Fun Friday–CHRISTMAS QUIZ!

My good pal and crit buddy Georgiana had this posted on her blog earlier this week . . .

1. WRAPPING PAPER OR GIFT BAGS? I usually do a theme with wrapping gifts, especially since I didn’t used to decorate for Christmas. Because I don’t give tons of gifts (just to the immediate family and my grandmother), I tend to purchase a little higher-end paper. One year, I got a Victorian print and tied everything with thin satin ribbon (purchased at the dollar store—I don’t go that crazy!). Another year I found wrapping paper that looked like plain brown paper but had a gold pinstripe and holly-leaves printed on it. This year, because I did a gift-a-day package for my niece and nephews, I color-coded their gifts—wrapping each one’s gifts in a different paper. My theme for wrapping paper this year is “shiny”—I found several rolls on sale at Walgreens that are metallic-looking. I usually use gold ribbon, but have, over the years, figured out that I have to create visual interest with flat designs (criss-crossing, creating stripes, diagonals, etc.) because I have to pack everything up in my car and transport it to wherever the family is having Christmas that year.

2. REAL OR FAKE TREE? Four-foot tall, pre-lit artifical tree.

3. WHEN DO YOU PUT UP THE TREE? Usually the day after Thanksgiving, but this is the first year I haven’t spent Thanksgiving at home, so it still isn’t up.

4. WHEN DO YOU TAKE THE TREE DOWN? Either the day before I leave for Christmas vacation or right after I come back.

5. DO YOU LIKE EGG NOG? Blech!

6. FAVORITE GIFT RECEIVED AS A CHILD? Our first computer, a TRS-80, received the Christmas I was nine.

7. DO YOU HAVE A NATIVITY SCENE? I don’t, because my grandmother collects them, so every time I’ve bought one, I’ve given it to her.

8. HARDEST PERSON TO BUY FOR? My father

9. EASIEST PERSON TO BUY FOR? My two oldest nephews.

10. WORST CHRISTMAS GIFT YOU EVER RECEIVED? I don’t think I can classify anything I’ve ever received as “worst.” There are a lot that weren’t really memorable, but nothing bad. (Oh, and Georgiana, I would love a grocery store gift card! But, I’m single and broke, so I’m really into “practical.”)

11. MAIL OR EMAIL CHRISTMAS CARDS? For the last couple of years, I’ve posted my Christmas letter on my blog. Since I don’t have kids to send photos of, nor to send family updates on, and I have so many cyber-friends I want to share my Christmas wishes with, there’s no point in going to the expense (see “single and broke” above) of buying cards and stamps. (I know, “bah, humbug.”)

12. FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MOVIE? A Christmas Story (“You’ll shoot your eye out!”).

13. WHEN DO YOU START SHOPPING FOR CHRISTMAS? Some time in August or September. My goal is to be finished by Thanksgiving. I didn’t quite meet that goal this year (since I had to buy tires at the end of October, which severely cut into the Christmas-gift fund), but pretty much everything else will be purchased online, so I don’t have to fight the crowds.

14. HAVE YOU EVER RECYCLED A CHRISTMAS PRESENT? I’m pretty sure I’ve re-gifted some generic thing (candles or a soap & lotion set) that I received from someone at work to give as a White Elephant gift at a Sunday School party at one time or another.

15. FAVORITE THING TO EAT AT CHRISTMAS? Pralines, fudge, lemon meringue pie . . . all of the goodies my grandmother, aunt, and sister make. (Can you tell we’re Southerners?)

16. CLEAR LIGHTS OR COLORED LIGHTS ON THE TREE? Clear (that’s what came on the tree). But I have colored lights outside, wrapped around the two pillars at the corners of my front porch.

17. FAVORITE CHRISTMAS SONG? “Peace on Earth/Silent Night,” as recorded by Dean Martin.

18. TRAVEL AT CHRISTMAS OR STAY HOME? Travel. Always. We trade off every year between Baton Rouge and my mom’s extended family, and my parents’ home (which will now be their vacation home in Hot Springs, AR). Otherwise, I’d be staying in Nashville and spending it alone.

19. CAN YOU NAME ALL OF SANTA’S REINDEER? Are we including Rudolph, or going traditional?

20. ANGEL OR STAR ON THE TREE TOP? An angel that I made out of a ceramic ornament (the torso, arms, wings, and head), white satin, a styrofoam cone, and brown ceramic paint (so that her hair’s brown like mine, instead of blonde).

21. OPEN THE PRESENTS CHRISTMAS EVE OR MORNING? Before she passed away in March 1999, we used to always open the gifts from my great-grandmother on Christmas Eve. This year, I’ll have gifts for my niece and nephews to open on Christmas Eve. Everything else gets opened in a glorious melee on Christmas morning.

22. MOST ANNOYING THING THIS TIME OF YEAR? The commercials and the crowds! Oh, and getting “Feliz Navidad” stuck in my head . . . oh, great. Now it’s stuck again.

23. WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT CHRISTMAS? Being with my family and watching my niece and nephews open the gifts I got for them.