The Anchoress drops a meme. I pick it up.
1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Eggnog with Myers
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Huh? What? UNwrapped presents, are you kidding? Always wrap, and wrap by code. That is to say each child gets their own kind of wrapping, with matching ribbons and cards on top.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Always colors, always small bulbs, always individual twinkle. Never all flashing at the same time. Usually 3 strands.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No.
5. When do you put your decorations up? There's not a set time, but it's always done in one night. We don't get rid of the tree until February.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Moms' oyster stuffing. There is nothing on the planet like it and if my wife doesn't learn to prepare it, I'm going to talk to my lawyer.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: You can't possibly expect that there is one memory. I had a glorious childhood. But if you insist, I will refer you to my Hot Wheels Christmas. That's the one where I actually found out where my parents hid the presents and I got the absolute coolest toy of the season, the Ontario Trio.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Ahem. I grew up in a black neighborhood. Ain't no fat white men in red bouncing around on rooftops. So I suppose I knew that about the time I knew I lived in a black neighborhood, which would be about age 5.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Just one. Yeah...
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Everybody gets a new ornament each year. We're almost to the point where they exceed the number of regular bulbs. We use large bulbs in two colors, red and gold. I already talked about the lights. Never frost the tree. Always use a douglas fir. Sometimes use icicles (even though one year the baby choked on one). Sometimes use garlands. Always have the traditional star up top. Ours is made of a wooden weave.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? The Spousal Unit detests any condition in which the temperature falls below 50 degrees. I wish we had blizzards in Southern California. We could ski in Palos Verdes!
12. Can you ice skate? Yes and do a single axel.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? The favorite gift I ever gave was to Boy the year every kid wanted a Razor more than life itself. Also that year F11 got a 'My Size Butterfly Barbie'. It was all she talked about.
14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? The time off work. No seriously, it has to be the family get-together meal, although lately we haven't been as good on that score as we once were. Pops' children are all still in Cali, but we're getting far flung. We're in Sonoma, Cucamonga, Redondo and Pasadena.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? I'm really not a dessert person. The answer is hot cobbler a la mode, but I don't particularly ask for it. This Thanksgiving we had pear cobbler, and it was astoundingly good. First time on that one.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I have to admit that for me it's burning the all the Christmas wrapping in the fireplace. It always gets out of hand, and everybody always complains that the fire is getting too big and hot, but that's part of the fun. Behind that is the first day of Kwanzaa.
17. What tops your tree? Whomever came up with these questions must think we think in incomplete fragments. I've already answered that.
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Giving for sure. Nobody can buy for me because I have all the stuff I want. it would drive people to distraction to even try and everybody knows that. I'm a huge Santa and I wear the hat out in the streets whenever we are holiday shopping.
19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Born in a Manger by Sounds of Blackness. Behind that is Jesus is the Reason by Kirk Frankln. When it comes to singing carols, I'm going to have to say
20. Candy canes: Ick. Just like candy corn at Halloween. Best avoided.
21. Favorite Christmas movie? You know what? They're all the same. Once upon a time I liked Miracle on 34th Street, but I never try to see a Christmas movie.
22. What do you leave for Santa? Chocolate chip cookies and milk. My favorite.
I would add to this meme a few more of my own.
A. Fixing Bikes: Yes I assemble all the toys that need assembling before I wrap them. It is something of a tradition to do this while eggnogged up as close to the last minute as possible.
B. Popcorn: This is a relatively new tradition but I haven't really gotten into it. Getting or giving a decorated tub of popcorn is cool. Also we may try and do a popcorn garland this year.
C. Caroling Door to Door: Nope. never have, but I do always sing loud and with my best harmonies inside the house.
D. Wearing Santa Hats in Public: Yes, always.
E. Wreaths: On the door, yep. But we don't really go to extremes on that. On the car,I would if I had a Hummer. It only seems to make sense to me to do on trucks.
F: Outdoor Displays: We do that up for Halloween but not for Christmas. Not even lights recently. I'd never put up a creche unless it was very expensive and handmade and sat on a huge lawn. I really find that showiness distasteful.
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