The Christmas Meme

1.Eggnog or Hot Chocolate?
I LOVE Eggnog, unfortunately, good eggnog is not good for me! I even like it without the rum!

2. Did you ever do anything for Santa?
I wrote letters and left milk and cookies. We also left carrots and sugar for the reindeer.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
A little bit of both. I like putting white lights deep inside the tree, it gives the tree an inner glow.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Nope, I like to kiss just about anywhere.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
I usually put things up the weekend after Thanksgiving. But to be truthful, there are usually some Christmas decorations up somewhere in my house all year round. I will usually take them down the first weekend after the Feast of the Epiphany (which also happens to be my brother’s birthday, 6 Jan.).

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Chex Mix!

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?
I’m going to cheat, I have two favorites: The first one is when we were kids visiting Santa and Santa looked at my mom and said, “Rita, have the kids been good this year?” We just about died! MOM KNEW SANTA AND THEY WERE ON A FIRST NAME BASIS!! Actually, the person who was working for Santa (wink, wink) was in my mom and dad’s wedding, but we didn’t know that then. My other favorite memory was being at my aunt’s house on Christmas eve and leaving the warm (sometimes very warm) house and looking up in the sky to see if we could find Santa.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I found some “presents from Santa” when I was in either first or second grade.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
For a while, we could only open one present on Christmas Eve. Then for a while, we moved to opening them all on Christmas Eve because that was the only time all the family could get together.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
I would describe it as “Down Home Memories.” Just about every ornament has a story.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it.
It’s the most wonderful stuff on Earth!

12. Can you ice skate?
Can I? Yes. Do I? No.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
I think one of my favorite gifts was a thing called “Cascade.” It was a thing where you would set up these mini-trampolines (like 3 inches in dia.) and then there was this tower that would carry a bunch of marbles to the top and drop them on the trampolines. If you did it right, the balls would bounce from one tramp to the next and land in a capture box where they would roll down a track back to the tower. It was fun!

14. What's the most exciting thing about the holidays for you?
The most exciting thing about the holidays is seeing people I haven’t seen in a long time. Just catching reliving old memories and making new ones.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
I love the cookies. My mom would make these great sour cream cookies. I don’t get them anymore since I live so far away.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
I loved going to my godparent’s house for Christmas Eve. There was a wonderful combination of wanting to be at the party but wanting to get home because Santa was coming. That wonderful feeling of being pulled into two equally positive directions. I didn’t appreciate it then and I doubt I will ever feel that feeling again.

17. What tops your tree?
A reproduction of the tree topper my grandma used to have on her tree. I just about died when I saw it in a store. My mom and my aunt could not believe I found it.

18. Which do you prefer give or receive?
I love to give. I enjoy trying to find just the right thing or making something specifically for someone.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Mannheim Steamroller’s Stille Nacht is one of my very favorites. Their “big” version of God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen also is necessary for it to feel like Christmas. I also like The Christmas Waltz and Karen Carpenter singing Merry Christmas Darling.

20. Candy Canes?
I like candy canes, but starlight mints are easier.