~Wednesday, December 16, 2009

27 Days of Christmas

Stolen from Brookem:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper! What fun is it to reach your hand in a bag and pull something out? Bor-ing. Unless the child is too young to understand the concept of wrapping paper, I never use gift bags.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial. Mine is pre-lit and glittery. Take that, real tree.

3. When do you put up the tree? Every year I get up early the day after Thanksgiving, forgo shopping, and start decorating while watching every Christmas movie I own.

4. When do you take the tree down? New Year's Eve. I once head it was bad luck to ring in the new year with last year's tree.

5. Do you like eggnog? I did not grow up in an eggnog family, so I don't think I have ever had it.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Probably this stuffed howling wolf my dad got me from Bob Evans. I still have it, but the Femme Fatale got jealous and ate out the mouth of the wolf. She's destroyed all of my stuffed animals that look like her. She also ate out the eyes of my husky slippers.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? I don't! I haven't seen them around very much lately, probably because the stores don't want to carry the religious connotation.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My father. He doesn't read or watch movies or have any hobbies under $50. He likes boats and looking at real estate, which is really hard to purchase. My brother and I have since started giving him restaurant gift certificates.

9. Easiest person to buy for? My step-mother. She has really obvious tastes, meaning that if you see something, you can instantly tell whether she'll like it or not. I also think I'm pretty easy to buy for too. ;)

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? When I was in college, my parents conspired and decided it was the best idea to give me food as presents. I graduated from college on December 20th and was so elated to not be in college anymore and unwrap things like toilet paper and dog food like I did for my birthday (true story). First I unwrapped a case of V8 juice. The next present was brownie mix. I pushed it away and cried and refused to open the rest of my presents. I was 23. It wasn't pretty. My mother and I ended up getting in a shouting match on Christmas Day and she just couldn't understand why I was so upset.

On a side note, my father let it slip that he bought me something "for the kitchen" from Costco this year for Christmas. I called my mother in a flurry of tears and made her call him and make sure it wasn't food. It traumatized me that much.

11. Mail or e-mail Christmas card? Mail! I'm sending them out for the first time this year! Between cards and stamps, it's like an extra $20 spent on Christmas and now I'm wondering if it is really worth it.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Christmas Vacation, obviously.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? This year I started in October when I found something on sale that I knew my step-mother would love. See? That easy.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I haven't, but one year I gave my step-mother a Christmas wreath and the year afterwards she gave it to me for Christmas. That also should also go on the Worst Christmas Gift list.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My grandmother's cookies. I like the cream cheese-filled cupcakes or the buckeyes.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? I waffle on this, but this year I decided clear lights. They look cleaner.

17. Favorite Christmas song? It changes every year. I think I'm stuck on Joni Mitchel's "River" even though I'm not sure it's truly a Christmas song.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home. I say that because I travel every year.

19. Can you name Santa’s reindeer? No, I always name Donner twice. "Now Dasher, now Dancer, now Donner and Blitzen. On Comet, on Cupid, on Donner and Vixen." I know Prancer goes in there somewhere, but I don't know where.

20. Do you have an Angel on top or a star? Neither, I have a big ribbon.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning. My parents would never let us open on Christmas Eve, not even one.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? The fact I have to avoid the immediate 5 miles around the mall or face hellish traffic.

23. Ugliest Christmas Decoration ever invented? Probably those knitted tissue box covers.

25. Which looks best theme trees or homey trees? Theme. I use only red, pink and white ornaments. I think it looks nice.

26. Gingerbread or sugar cookies? Gingerbread. I think sugar cookies are a waste of calories.

27. Do you like Fruitcake? Yes, my grandmother's.

9 comments:

Bathwater said...

Our favorite Christmas movie has become "Jingle All The Way" Sindbad was never funnier.

Anonymous said...

Humor!
Awww, too bad you didn't like getting the food-stuff for xmas. I love getting things I hate spending my really hard earned money on. But lately I'm trying to accept pretty/fun things as a "must have" ... it's hard for me!

donteattoken

Sarah said...

And that's what my parents said, they were freeing up my money to buy other things I want. But the thing is I wouldn't have wasted my money on Capri Sun, V8, or brownie mix either. It's not like it was 10 pounds of beef.

I don't know. I always viewed presents as the fun things you would never buy yourself. Cause seriously, it's not fun opening dog food. I don't even view that as a gift for me.

Erin said...

I would be annoyed if my parents gave me food for Christmas. That's something nice to do for your kid when you come visit their apartment for the first time, not things you waste your time wrapping.

Prancer goes in the first place you had Donner.

SuvvyGirl said...

Your tree sounds pretty. I imagine it would look kind of like a foresty candy cane :) I swear we need to start putting up two trees. One with all of my ornaments I've gotten since I was born with my multicolored lights and one that has a theme. And unless you're like a teenage boy food for Christmas is a no no, it's tacky.

nicole said...

my (real)dad once gave me a study guide for christmas, with a $20 check taped to the back cover and told me i wasn't allowed to cash it until i had studied the entire book and took the quiz at the end for proof. =/ and i was 16, so my mother conspired with him to make sure i didn't try.
this year we're having a hard time thinking of something for my little sister. she's like your dad, into expensive stuff. so last night standing around my parents' kitchen as we were discussing it, my (step)dad said, "i should get her tires, she really needs them, but that's no fun, and christmas presents are supposed to be fun." so thankfully for my sister, tires are out. lol.
i always remember the reindeer by singing the song in my head... "you know dasher, and dancer, and prancer and vixen. comet, and cupid, and donner, and blitzen. but do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?" lol.
as for #21, ever since we were little, my parents have always let us open 1 present on christmas eve. it always had to be preapproved, but usually it was a stuffed animal or pajamas. something we could bring to bed while we waited for santa. lol. now days, my sister is the only one keeping that tradition going. the rest of us could care less. haha. and on a side note, you can leave it to my husband to have the rest of the house up at 5 am to open presents. this year he's in iraq, so maybe we'll get to sleep in ;)

kristin said...

check out winter song by sara bareilles.

dont eat the token said...

I totally know what you're saying about the foods. Maybe they should have thrown a few pretty non-edible things in there too!!!

No matter what, I hope your xmas this year is perf.

xo

Paige Jennifer said...

I love eggnog but refuse to buy it. Because I will drink every last drop. And I'm doing enough damage to my body with the copious amounts of holiday cookies I shove in my mouth.

 

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