This is coming to you from the PAST! Through the magic of post-embargoing....this was written before I left town, of course.


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?

I really don't care. Both have their merits. Bags are nice because you can re-use them if you're careful with them. But it is also nice to have a few gifts where you can tear the paper off and reveal the gift slowly.

2. Real tree or artificial?

My "personal" tree (in my house) is a little artificial tree, but my parents have always had a real one. Even though it sets off everyone's allergies.

3. When do you put up the tree?

My little tree: before Thanksgiving. My parents' tree: we probably haven't done it yet. (My dad always remembers the family tradition from his family of putting the tree up on Christmas Eve - and at that, the kids weren't allowed to participate!)

4. When do you take the tree down?

My little tree gets put away when I get home in early January; usually my parents' tree is before that because I tend to get roped into helping take it down.

5. Do you like eggnog?

Not particularly. I'd rather have a cold glass of milk or a nice cup of cocoa.

6. Favorite gifts received as a child?

A giant handmade Raggedy Ann doll I got when I was about 3 and was told "Mrs. Claus" made just for me. The Fisher-Price castle playset. The Fisher-Price farm. A Noah's Ark set, that I played with for YEARS, that was made by Samsonite, of all people. "Scooter" from the Muppet show.

When I got older? A big big set of colored pencils that I got from my dad one year. I still have them and have used them at times for making hand-drawn graphs.


7. Hardest person to buy for?

Either my dad or my brother.

8. Easiest person to buy for?

My mom, because our tastes are so similar.

9. Do you have a nativity scene?

Personally? Only a tiny one as an ornament on my tree. I have yet to find a Nativity set I like that is within my price range. My parents have an old porcelain one they've had for years.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?

I am a Luddite in this respect. Definite preference for the ink-and-paper, "real" Christmas cards.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?

I don't really have a "worst" but the oddest was one of those little things you carry on your keychain and that is a spring-loaded dealie that will break the glass in the car window if it is an emergency and you're trapped in your car.

I appreciate that the person who gave it to me wants me to be safe, but it just seems like a strange thing to give at Christmas.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?

This will have to be a list:

It's a Wonderful Life
A Christmas Story
The ORIGINAL Miracle on 34th Street (which is arguably as much a Thanksgiving movie seeing as the Macy's parade is a big part of it)
The Bishop's Wife
The Patrick Stewart version of "A Christmas Carol"
Elf
And I'd also count all of those Rankin-Bass Christmas specials as well.

Oh, and for pure nostalgia: Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. That was actually the first version I ever saw, years and years before I actually read the story.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?

Often in the summer, if I'm traveling somewhere interesting and happen to see something that would be a good gift for someone. I'm actually probably never NOT shopping for Christmas

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

This year, I was given one of those scented candle things and an exploratory sniff of the wax told me it would set off my allergies, so I passed it on to someone who likes those things. I've done it other times, I once re-gifted a big fancy Christmas themed cookie jar I got at one gift party to someone at another gift party (there was no overlap between the groups so I figured it was OK).

I tend to figure if it's an "anonymous" type gift - where someone is buying blind for someone that might be any member of a group - it's OK to regift it. I'd be more leery of doing it with a gift from a family member.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

This is the only time of the year I will buy those Lindor truffles because they are the only food I don't have sufficient self-control with. I can go through a bag of those in a week; most chocolates will sit for a month or more.

I also enjoy cookies.

And Clementine oranges. I tend to associate them with Christmas because that's when they are most common in the store and when we were kids, my dad used to put them in our stockings, I suppose in memory of his having got oranges when he was little.

Oh, and Stollen, the German Christmas bread. My mom only makes it at Christmas so again, it's one of those enjoy it for a limited time things.


16. Lights on the tree?

My preference is for multicolored. I think that is partly because that's what we had when I was a kid, and partly as a rebellion against all the "tasteful" people who do only plain white lights (and often ONLY plain white lights, no ornaments even). Christmas decorations make me happiest when they're just a wee bit tacky.

17. Favorite Christmas song?

I like a lot of the old traditional British carols like the Sussex carol and the Coventry carol, in part because they haven't been co-opted by advertisers yet. ("Carol of the Bells" has been utterly ruined for me by Garmin. Thanks a lot, Garmin.). The Wassail Song ("God bless you and send you a Happy New Year"). The Christmas Song (the Nat King Cole version, as I noted a month or so ago, is my very favorite).

Also, any of the old Bing Crosby versions of things. And the Gene Autry version of both Rudolph and "Santa Claus is Coming To Town." I can hear that and be transported back to age 6 again, and I mean that in a good way.

And the soundtrack to the Charlie Brown Christmas special never fails to put me in a good mood. (Oh, and maybe this time next year, I'll be able to play "Linus and Lucy" on the piano!)

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?

Three weeks break, plus family living far away - you do the math.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?

Yes, and I maintain that the correct name of Reindeer #7 is "Donder" (German for "thunder") and NOT "Donner."

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?

A small crocheted angel on my tree; a vintage angel (it came from my dad's parents') on my parents' tree. (In fact - and this is perhaps where I am overly observant of things - if you look VERY closely in the scene of "The Bishop's Wife" where Dudley and Julia are in the Professor's little apartment, and he has a tree up - the angel on the tree, as best I can tell, is the SAME style as what my dad has from his parents. The movie was made in '47 so that seems reasonable.)

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?

We've always done Christmas morning in my family. I don't think Christmas Eve would feel quite right at this point (not to mention we are usually busy with church services Christmas Eve night).

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?

People who complain about "having" to buy presents for people they "hate." Kind of sucks the fun out of it, to be roaming the Target looking for last minute stuff and having to hear someone rant about it. (And may I suggest: if they are such a burden to buy gifts for, either suggest ending the gift exchange or buy a gift card for them?).

People who are in general crabs or wet-blankets about things. I've heard it all, from the plaints of over-commercialism (which is probably the one I'd be most amenable to listen to), to the people who say it's unfair to those who follow different faith paths, to the people who say "in this bad economy" or "with a war on" it is wrong to celebrate (they don't know their history too well, methinks), those who endlessly natter about the calories and fat in all the tasty foods (YOU don't need to eat them, you know, but please let those of us who would indulge enjoy it). Even people arguing we should not celebrate because Jesus was not actually literally born on the 25th of December, but sometime in the spring instead, and that this is just an old Catholic papering-over of a pagan celebration.

And meh. I like to take my happiness where I find it, and I prefer it unalloyed with guilt or fear or whatever else people may try to inject into it.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?

Whatever I (or My Family) Likes. That's pretty much the theme for the family tree - some glass balls, some stars, some angels, some old, old ornaments from when I was a child, some newer ornaments people have given as gifts over the years. Just a big mix but that is what everyone in my family likes, it is what makes us happy.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?

Recently, we have had standing rib roast (the ONLY time I get it in a year), Yorkshire pudding (ditto), various vegetable dishes, and my mom's good green-tomato mincemeat pie.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?

The tangible things: some books I haven't read, perhaps some new clothes, craft supplies. Good tea, good soap, chocolate, maybe some kind of small toy (I still like getting some kind of a toy at Christmas). Maybe a dvd of a movie or television show I love. My wants are pretty simple.

The intangible: a year of good health and happiness for those I love, time to do the things I want to do, the ability to winnow out criticism that will improve me from criticism that is trying to "put me in my place," the ability to disregard the rude or unfounded things people say to me when they are lashing out because of something bad in THEIR lives or because they are simply being mean, to stop worrying so much about what people think of me.