Tis' The Season

A little Christmas meme as seen HERE

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Egg nog ala Tom and Jerry which is to say warm with warming libations.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Depends on what he brings, but if possible, he wraps them.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Pure, pristine white.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? sometimes.
5. When do you put your decorations up? Throughout the month of December. I like to get the tree up as soon as possible so as to enjoy it. I'm really taking a less is more approach with the rest of the decorations. This year it's lots of greens and lights and I am at total peace with that.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? It's really too hard to name one. The holidays are all about tradition and what we eat and drink instills within us so many memories. It's not Christmas without a Tom & Jerry, my Mom's spinach stuffed tomatoes or my Grandma's garlicky kielbasa. I need my fairy food fix and a nip or two of my mil's Irish cream so much better than Baileys. Best years boast my Dad and Step-mom's brunches. This is one of them. Boo Ya Baby!
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? New Year's in Door County with the whole fam. Ice skating and game playing and merry making the time away.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? What truth?!?
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Always. Usually lots.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? White lights and an eclectic, adored assortment of ornaments collected over decades. Our tree literally tells the story of our life together. I know them all...where they came from, what they mean. They mean much.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? LOVE it and never apologize for that! My girl shares my snowlust. Come to think of it so does my boy.
12. Can you ice skate? Tentatively. I don't fall as my kids point out, but I take few risks.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? T. Bone. December 27, 2000. An angel. Our angel.
14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Making magic for my kids and memories with the people I love. Filling my hope tank and giving good will. Paying reverance to Mary and celebrating Jesus.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Homemade, bite-sized Christmas cookies in all varieties except mincemeat or date.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Nanny ornaments and Christmas Eve Mass and Fred and Breakfast with Santa and Advent and apparently I love them all.
17. What tops your tree? A simple golden star.
18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Giving! Duh! There's nothing that feels better than knowing you have gotten it just right, or even almost.
19. Candy canes: yuck or yummy? Usually pretty yummy!
20. Favorite Christmas show? I have always been fond of Elf and The Polar Express. New to us this year and now esteemed are Prancer and A Christmas Story.
21. Saddest Christmas song? Something about Mama's shoes.
22. What is your favorite Christmas song? O Come O Come Emmanuel and Joy to the World as sung by the congregation as we turn from being reverant to exhuberant. I get chills every single year. The good kind. Also on repeat are Winter Song sung by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson, Audrey Assad's Winter Snow, Dave Matthew's Christmas Song and Coldplay's Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. (I'd link to them, but at present I'm hating hyperlinks.)