings are filled and presents under the tree, and my mom runs around the house screaming in a high-pitched voice "Santa was here! Santa was here!" It's a total hoot, and we're all embarassed for her, but we laugh and it's tradition, and what the hell.
17. What tops your tree? An angel at mom's, one of those big ribbon bows with the really long streamers at my place. It's red and silver and tres chic.
18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Let's be honest here- both. Come on- who doesn't like getting cool gifts?
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Carol of the Bells is
absolutely one of my favorites. And I have to put out a shout-out for Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band-Aid.. and O Holy Night. Josh Groban's version rawks.
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!! but only the peppermint ones. none of that fruit-flavored crap.
Although wait, no husband so nevermind.
