Christmas meme

In an effort to counter the Grinch that I am, I swiped this from Cheryl's blog....Since winter blues have me in too much of a fog to write anything other than memes, might as well embrace 'em!! Blessed Advent everyone.

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate...though I am really more of a vanilla chai latte girl myself.

Does Santa wrap presents or set them under the tree? We don't really do Santa. When I was growing up though, Santa's presents rarely were wrapped.

Colored lights on tree or white? Colored and sparkly.

When do you put your decorations up? We put up Advent decorations at the start of Advent...the Advent wreath, the manger scenes, various angels and such. Christmas decorations - tree, ornaments, stockings, etc. go up Christmas Eve between the services and then they stay up until Epiphany.

What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Cranberry sauce. I love my homemade cranberry sauce. I grew up thinking you could only get it in a can.

Favorite holiday memory as a child: My dad teaching me to ride a bike.

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I think around 1st or 2nd grade, but in 4th grade I decided to prove it by asking Santa for a ten speed but just telling my parents I wanted a bike. I got the bike. But mom said if you stopped believing in Santa he stopped bringing gifts. :)

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We've done both, but my hubby is more of a traditionalist and prefers Christmas Day. However, it is really casual. We do it after church, eat lunch, and then open them. We actually do more of our immediate family presents on Epiphany, and that's when I make the big feast, too, so we can have Cynthia over and we also get the sale prices that way. :) After all, it is when the Wise Men brought Jesus His gifts. We started doing presents on Epiphany when we lived in California and our Christmas days were hectic. After church we would rush home and open presents, then pile into the car to get to Jeff's parents' house and open presents there with extended family, and then everyone would stress out to get the house recovered in time for the really extended family to come. So we started opening only one on Christmas and having Epiphany all to ourselves. There were plenty of other gifts...

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Lights and ornaments. On our first Christmas dating, I got us a couple of ornaments, then a friend made them for us for a couple of years as presents, so we developed a tradition of buying one or two ornaments each year that tell us something about the year...so when we hang them we can say "Oh, we got this one because Chris learned to read, or Maggie's first year playing tee ball." etc. Our newest one is to commemorate our trip to Hawaii for my parents' 50th.

Snow! Love it or dread it? For Christmas? Dread it. I know people are big on White Christmases, but I grew up in the desert. It often was in the 50's or 60's and the sun was shining beautifully....closer to the Mediterranean climate Jesus was born in.

Can you ice skate? Yes, but I don't like it. Kills my ankles.

What was your favorite gift? Hmmm. Jeff proposed 2 days before Christmas, so I'd have to say my engagement ring.

What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? The birth of my Lord and Savior. I also really like the family time.

What is your favorite holiday dessert? Dutch apple pie

What is your favorite tradition? I really love cooking Christmas/Epiphany dinner, but I wouldn't mind making that Hawaiian cruise a tradition, either. :)

Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Giving. I love picking out stuff for my kids.

What is your favorite secular Christmas song? They all pretty much drive me nuts. I'm such a Grinch.

What is your favorite Advent hymn? "Hark the Glad Sound," most definitely. I missed it on Wednesday because I was running late. I was so bummed. "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" is a close second.

"What is your favorite Christmas hymn? "Angels from the Realms of Glory." As a kid it was "Angels We have Heard on High" because the 6th graders always got to sing that in the program (they were the big kids) and it had Latin in it.

(I'm starting to hear Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition in this ---"WHAT is your favorite Advent hymn? WHAT is your favorite dessert?)

Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? I like the rainbow colored cherry ones.

Ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes, yes I have.