A Christmas Meme...

I have been meaning to blog about 3 or 4 things this week... including bidding on a house in our neighborhood when we are going to be selling this house and moving... that will have to wait for another day, a son with a chipped tooth, a craft fair I went to a couple weeks ago and more... I promise I will try to be better. It occurred to me that it is DECEMBER 1st and I have not even gotten my Christmas decorations out of the shed. I am usually so ready to put up my decorations, but - honestly - I think if I could pay an elf to come put my tree up - I would! Okay, so Savannah wouldn't really let me do that. I know, I know... to help me to get in the spirit I am borrowing a Christmas meme I found.

My Christmas Memories


1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot Chocolate - obviously! Seriously, I have never even tried egg nog. It just doesn't sound like something I want to try.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? Santa wraps EVERYTHING! I mean every tiny little thing down to the tic tacs in the stockings. I love watching my kids tear into gifts and think that really most of the fun is in opening. Sometimes they could care less what is really inside.

3. Colored lights or white? I really like colored for my inside tree. I have gone through phases of liking white and blue lights outside. *Tim rarely puts the lights up outside, though.* My favorite lights are what I had as a kid. We just had one string that hung from the porch roof and they were those kind that are bigger - like night light bulbs. I have seen them on houses here and there and I am always so happy to see them. Someday, maybe we will get some of those.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope - who needs mistletoe to kiss?

5. When do you decorate for Christmas? Usually the weekend after Thanksgiving and sorta keeps going through that whole week. This year we were painting our whole living area the weekend after Thanksgiving. I guess that makes it this weekend that we will be decorating!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish, excluding dessert? It is hard to choose since I can't say peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies and fudge... I really like getting take out Chinese on Christmas Eve. My favorite Christmas meal as a kid was when my mom ordered Pizza Hut on Christmas Eve. She worked in the ER back then and was really tired from her night shift. She has since told me that she felt horrible giving us pizza on Christmas Eve, but she was exhausted. The thing is that when we were kids, we didn't get pizza all that often. I was so excited for the pizza guy to come. My kids, on the other hand, get pizza a couple times a month. That would not really be a thrill, but Chinese food seems a little extra special.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? We always did our presents and Santa on Christmas Eve because like I said, my mom usually had to work the night shift. So, my dad would take us four kids out to look at lights. He would do donuts and drive like a nut and we laughed ourselves silly. While we were out, my mom would run next door to our neighbor's and they would bring all the presents over. We knew if the Christmas lights were back on that Santa had come. I STILL remember how excited I was when we would walk in and see all the presents. It was like magic!

8. When and how, did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember. I guess I still believe. Seriously, some people talk about being lied to and being crushed - blah, blah, blah - whatever! I absolutely love my Santa memories. Even more I love my memories of sharing Santa with my kids! I can still remember Timmy being outside on the porch doing the Santa Tracker thing and hearing bells. His eyes were so wide open and amazed! It was priceless! Since I am harping on people not liking Santa... it just drives me absolutely wacko when OTHER kids tell my kids there is NO SANTA! Who on Earth put these other kids in charge of this? That never happened when I was a kid that I can remember. I am pretty sure Savannah doesn't believe anymore because she has been told by other kids not to. I will have to stomp on any kids that tell Sebastian! Okay, I won't really do that, but I seriously hope they don't ruin the magic for him.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, we always open my mom's gifts to all of us and any packages that were mailed to us. When I was a kid we did all of our presents on Christmas Eve because my mom usually worked in the ER that night and didn't want to be tired in the morning watching us open gifts.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? It is a hodge podge of this and that. We have some sets of matching ornaments, but mostly they are just the ones we have collected over the years. I did manage to save many of my childhood ornaments. When I had Savannah and started making a definate effort to get the kids their own ornament each year. Before that Timmy has some hit and miss years for ornaments. The thing is that I will be sad to give them their ornaments when they move away. I have even thought of buying two of each one - one for them to take and one for me to keep with my memories.


11. Snow. Love it or hate it? I love to look at it through a big window, snuggled in a blanket, not that I have done that in the past 16 years of living in Florida.

12. Can you ice skate? I have ice skated exactly once. Savannah was 4 and we went to a homeschool Christmas party that was at the rink. She so wanted to do it and I was terribly afraid. I was actually pretty down at the time due to some family stuff and when we got out there to skate... we had the best time. I mean it was wonderful! She is 8 now and I can't believe we haven't done it again. I need to make a date for that this December. What a great reminder!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I have two - one from my childhood and one from being an adult. When I was a kid, my favorite gift was a few actually. I think I was about 7 and Santa brought me a doll that was the size of a 6 month old baby. I also got a real umbrella stroller and diaper bag (think 70's style hard flip top diaper bag) stuffed with real baby clothes! I guess my adult favorite is probably my true favorite of them all, though. Tim put a tiny baby pacifier in my stocking the Christmas of 1997. When I reached down and opened it, I just burst into tears! It was his sign that he was ready to have a baby! Words cannot express my shear happiness from seeing a $3 pacifier in my stocking.

14. What is the most important thing about the holidays to you? Well, of course, it is about Jesus. I always showed Timmy that part of it, but I think I have gotten much better with my other two kids. I guess it was something that I needed to grow with before I could fully share all of it with my kids. Aside from that, it is about family. I love being with them, baking, cooking, wrapping, watching silly movies, etc.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Oops, I already answered that above. I love what my mom always called Peanut Blossoms. They are those peanut butter cookies with the hershey kiss on top. I don't know why we usually only make them at Christmas. I can eat a ton of them which is why I am stressing because of my Sparkpeople program and I don't want to know how much of what is in those little cookies!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I don't know if this is a tradition or not, but I love baking with my kids. I love making tons of cookies and fudge. I could bake and bake some more, except my house would be incredibly a mess and I would be behind on everything. (Side note - I just asked Timmy what he would say my favorite tradition was since I was kinda stumped - he said making peanut butter cookies! LOL!)


17. What tops your tree? A frugal (read cheap) light up star we got at Walmart a few years back that is INCREDIBLY pretty!

18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? I love giving gifts especially to my kids. My mom is probably the second on who I love to get gifts for. I shop all year round and like trying to find that perfect thing for them.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? I really like the one called Mary, did you know? Not when Kenny Rogers sings it though... I think it is Kathy Mattea or something like that.

20. Candy canes. Yuck or yum? I like the tiny ones a little bit, but I prefer chocolate any day.