Monday Morning Meme

Monday Morning Meme
Because you have nothing better to do with your time. You know the drill!

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy this entire post and paste into a new post of your own. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then leave a comment with your link so we can all go and read your answers......Tis the Season to be NICE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Depends on the size and type of gift. Either way, I like to make both the wrapped gift and the gift bag special.

2. Real tree or Artificial? I would love a real tree, but back in 1986 I gave in to DH Jimmy and we bought our first artificial. Who knew in 2008 we'd be considered green and our carbon footprint was less because we switched. ;)

3. When do you put up the tree? The weekend after Thanksgiving, since we don't have to worry about if the tree is going to shed needles and die before Christmas.

5. Do you like Egg Nog? Yes, but I like to thin it out with skim milk. I just can't drink anything "thick" like that anymore.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? When I was 10, I got my new teal & silver Schwinn 28" 2-wheel bicycle. It was awesome … and took me on all my adventures far from home.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My mom and MIL. They both have pretty much everything they want.

8. Easiest person to buy for? DD Autumn and DS Matthew. They have always provided me with a huge list to work from. It is amazing how many items on their lists they would get. Damn spoiled brats. ;)

9. Do you have a nativity scene? No. I would love one, but we never had the safe place to set it up - between kids and dogs … but maybe next year I can find one that would work on our mantle.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. & if you ask my DH Jimmy, I send out too many. ;) But it's my thing ... so he puts up with it with minimal grumbling.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Well, I guess the worst would be none. There were many years we just didn't have the money, so Jimmy and I wouldn't exchange gifts.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? All of them are my favorites. I watch them over and over again. But if I just could only pick one .. it would be SCROOGED with Bill Murray.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? The day after Christmas. LOL … I start hording gifts right away for the next year. Sometimes I find them a few months after Christmas that I forgot to get out and wrap. I've done that more times than I'll ever admit.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Only because the person (dd Autumn) wanted it and so I just gave it to her. That happens a lot too.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? my MIL's chocolate fudge

16. Lights on the tree? white and blue.

17. Favorite Christmas song? This is so hard. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas music. I start on Thanksgiving Eve listening to my Christmas music and don't stop until the first work day after the holidays. This year … that will be Monday 1/5/09. So to pick my favorite Christmas song ??? I would have to say MERRY CHRISTMAS DARLING by The Carpenters.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? When the kids were little and my step-daddy and FIL were alive, we would travel non-stop. Now it's stay at home.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Absolutely … Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen & Rudolph.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel. My crystal angel that DH Jimmy bought me back in 1986 when I agreed to switch to an artificial tree.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Eve with Jimmy's family, we open the gifts from the in-laws for the kids … and the sister-in-laws swap gifts amongst each of us. Of course now it's on Sunday, not Christmas Eve. All other gifts are opened on Christmas Day after we get back home from mass.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? People who are grumpy and don't even try to have the Holiday Spirit.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? my ornaments are crystal balls, and navy, burgundy, rose, silver and gold glass balls. Also we have the traditional "first" ornaments for our family.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? We have many different meals that DH Jimmy and I are responsible for. The Fortney Christmas get-together is no longer on Christmas Eve, it's the Sunday before Christmas … that way the individual families can have their own Christmas at their homes.

So this Sunday 12/21/08 Jimmy and I are making: roasted beef tenderloin on the grill, a spiral ham and a roast turkey breast (sliced for sandwiches), pretzel rolls, potato roles, broccoli bake, sweet potatoes, potato salad, macaroni salad, red beet eggs, filling balls, and an assortment of deserts and candy.

Then on Christmas Eve we are going to our dear friends' Holly and Doug's house. I'm not sure what is on the menu yet, but we will be bringing at least 2 dishes for the festivities.

On Christmas Day it will be a repeat of the Fortney Christmas get-together, since DS Matthew won't be home in time to attend, and all those foods are his favorite.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? the whole family together... and if Jimmy would want to get me a new digital camera, that would be nice too!