A Christmas theme

[pensnest]

Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Usually wrapping paper, except for bottles. I sometimes get artistic with ribbon, but mostly not.

Real tree or artificial?
Real! I love the smell of a real tree. We've yet to manage to dispatch the used tree to be 'chipped', but they compost (eventually) at the bottom of the garden.

When do you put up the tree?
After I've written my SeSa story, probably. Quite close to Christmas.

When do you take the tree down?
Sometime in January, when I get round to it.

Do you like egg nog?
I think my Grandma fed me Advocaat once, but I have no memory of the taste. I've never been interested enough to make the effort to try it again.

Favorite gift received as a child?
I really can't remember. Probably books.

Hardest person to buy for?
My son, whose wants are very few. Most of the family are well-trained enough to provide lists, or can be given foodstuffs. Boy doesn't even like chocolate.

Easiest person to buy for?
Bunny! At least, strictly speaking the menfolk are easiest, as they specify (and quite frequently provide an exact link to the website which sells whatever it is they want), but Bun is the most fun.

Do you have a nativity scene?
No.

Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail. But I'll be doing my Christmas letter on the web.

Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Again, I don't remember.

Favorite Christmas movie?
Not sure that I have one... Does 'The Sound of Music' count?

When do you start shopping for Christmas?
When the catalogues arrive, so probably the first bits and pieces get done as early as September. I strongly approve of shopping online, anyway, so I can avoid the crowds.

Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
I don't think so, but it's possible. For some years we maintained a 'mathom' pile, mostly things we were given as wedding presents, but there may have been some Christmas gifts in there too. I've sent a few to charity shops, I've no doubt.

Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Chocolates! (sigh)

Favorite Christmas song?
I like singing proper Christmas carols, but haven't had a chance for some time. We (the opsoc) used to do regular carols at the Blind Centre, but for some reason we've not been there for a few years now. As I don't go to church, no carols for me. Woe.

Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Used to be we'd go to my husband's parents for Christmas. After a couple of years of this, with them flapping around like headless turkeys, I insisted that I would do the cooking as a Christmas treat for them. Now, with MIL gone, FIL and BIL come here. It's easier cooking in my own kitchen.

Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Yes! :-P
Okay. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen. And Rudolph.

Angel on the tree top or a star?
I can't remember which we use, we have both. I know we have a fancy star, and possibly we perch the angel somewhere near the top as well.

Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Christmas Day in the morning. My father used to irritate his children dreadfully by sneakily opening all his presents at dead of night, after the midnight service. He could then write everything down in the Christmas book. But we have a nice dressing-gown-clad opening ceremony, all taking turns together.

Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Bloody awful music whenever you go into a shop or mall.

Favorite ornament theme or color?
It has to be red, gold and a bit of green. Proper Christmas colours. I am seduced by blue and silver, or purple and bronze, but not to the point of actually buying those things. Red, gold, and a bit of green. Or glass, as I succumbed to a very pretty set of glass angels a couple of years ago.

Favorite for Christmas dinner?
I found a recipe for boned, stuffed turkey in a Good Housekeeping magazine years ago, and have been cooking it ever since. Sausage and cranberry stuffing at one end, home-made sage and onion at the other, wrapped up, well buttered, foiled, and shoved in the oven. It's really good, and Beast appreciates it as it is absurdly easy to carve. Roast potatoes, roast parsnips. Carrots. Something green, beans probably, as my FIL grows them and brings a frozen supply. Luxuriant gravy, cranberry jelly (sometimes even home-made cranberry sauce), red wine. Then Christmas pud set ablaze, with brandy or rum sauce (made from a packet, but surprisingly good) and optional brandy butter. Personally I'd be happy with something a bit nicer to eat than Christmas pudding, but it is Traditional.

What do you want for Christmas this year?
Hmm. A Lance Bass calendar would be nice. (Lance, why have you not taken the time to pose for this? You don't even have to be naked.) A handbag shaped like a Yorkie dog. ISIHAC's "Humph in Wonderland". A goat, or a basket of seeds, or anything else from Oxfam Unwrapped. An idea for my MTYG story, though I suppose that might be a bit too late to be useful. Hmm.

Comments

[msktrnanny.livejournal.com]

Why get a flimsy calendar when you can get one of these??? Also much better than a Yorkie bag.

I'm amused by the answers in this meme [by you and Terri!]. So interesting to see how people view the holidays.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Wow. I don't know what to say about that bag.

[msktrnanny.livejournal.com]

You can get them personally signed. I swear, if I had money to burn, several people would get them as gifts with really nifty dedications. There are several designs. As well as blankets.

[pensnest]

I'm very much amused at the idea of snuggling up with a Lance blanket or a mega Lance cushion.

They don't seem to have any with Nose 1.0, though.

[pensnest]

Hmmmmmmm. Nah, don't like the bag much. I wantss a calendar, precious.

[sperrywink]

Shopping online is awesome and the way to go.

Proper Christmas colors is definitely the way to go.

[pensnest]

There have been times when I've managed to get holly and ivy and decorate the place in fine, traditional style. Those were mostly before I discovered popslash, though—having a story to polish off in the run-up to Christmas does make quite a difference. Perhaps this year I'll send the brats out a-gathering.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Red and gold plus a bit of green sounds like a lovely colour scheme.

I've never been able to get away with Christmas pudding. We were given one once and it sat in the cupboard for years.

[pensnest]

My Beast is very partial to Christmas pudding, and I usually stock up with a few half-price ones after Christmas, if I can. They're easy enough to cook in the microwave, but I dimly recall them being a complete pain when they had to be boiled or pressure-cooked.

[puszysty.livejournal.com]

There are links to a few make your own calendar sites on my wish list post. You could make one of all half naked pictures of Lance. :)

[pensnest]

Hee. I could. But I kinda want him to do *new* pictures. I do have a b/w pic from his beach shoot stuck to the top of my monitor. :-D