Not the Ususal Memes

Instead of Friday's Feast or The Music Memoirs, I'm making my own memes this week, based on a couple of e-mails I've received recently. Enjoy!

Welcome to the 2006 Holiday Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends! You know the drill. Don't be a scrooge!!!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
- How about hot chocolate with a little egg nog in it?

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
- Most of Santa's presents are wrapped and under the tree (or in/ under the stocking), but a few are left unwrapped just for the 'Wow!' value of seeing them sitting there in the morning.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
- We had big colored lights when I was growing up. I haven't really had a tree in my own home/apartment for the last several years. We're hoping to change that this year.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
- Not usually. Never really had a good reason.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
- Absolutely no earlier than the day after Thanksgiving under any circumstances. Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving (or even Halloween, like I saw this year) is one of my ultimate pet peeves. Don't do it!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
- Goldenrod eggs, the traditional family Christmas (and Easter) breakfast.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?
- I can't really identify anything specific; I just remember the excitement of getting up early to see what Santa had brought us.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
- I think I learned it about the same time I first saw "A Christmas Story", and I was so shocked I almost shot my eye out.
(Okay, I made that part up. I really don't remember when or how.)

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
- We never did when I was growing up, but my new extended family does.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
- This is an interesting question, since this is our first Christmas together. I like a lot of lights, and Nancy has a lot of ornaments. So our very first Christmas tree looks a lot less bare and a lot more like a 'family' tree than I'd dare to hope. If I can ever figure out how to make our digital camera work, I'll see about getting some Before and After pictures of the tree.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
- Love it! I especially love waking up to the calm and quiet of a morning after snowfall. I'm not particularly thrilled about driving in it, mostly because of the way everyone else drives. Slow down already!

12. Can you ice skate?
- I have successfully ice skated in the past. Whether I could do so today...?

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
- I don't have a specific memory of a favorite gift as a child.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
- Family. Especially as an adult, the holidays have always given me a reason to think about, and an excuse to get together with, my family.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
- Does egg nog count as a dessert?

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
- Whenever I have Christmas with my family in Colorado, my niece Mikayla passe out presents, one to each person. Then we each open our gifts in turn, show them off, and render thanks to the giver. Repeat until the presents run out.

17. What tops your tree?
- We have a gold star on top of our tree. I think Nancy said she got it in England.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
- Yes.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
- "O Holy Night". I love all the different renditions of the song, all the ways different performers interpret it. Among my favorite versions are those done by Mannheim Steamroller, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
- Meh. I can take 'em or leave 'em.

--

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 (NOT Forward) this entire email and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to
you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you..

'Tis the Season to be NICE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
- Wrapping paper. I'm a traditionalist.

2. Real tree or artificial?
- Real tree. See above.

3. When do you put up the tree?
- The weekend after Thanksgiving. That way you get to enjoy the tree for as long as possible without disrespect for Thanksgiving, which is an important holiday in its own right.

4. When do you take your tree down?
- First week in January. Even with good watering, a tree starts to become a fire hazard after that.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
- Nothing specific comes to mind. I think we got bikes one Christmas, and that was pretty cool.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
- Yes, we have a small one that adorns our coffee table.

8. Hardest person to buy for?
- The nieces. They're growing up so fast and I have so little contact with them, it's really hard to keep up with their interests.

9. Easiest person to buy for?
- Nancy. I'd figured out what I was getting her months ago.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
- Again, nothing specific comes to mind. I don't remember ever getting coal in my stocking.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards?
- Christmas cards? Rats! I knew I was forgetting something....

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
- The original animated "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". "Scrooged" is also a favorite.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
- If the resources are present (no pun intended) and I have an idea what I'm getting for people, I'll start shopping in July or August. I hate last-minute gift shopping.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
- You mean 'regifting'? Doesn't everyone? I seem to remember getting something really hideous at an office gift exchange and saving it for a year to give away at the next office gift exchange.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
- In recent years, the traditional holiday meal at my parents' house has been prime rib. It makes for an interesting alternative to ham or turkey. Tasty!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
- Colored lights, hands down.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
- O Holy Night.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
- I've generally traveled at Christmas to be with family, but staying home sounds better and better each year. I guess I'm getting tired of driving 400-500 miles in winter conditions to be with family.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
- The original eight: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen.
- The most famous reindeer of all: Rudolph
- The one my Dad was telling us about even 20 years ago: Olive (As in, "Olive, the other reindeer....")

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
- Gold star, handmade.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
- Christmas morning. If we'd started opening presents on Christmas eve, we'd never had got to sleep, and Santa would never have been able to make his midnight visit.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
- The fact that people are now starting to celebrate it before Halloween. Have a litle perspective, people!