The Christmas Meme

I got tagged by Canucklehead.

1. Wrapping or gift bags?
A mix of both. Gift bags at work, wrapping for family.

2. Real or artificial tree?
Fake all the way, baby! We have two of ’em. One is pre-lit. Eventually I hope to replace the other one with pre-lit.

3. When do you put up the tree?
The Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down?
Usually the start of the second week of January.

5. Do you like egg nog?
I LOVE egg nog – it’s one of my favorite flavors of Christmastime. No lie – at some point we had 8 quarts of nog in the house. And bought more.

6. Favourite gift received as a child?
I don’t think it is my favorite gift, but most memorable was getting “Thriller” by Michael Jackson because my mom swore she would absolutely NOT get it for me EVER.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
We keep meaning to buy one, but haven’t found one we both agree on.

8. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
I don’t recall ever getting a bad Christmas gift – unless you count White Elephant stuff that’s supposed to be bad.

9. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail. We send about 90 each year. We’ve done about 70 so far this year – I’ve been extremely lax about getting the other 20 out.

10. Favourite Christmas Movie?
That is REALLY hard to say. “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Elf”, for sure, though.

11. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
This year I started late and only did it a couple weeks ago (thank you, internet!). Sometimes we’ll start earlier in the year, like when we take vacations and get gifts for family.

12. Favourite thing to eat at Christmas?
The family cookie recipe: Chip balls. Pumpkin pie. Roast beef. Yorkshire pudding. Egg nog. Chocolate egg nog pie. I love it all. It’s my favorite meal of the year.

13. Clear lights or coloured on the tree?
The main tree is white, the kids’ tree is colored.

14. Favourite Christmas song(s)?
The Bing Crosby/David Bowie “Little Drummer Boy” duet. LOVE IT.

15. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
It changes from year to year. This year we’ll be home for Christmas but will be traveling a few days later for another Xmas celebration in VA.

16. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
Donner, Blitzen, Vixen, Cupid…uh…Rudolph. Comet. Uh….

17. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Angel on the main tree, Santa’s hat on the kids’ tree.

18. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning?
My side of the family opens on Christmas eve. But now that we have young children, we’ll wait til Christmas morning until they are older (high school?) at which point we’ll switch to Christmas Eve.

19. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
Radio stations that start with the Christmas music soon after Halloween. It’s just not right.

20. Do you decorate your tree in any specific theme or colour?
Nope, it’s a hodge-podge, although we did put most of the kid-friendly ornaments on their tree so that they could freely mess around with it as much as they wanted to.

21. What do you leave for Santa?
Milk and cookies. It’s the only way to go.

22. Least favourite holiday song?
I agree with Canucklehead- the dogs that bark “Jingle Bells.”

23. Favourite ornament?
We have so many awesome ornaments that it’s impossible to pick just one. I LOVE our ornaments.

24. Family tradition?
Can’t think of one off the top of my head.

25. Ever been to Midnight Mass or late-night Christmas Eve services?
Yes, I’ve been to a few late night ones. This year we’re attending late-afternoon services.

I tag: My sister Jen at JenSpeaks, Jean at Jeanius Thoughts, Amy at Permission to Peruse, Meghan at Pyreflies, Julie at I Love Goalie Splits, Meghan at Chubber Cheekers, and SleepyBeth at And Then I Woke Up.