UTMOMMY and SUZANNE recently did this meme on their blogs. I thought it looked like a fun one so I decided to try it to. Here goes:
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? I love them both. They are two of my favorite beverages. I just saw an ad in a magazine that had a picture of egg nog in a can...can you really buy the stuff in a can? I need to start a year's supply if they do.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? It depends on if they are easily wrapped. Mostly he wraps them, this year the toys are not getting wrapped, but everything else is.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Definately white...my hubby loves the colored though, so maybe we will have to do that sometime.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Yes. It is in the archway to my living room, and on the wall by it is a little quilt sampler that says, "Kisses under the Mistletoad" with a frog on it. (Rather fitting don't you think?)
5. When do you put your decorations up? We took all the fall decorations down the day after Thanksgiving and cleaned the entire house and then decorated for Christmas that night. We were going to waith until Saturday, but the kids were too excited. I will be sick of them before Christmas is over though. And for some reason, I wasn't all that excited to put them up this year. I didn't even put out a lot of things I usually do.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? I LOVE finger foods....crackers and cheese, artichoke dip, cheeseballs, little smokies, sliced meat, olives, cut up fruit with creamy fruit dip, etc. Yum Yum Yum!! Maybe I will have to serve that for dinner tonight!
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: I remember one Christmas (I don't remember how old I was) and we came out Christmas morning to open presents and there was a row of stuffed animals (one for each of the kids) lined up by the tree. I remember a Christmas when I was a teenager when my Dad surprised me with a pair of Girbaud shorts. I jumped up and down screaming I was so excited. (I would do the same thing today if I could fit back into them!)
8. How and When did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember how old I was, but I learned it from my neighbor Angie. I don't remember being sad about it. I just thought, "Oh."
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? My family never did growing up, but my husband's family always got new pajamas, so we have started doing that with out kids, except for this year (since they didn't need pajamas) we bought them all snow pants instead.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? We have 2 trees. One is an artificial full-size tree with white lights, gold, burgundy, and ivory decorations. We have a small artificial "kid" tree with colored lights that has my kid's ornaments and the ornaments I got when I was a child on it.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I seem to dread it more and more the older I get. I am perfectly happy inside watching it snow, but I would rather not have to be in it. Sledding with the family is pretty fun though.
12. Can you ice skate? Yes...I can even go backwards. Don't ask me to do any jumping though.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Mine would have to be a Barbie that my husband gave me in 1999. His sisters had been going through all their Barbie stuff and it had made me sad. I had given away (stupid, stupid, stupid!) all of my Barbie things when I thought I was too "old" for them, and I have regretted it ever since. My hubby's sisters even had a Barbie that I had when I was little. It made me miss them even more, so that Christmas my hubby bought a Barbie for me because he knew I was sad about mine (we didn't even have any kids at the time). It was very sweet.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Remembering the birth of my Savior, and spending time with family.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? My homemade orange and raspberry sticks, which I am not going to make this year. I will miss them.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I have two.
One is from when I was little. My mom made a little nativity scene with stuffed people. There was a wooden manger under baby Jesus, and everytime we did a good deed we got to put a piece of straw under baby Jesus. It is something I would like to start doing with my own kids. My other favorite is from my husband's family. When him and his 5 brothers and sisters got to be a little older and were waking up too early in the morning to find out what "Santa" brought his parents came up with a little plan to keep them in their rooms longer. His parents set up booby traps all down the hall to try to keep the kids in bed...we are talking major traps here! They would tie yarn all around their bedrooms with bells on it so they couldn't even get out of their beds without making a lot of noise. They taped wrapping paper over the end of the hall, rigged up marbles so when a door was opened they would fall into a metal bowl. They did all kinds of things. They said they would stay up laughing their heads off trying to think of new booby traps. I think most of the kids enjoyed trying to get out of their rooms as much as they did the Christmas presents. The kids would even gather up supplies the night before....scissors for cutting string, a flashlight, candy (in case they were hungry), a cup (in case they couldn't get out to go to the bathroom). It is so funny to hear my hubby tell all the stories. I would like to try that with our kids, the only problem is that our bedroom is at the end of the hallway.
17. What tops your tree? A gold statue of Moroni...what better topper is there than that!
18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? I actually prefer receiving (I know I am just a big kid!). I do love giving things to people that I have made though.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Silent Night, and I can't think of the names of any others (I never know the names of songs!).
20. What is your favorite Christmas story? The story of the birth of Christ of course, but I have always loved the story of the Match Girl. I remember listening to it on a record when I was a kid. I wonder if my parents still have it.
Well there are some of my Christmas memories. I would love to read yours, so let me know if you decide to do this meme as well.
These have been a lot of fun to read. And if you are not going to make those chocolate covered raspberry sticks this year, maybe you can post the recipe so WE CAN! :-)
ReplyDeleteI am going to play. I am in the process of writing you a newsey e-mail. I should have it out tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteUm, Ditto on the recipe! I have the same regrets about my Barbie stuff. How could I have been so dumb!
As soon as my kids are older, I am totally stealing your booby trap idea!!!
Yes Ity, eggnog does come in cans. I believe it is made by Bordens. Or at least it used to come in cans. As I recall it tasted like canned milk. I prefer the carton stuff and then delute it by about half with milk.
ReplyDeleteSo, Angie spilled the beans! Eric told me today he was thinking about you last night. He said you taught him how to burp.
I for one will miss the raspberry sticks. But I am sure there will be plenty to take my mind off of them come Christmas.
We used to set booby traps for the kids too. We had a traditon, which the kids din't really care for, that we had to have eaten breakfast before going in to see what the jolly old elf deposited about our tree. You may not recall the traps as they were for the older kids that had rooms in the basement. You had your upstairs with us.
Traditions are fun and it is good to see you believe in having them in your families too.
Looking forward to having you here for the Christmas gatherings.
What? There were traps?! See, I must have been pretty good about not going up when I wasn't yet allowed. I do remember when we lived in California, Dad had made a motion activated alarm and set it up at the end of the hall. Our brother woke up and excitedly bounded down the hall. (He must have been about 3?) That alarm went off and was so loud, that it seemed like he instantly was running back even faster.
ReplyDeleteI gave away all my Barbie stuff, too. But, since it was to such a cute recipient, I've never regretted it.
I love that straw nativity tradition, too! I've searched for years for a non-breakable nativity set that has the baby seperate from the manger, with no luck. And I don't think I could handle making them like mom did. We do do the nativity advent calendar, though.
(I saw egg nog in cans at Walmart on fri. I didn't buy any though, since my ob apt weigh in was less than flattering that morning!)
It was so fun to read your Meme!
ReplyDeleteI don't have my Barbies either. When I got married, I took all my things from by bedroom, but I forgot to take my Barbies from the Barbie house. By the time I came back for them, they no longer had heads (courtesy of my little brothers.)
I didn't realize that you had an angel Moroni for your tree. How cute!
I remember getting so excited about Girbauds too. Now they just look corny when I see old pictures.
We should get together and play when the kids are on Christmas Break! :)
Can I say how much I love this meme? It's so fun to see everyone's different answers! :)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the booby trap thing! I'm SO going to do that...when Cam decides he needs to get up early, that is! :)
Love the booby trapping in-laws. I thought my in-laws got into it putting bells on the kids' doors, but that sounds like way more fun!
ReplyDeletei have nver heard of using an Angel Moroni,that's a good idea!
I really liked reading your meme. I really must do this one soon and share my memories.
ReplyDelete