Two x-mas surveys in one!

[serene]

From mactavish:



1. Eggnog or hot chocolate?
Both, depends on the quality of either.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
Shh! Your mom and dad are Santa! Don't tell!

(I wrap presents and then set them under the tree, unless they're small enough to fit in stockings -- that is, if we have stockings.)

3. Colored lights or white?
White, but I like both.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Sometimes.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
I don't usually decorate, but when I do, I do it the first week of December.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
Mama Stamberg's cranberry relish

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
Christmas in Rota with my whole family. I got a pachinko machine and a large flamenco doll with a green-and-gold dress. She was holding a guitar. I kept her a long time.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I was about 5. I was utterly crushed, not that there was no Santa, but that grown-ups could lie. I honestly didn't know they could before that.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
In my family of origin, they all get opened at midnight. In my current family, we open them whenever.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
It's been a while, to be honest.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
I like it, but am glad not to live in it.

12. Can you ice skate?
I can, but haven't in ages.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift as a kid?
See #7.

14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Giftgiving. I call it Giftmas.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
The pecan-pumpkin pie that sogwife's aunt makes. I got the recipe from her, and it's yummy and trashy and yummy. Hers is better than mine, though, for some reason.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
PRESENTS!!

17. What tops your tree?
Usually a star or an angel.

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving?
Giving, but I also love receiving gifts. If I could, though, I would give so many gifts that everyone I know would be awash in an embarrassment of riches.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Have I mentioned before how much I dislike favorite questions? I do love this sappy Amy Grant one called "Tender Tennessee Christmas" and "Merry Christmas Darling" by Karen Carpenter, but I'm a sucker for a sappy ballad.

20. Candy canes?
In small quantities.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Whatever. If it's a box, wrapping paper. I'm a decent wrapper, and was in charge of it in my family of origin.

2. Real tree or artificial?
Real, preferably live.

3. When do you put up the tree?
Usually, I don't.

4. When do you take the tree down?
See #3

5. Do you like eggnog?
Yep, but it's one of those foods I don't mind having a couple times and then not again for a year.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
A princess dress my mom's friend bought me when she took me to Morocco with her.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
No.

8. Hardest person to buy for?
My mom, hands down.

9. Easiest person to buy for?
Munchkin the Elder.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
I don't do them.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
No such thing. I appreciate all the gifts people give me.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
It's a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story tie for the honor.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
November.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Oh you betcha. I get scented things I can't use, etc. I used to have a special box called the Mathom Box that was just for re-giftable things, but these days, I don't keep that stuff around, I just give it away.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Pie.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
I prefer to stay home, but I often travel. Not this year, though.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers?
Sure.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
Christmas carols EVERYWHERE.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
*shrug*

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
*shrug*

25. Do you have Jesus in your heart this Christmas?
Nope, or at any other time, either.

Comments

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Sue futabachan! Serene you!!!

[karenthecroccy.livejournal.com]

that took me a minute to get. *laugh*

[jinian.livejournal.com]

I was a little startled to see "Shit! Your mom and dad are Santa!" up there. Than I said ohhhhh.

You may be the reason we have a mathom box. We got the phrase somewhere.

From the Professor

[wordweaverlynn.livejournal.com]

“Anything that Hobbits had no immediate use for, but were unwilling to throw away, they called a mathom. Their dwellings were apt to become rather crowded with mathoms, and many of the presents that passed from hand to hand were of that sort.”

I believe he took it from Old English. Tolkien was a philologist, which is one reason the languages in his books are so rich.

Re: From the Professor

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I did mean the phrase, though, in which "mathom" is combined with "box," and I remember it being borrowed from someone rather than a spontaneous, Tolkien-informed coinage.

Re: From the Professor

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's probably me. First time I mentioned it on alt.poly looks to be 2000.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

Pie!!

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Ah like pah. Pah's goood.