The Merry Christmas Meme

From the homebound-for-the-day Samurai Frog:

1. Favorite traditional Christmas song:
"Silent Night" boasts, for my money, one of the best pure melodies ever written.

2. Favorite contemporary or modern Christmas song:
"Christmastime Is Here" By a wide, wide margin. I do find it odd that I'm unable to find aversion to love alongside the Guaraldi original though.

3. Christmas song that makes you cry
To the best of my recollection, no Christmas song has ever made me cry.

4. Real or artificial tree:
Real. That smell and tactile feel just can't be replicated.

5. Favorite Christmas edible treat
Egg nog. I'm a bit crazy for egg nog. (I prefer the Southern Comfort brand, diluted heavily with milk, but when laziness abates I also enjoy making the stuff fresh. I don't drink alcohol, so mine is naught but milk, egg, sugar, and vanilla. It's really cake batter minus the flour, isn't it?

6. White lights or multi-colored:
White for decorating outside, colored for the tree. Colored lights on a house are too much for my taste, while white lights on a tree are too spare and cold.

7. How many Christmas parties will you go to this year:
None. I'm not a fan of parties.

8. Favorite act of kindness to perform during this season:
Buying new toys to give away.

9. Favorite sounds of Christmas:
The squeals and exclamations of little kids opening presents early in the morning.

10. Favorite things to wear:
I do not have a Christmas wardrobe of any kind.

11. Favorite Christmas movie/TV special:
Laurel and Hardy's Babes in Toyland. Hilarious.

12. Eggnog or hot chocolate:
See above.

13. Favorite Christmas book:
When I think about it, I really don't have one.

14. Christmas books on my "to read" list:
None.

15. Peppermint or cinnamon:
Both, depending on the context.

16. What's on the top of your tree:
A knit angel.

17. Traditional Christmas meal growing up:
Turkey and trimmings. Not much different from Thanksgiving, really.

18. Online shopping or traditional "go to the store" shopping:
The store, mostly. CDs and books are easy, but for most things I need to see and touch them.

19. Something you received as a Christmas gift as a child that you still have:
I don't know that I still have any childhood gifts. I still I have a Curious George from when I was about three, but I don't know if that was a Christmas gift or not.

20. How many Christmas cards you have mailed so far:
None. Wed don't do Christmas cards.

21. Favorite source for Christmas ideas:
Not sure what this means.

22. Coordinated/themed or hodge-podge tree decorations:
Hodge-podge. Ornaments from when we were kids, our kids' ornaments, ornaments we've received as gifts or given each other, all mixed up.

23. What's on the top of YOUR Christmas wishlist:
Alex Ross' The Art of Noise. Dying to read this book.

24. Roles you've played in Christmas plays/programs:
None.

25. Wrapping paper or gift bags:
Wrapping paper for kids, gift bags and paper for adults depending on the type of gift and time.

26. When do you put up the tree:
Two-three weeks before Christmas.

27. When do you take the tree down: A few days after New Years.

28. Do you have a nativity scene:
One in the living room and one in the kids' room.

29. Hardest person to buy for:
Father-in-law.

30. Easiest person to buy for:
Sister. We share a lot of tastes.

31. Worst Christmas gift you ever received:
No idea.

32. When do you start shopping for Christmas:
Mid-late November.

33. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present:
No.

34. Travel at Christmas or stay home:
With three-year olds we are no longer travelling. Used to travel at least an hour and a half all the time.

35. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer:
I can not.

36. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning:
Christmas morning.

37. Most annoying thing about this time of year:
Nasty people in over-crowded stores.

38. What I love most about Christmas:
Christmas morning with kids. Pure magic.

Until Whenever