From Katie’s Beer, via Shelley’s Talk blog. I haven’t done a quiz in a long time, but this one seemed especially worth my time. Since I have insomnia tonight (I fell asleep with the snuggly baby and the snuggly doggie on the couch, and then when I went to bed I remembered that Elise has peed on the sheets this morning, so I had to change them. That woke me up too much so now I’m here trying to get sleepy again.)
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Really I’d just prefer cookies and coffee.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
We’re still trying to figure out what Santa does in our home.
3. Colored or white lights on the tree and/or house?
White. It just looks so classy.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No.
5. When do you put your decorations up?
I put things up the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
There never were any specifically Christmas dishes in my family growing up, so I have come to really looks forward to Mary’s oyster stew on Christmas Eve.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child.
I have a very particular memory of looking up at the lights from under the tree, and feeling very magical.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
If you want to know a little about my personality, I can’t come right out and say something with out a reason. This drives Rob nuts. “Rob, I bought new curtains because blah blah blah….” instead of just, “hey do you like the new curtains?” So, the perfect illustration of this is the Santa Revelation story. It goes like this:
I came down stairs on one non-Christmas-season day and randomly asked my mom, “Mom, is there a Santa? I really need to know because if I never find out the truth and I always believe he’s real, and so I don’t buy my kids any gifts and he’s not real, then they won’t get any gifts and they’ll think they were bad, even if they weren’t.” I think I was 10.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
I can’t remember what we’ve done recently. We might have opened the Brazier gifts on Christmas Eve since we visit them then.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
When we got married I bought a bunch of plastic ornaments from the dollar store to fill our empty tree. I have since been collecting ornaments that have any sort of meaning. So our tree has about 3 real ornaments and the rest is paper ornaments I made and plastics colored balls and apples. Then there’s the all white lights. And some colorful ribbon for garland. The tree is real, of course, because my parents always had a fake one (which is the same reason I have lights outside, my parents never did. And also why we have a dog…)
11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
I love snow. I hate the clouds that bring it.
12. Can you ice skate?
We took Olivia ice skaing for her first time this year. We both loved it, and are probably going to go do it again soon.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
My dad bought me an electric guitar I never learned to play. But that was my favorite gift of all time because wanted it sooooooooooo bad. But I was an awful teenager that year and so my parents said I couldn’t have it. Christmas morning came and I opened all my gifts; no guitar. About an hour later my dad brought out the guitar and I was so excited I cried. That was a very tangible experience of grace.
14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Christ is the center of Christmas, of course, and the season wouldn’t be the same without the Advent Services and Christmas Eve service. So, I guess that family, friends and community are the most important aspect of Christmas. (I just stole TK’s answer here cause mine is the same.)
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Everything. I love the baking as much as the eating. I am the “food-lady,” according to Rob.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
I love making our own traditions. So far we have The Sing with the Braziers. The rest will come with time.
17. What tops your tree?
A cheapy star.
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving?
When I’ve found the right gift I love to give. When I can tell that someone put a lot of thought into my gift I love to receive.
19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
Matthew’s Begats from Andrew Peterson’s “Behold the Lamb of God.”
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or yum?
Fun to turn into a pointy weapon. Other than that, I’d still prefer cookies and coffee.
While I don’t remember the actual “Is Santa real?” conversation, I DO remember that you were very quick to share the info with your brother and sister. And yes, candy canes are fun to turn into pointy weapons, but remember, before you teach this little gem to Livvie, that small children tend to use pointy weapons on each other.
Devona,
I remember so clearly when we were first married and I had so very few ornaments and so very little money. I made lots of ornaments, but always wished for the fancier store-bought ornaments each year. Each Christmas brought new ornaments as gifts and the random ornament bought half-price on 12/26. Last Christmas was the first Christmas that I realized I had too many ornaments and actually gave some away before Christmas. That was a big moment for me.
When my kids were little we told them Santa was make believe right away. I guess I didn’t want them to ever think that the super-natural side of Christmas was something you stop believing in when you grow up, so we stuck to the part of God coming to earth in human form. So anyway, my kids grew up knowing that the only bearded fat man who gave them presents at Christmas was me.
They seem to not have had any ill effects from this policy. On the other hand, I remember getting calls from their grade school when they told their friends that there wasn’t really a Santa Claus living at the north pole.
I thought I’d add, that apparently this year santa does not come to our home at all. Olivia has uninvited him. He is apparently very scary, and he cannot come, even if he brings her sunglasses for her stocking. Which means he is really really scary, cause Olivia has been asking for sunglasses every sunny day since we lost hers at Wally Waffle a few months ago.