Christmas Tagging

(Natalie & I in front of the stuffed Christmas tree we used one year)

A tag from my friend Emily, that I thought was fun and festive for this week:

1. Do you like Eggnog or Hot Chocolate? Oh, hot chocolate, hands down. I find egg nog to be a little bit slimy, which I really can't abide. I have serious texture issues when it comes to food.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just put them under the tree? Growing up, Santa just laid them all out. I don't think we really ever unwrapped Santa presents. As we got older, my mom wrapped more and more of our gifts, though. We each had a pile on one of the couches or chairs, and you could tell which was yours by your stocking at the top of the pile.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White White White on the tree.
I prefer no lights on the house, just candles in the windows like the do in Williamsburg. . . but if you're going to do it, I like nice STRAIGHT lines of white lights. Of course, that's boring for kids. . . but also not tacky.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I did for a long time. The real stuff, even. Last year I got a plastic mistletoe, and right now, it's sitting on the counter. I'm such a romantic.

5. When do you put up your decorations? I am adamantly opposed to putting them prior to Dec. 1st. This year, it took us a little longer. I was very afraid of what Nolan would do to them. . .

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Yeah, I can't pick one. . . probably ham and mashed potatoes. . . But there are always so many good things to eat!

7. What is your favorite Holiday memory as a child? Staying up all night with Natalie because we couldn't sleep from the excitement. . . we weren't allowed to get up until 7 am, so we would count down the hours.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We always opened one gift on Christmas Eve. It was usually the swap gift from the swap we did with our cousins. We sometimes to the PJ thing now. . . but we're not consistent.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? White lights and a big bunch of non-matching ornaments from over the years. I have ornaments that my great grandmother made me when I was a kid, and some that I bought at Thai Pan this year. . . Plus, we have Ben's big set of Disney ornaments that his parents bought him when he was way too young to decide what he wanted in a set of ornaments. Some of them are amazing, some of them are tacky. Either way, Nolan loves to remove them and carry them around the living room.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love to look at it, especially when it's fresh and new. LOATHE driving in it. One of my least favorite things on earth. Probably owing to the lack of control it entails.

(Holding our homemade Care Bears and our Strawberry Shortcake dolls that blew kisses)

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I have to agree with Emily on this one, though I got lots of gifts over the years that I loved. My favorite childhood Christmas gifts were the handmade Cabbage Patch and Care Bear dolls my mom made us (two different years, it turns out). I'm still amazed that she was able to do such a good job. And I still have mine! I am constantly amazed at the lengths my mom went to to make sure we had a wonderful Christmas, even when there wasn't a lot of money for such things.

(with our cousin Karissa, who got a REAL Cabbage Patch doll)

14. What is the most important thing about the Holidays for you? The joy and the festivity of it all. . . leading up to that wonderful feeling of peace when you truly settle down and remember the Savior's birth and why we're celebrating in the first place.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Peppermint bark & toffee. But also. . . peppermint stick ice cream. YUM.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Making a CD of new and old Christmas music to listen to. . . and making Christmas treats. . . As a kid, we had Pop Tarts and Lucky Charms on Christmas morning, and I thought that was an amazing treat. We don't really do it any more, but I am always tempted to buy those things to have around Christmas morning, just out of nostalgia.

17. What tops your tree? A star. It started out as a kraft paper star that I spray painted silver. Some day I'll probably get something fancier, but I like it. . . You can't tell it's made of cardboard.

18. Which do you prefer, giving gifts or receiving them? Oh, GIVING! I mean, everyone likes to get presents, but at this point in my life, finding fun things for family and friends is so much fun. Even better, are the years we adopt a family that is struggling and find wonderful gifts for them to surprise them. There is no better shopping than that. . .

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Seriously? That's like asking me to pick a favorite movie! I don't have one particular song that I love no matter who is singing it. The one I play OVER and OVER is God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by the Barenaked Ladies & Sarah McLachlan

20. Candy Canes? LOVE them.

21. Do you feel Christmas is too commercialized? Yeah, it really is. I get that companies have to make money. . . but I feel like there are far too many people that go into massive debt every year in order to give their kids WAY too many presents. Kids just don't need $2000 worth of gifts. My parents were always very frugal about gift giving, and I don't think it hurt us one bit.

22. Favorite Christmas movie? Mr. Krueger's Christmas, with Jimmy Stewart. It's so touching. And how can you not love Jimmy Stewart? I also very much enjoy Love Actually, Little Women, & Charlie Brown's Christmas.

If you have the time, in the middle of the craziness we call Christmas, do this tag. It's fun!
Maybe while you're snowed in this weekend, as so many of us are.