25 Christmas Questions

I stole this from Liz, who stole it from Kim. Feel free to steal it from me.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Always wrapping paper at Christmas, no matter how awkward the dimensions may be. (Do you know how hard is it to wrap a hexagonal box? I do.) However, the rest of the year I will throw a Rubik's cube into a gift bag in any other present-giving situation.

2. Real tree or Artificial? We do both, but I prefer the real one if only for the smell.

3. When do you put up the tree? Normally it's a couple weeks prior to Christmas, on whatever date falls on the weekend, but we were late this year.

4. When do you take the tree down? First or second weekend after the New Year. Depends on how it's holding up.

5. Do you like egg nog? Not in excess, but yeah, a glass or two. Bailey's is better and just as festive.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Might have been the lazer-shooter (it was not the brand name Lazer Tag, but it was close enough) that my brother and I got matching ones to shoot each other with. Or it could have been any of the many, many G.I. Joe vehicles I got as I built my army.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My parents. My mom doesn't want anything and gives the worst suggestions for herself ("Oh, I need paper plates, because the party after Madeline's Christening is going to be at our house. They're at Star Market, 50 for $2, get me 150 and split the cost with Jason."), while my Dad will give the same gift idea to 5 people so it's a race to get that one thing first.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Either of my brother-in-laws. They could have been done months ago.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yeah, it's actually very nice and hand-painted. There used to be fights between me and Amy to put baby Jesus in the manger on Christmas day, which I think sums up the spirit of Christmas rather nicely.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I don't send Christmas cards, but my mom mails the family ones.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Nothing springs to mind, though I'm sure when I was younger someone probably got me dress shirts or a sweater in an attempt to class me up, and those were never worn.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf, A Muppet Christmas Carol, Albert Finney's Scrooge.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I start thinking of ideas before Thanksgiving, then a couple weeks before Christmas I'll take a day during the middle of the week to try to get all my shopping done in one or two trips to the mall. I refuse to drag the process out.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I can remember, though I might have used a gift card someone gave me to buy something for another person.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? We call them cyclops. They are peanut butter cookies with a Hershey's Kiss in the middle. Also, chocolate covered peanut butter balls (notice a theme)?

16. Lights on the tree? multi-colored on the real tree, white on the fake one. But, more pressing issue: why is this a question? Who says no to this? Who doesn't put lights on their tree? If you don't put lights on a Christmas tree, you just have a large plant in your house.

17. Favorite Christmas song? This is hard, cause I like to hear a lot of Christmas music once the calendar hits about December 10th. Current favorites include Josh Groban's "Oh Holy Night" (and, in a shocking development, I am not a housewife in her 50's) and The Pogues "Fairytales of New York". Also, due to it's so-bad-its-good nature, I love a little song my sister discovered while living in D.C. called "Christmas Eve In Washington." [editor's note: you can hit cancel when it asks you to load the language pack and the song still plays, no problem.]

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I travel... the 4 blocks to my aunt and uncle's house.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes, but I need to speak in the rhythm of the song to do so.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We have a Santa on top of the real tree, Angel on the fake one.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning, but we don't even put presents under the tree until Christmas Eve, as I only have the self-control to stare at un-opened presents for a few hours.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Children who's parents have stopped trying to control them near the toy section, drivers who tailgate their way out when I only wanted to let one person go (they are also the ones who never wave), people who think snow on the ground is an excuse to park their cars in three spaces and people who stop in the middle of aisles, managing to position themselves in everyone's way. Of course, they annoy me year round, so a holiday-specific one is people who write X-Mas when they mean Christmas.

23. Favorite ornament, theme, or color? We have two scotch pine trees growing at the back of our yard that I put Christmas lights around. It's a decoration that only my family sees, and I make it my personal mission every December to make sure they look good... (I may have more on this tomorrow.)

24. Favorite for Christmas Dinner? Turkey. I hate ham and I don't know why anyone would ruin Christmas by having a ham when there is a food like turkey available.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A new driver, a cover for that driver, a couple polo shirts, some DVDs and books. I'm pretty easy to buy for.