A Christmas survey!!! 1. Do
A Christmas survey!!!
1. Do you buy a real tree (live or cut)? Do you have it flocked? Do you drag the colossal box down from the attic (or up from the basement) and spend an afternoon sorting the J4 branches from the K3's and fitting them in their appropriate slots?
Ours is real. We always go up to Wisconsin and cut it down, but this year everyone was busy and I think my parents just went to the Jaycees and got one there. Can't wait to see it!!
2. What special ornaments are a MUST for your tree?
Each year my sister and I get an ornament for Christmas, with the date on it somewhere, so we have to put those up. We have some old ornaments from when my mom was a kid, and a doll that was my mom's that always sits in the branches wherever there's a naked spot. <.g> We have the cardboard-and-macaroni Christmas trees we made at the library one year when we were like, four. Lots of fun old ornaments Jess or I made. We also have to have glass icicles.
3. Garland or icicles?
Icicles. Lol. As mentioned above.
4. White lights or multi-colored? Blink or non-blinking?
On the tree, multi-colored. On the house, they're white icicle lights. We have a new-Victorian-ish house, so it looks really pretty to have the white icicle lights on all the peaks and valleys of the roof. =)
5. Do you decorate outside with a creche? Icicle lights? The new rope lights? Santa and Rudolph on the roof?
Man, I keep answering the next question too early!! I should read ahead. lol. Icicle lights. That's all the Christmas decorations we have outside, though. Oh, I think we decorate our pole light with garland and white lights as well. But we have a bay window in the front, and that's where our Christmas tree goes, so you can see that from the outside.
6. Church? Midnight mass? Christmas caroling?
We go to the 11:00 service on Christmas Eve. It's not a mass because we're not Catholic... lol. But yeah, it's the candlelight service, and when you get out, it's Christmas! It's quite fun, actually. And we get to sing all the classic Christmas songs and it's really pretty and everything.
7. Christmas music: Are you more the classics kinda gal (Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Ray Coniff singers, etc.) the modern Christmas tunes ("A Very Special Christmas" 1-5, Country, Rap etc.) or do you prefer orchestral/chorale music?
All of that and more, actually. Every Christmas Eve my cousins and my grandparents come and we have a nice dinner and sing carols. And I was in choir for, like, my entire life, and we sang all the classics there. I have been rotating a Blues and Jazz Christmas CD my uncle made me with my *NSYNC Christmas CD, Mannheim Steamroller Christmas, Ultimate Christmas (classic carols), and Rosie Christmas (the first one). So that's quite a mix of old and new, don'tcha think?
8. What about food? Are you a sucker for Aunt Ruby's Eggnog? Do you use the annual fruitcake for a doorstop? Do you make fudge or candies and cookies for your friends and co-workers or neighbors? Share a recipe.
We always have Snowball cookies. Sadly, I don't know how to make them. Grandma always has the dough pre-made for us and we just roll them into balls, bake them, and roll them in powdered sugar. Someday I'll have to learn, because they're my favorites. <.g>
9. Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?
We always get a pair of pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve. I mean, we receive them on Christmas Eve and we wear them on Christmas Eve. So we open that present, but the rest are for Christmas morning.
10. What's the ONE thing you have to have/see/do/eat that makes it feel like Christmas?
Christmas Eve is the more special holiday for us. It's not all commercially-Christmas, ya know? We have Christmas music on, the TV stays off, my dad's brother and his family come, my mom's parents come, and it's just small and Family. We have a nice dinner, have a scavanger hunt for the kids (little fun gifts, and the girls like it now that they can both read the hints <.g>), we sing carols, do the Christmas play, and then my uncle and his family go to my dad's parents house and my mom's parents and my family go to church. Then they stay overnight so that they're here for Christmas morning. So Christmas Eve really makes Christmas special in my house. =)
11. Tell us about your favorite Christmas memory.
My favorite Christmas memory is from when I was about... five. That year my mom's brother and his family came for Christmas Eve, as well. Vaughn was two, Jess was three, and Weston wasn't born yet. Jess was the Angel, Vaughn was Joseph, and I was Mary. First of all, I had practiced and practiced with my baby doll as Jesus, but when it came time for it, I insisted on my stuffed Pink Panther. Jessica and I had been She-Ra's for Halloween that year, and Vaughn found one of our She-Ra costumes. He insisted on wearing the mask and cape, and he was carrying the pink sword. Jessica belted out her one line as the Angel and refused to do anything else. We had a She-Ra as Joseph and a pink cat as baby Jesus. Classic, I tell ya. Ha ha. It was actually really cute. We have pictures up at Grandma Peggy's house. Vaughn's pretty embarrassed that he ever dressed up as She-Ra, but there's proof!