Christmas meme, and some thoughts about ornaments.

This Christmas meme was stolen from Amy at Boogie Knits.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, most of the time. I enjoy tearing open paper and opening a box much more than reaching into a bag.
2. Real or artificial tree? Real! And Noble firs only. I don't want a Charlie Brown-looking Christmas tree.
3. When do you put up the tree? Beginning of December. We got ours the 2nd this year and it was up later that week.
4. When do you take it down? New Years-ish.
5. Do you like eggnog? Not even Silk Nog.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? A little aquarium. I accidentally leaving it on my window sill when we went on vacation later that year, and I ended up frying the poor fish.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? No.
8. Hardest person to buy for? My mom. Or the boyfriend's relatives.
9. Easiest person to buy for? Me! All of the guys are easy to buy/knit for.
10. Worst Christmas present you ever got? Plastic makeup caddy-thing from my grandparents. It look like it costed $2 and there was no thought at all put into it.
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? I don't send out my own cards but I should. My mother sends them to just about everyone she's ever met.
12. Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Story. And Meet Me in St. Louis, which is not 100% Christmas movie.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I start crafting as early as possible. I crocheted my mom a couple of scarves months ago, and I had forgotten that I'd even made them. I hate running around on the 23rd trying to wash/block/wrap/finish things.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? In a gift exchange last year, I got Santa Claus boxer shorts (furry red with white trim) and I regifted them to a male friend.
15. Favorite thing to eat on Christmas? Ham! We have ham on Christmas Eve and turkey on Christmas. Needless to say, Christmas Eve is my favorite.
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear. A couple of years ago my mom did a tree with colored C9s, which are the big ones you usually see outside. I was not a fan.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas sung by Judy Garland. Also anything from the Judy Garland Christmas Special, which I have on cassette tape and VHS. Old school!
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home. Or rather go next door to my grandparents.
19. Can you name all of Santa’s Reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen and Rudolph. And it's definitely "Donder" and not "Donner". Donder and Blitzen (I'm not sure if those are both spelled properly) are thunder and lightning in German.
20. Angel or star on top of tree? Angel! And she's redheaded, of course!
21. Open presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning at home, and at my grandma's we have to wait until after dinner on Christmas Day. Combine that with me hating turkey and it's a pretty suck day. Especially when I was a kid and bored with my new toys in about 36 seconds.
22. Most annoying thing this time of year? Shitty music on repeat. I like Christmas music (check last.fm!) but I hate hearing the same crappy songs over and over again.
23. Do you decorate your tree in any theme or color? Last year our tree had an Irish theme. (I will find picture and post them. It was tacky but good.) This year no theme. My mom has done shells, bows, and I'm sure some other stuff over the years. My grandma's tree is always flocked with all silver and some gold. It's gorgeous.
24. What do you leave for Santa? Cookies and milk. My mom has an amazing sugar cookie recipe. They're the yummiest sugar cookies I've ever had, but then again they might be the only ones I've ever had from scratch. Cookie making is a big ordeal every year. But it's worth it for those cookies!

I really should have gotten stuff to make ornaments at the craft store when I went earlier this month. I thought about it, but the Christmas section was such a zoo I just avoided it. This meme really got me thinking about ornaments and stuff like that. Everyone has their favorites. I think a cool thing would be for everyone to take pictures of their favorite ornaments and decorations and post them! Definitely share the stories behind them, too. Everyone has their little traditions. I would love to look at stuff that you guys like and to share mine. I might start doing this tonight.

All this said, I've watched too much Futurama lately and wanted to call it "X-mas" he whole time but in any context other than a Futurama reference it just sucks. Being too lazy to type that out is crazy.

Thank goodness for blogger saving my post as I type it. If I was still at blogspirit. you wouldn't be reading this right now! yay!