Christmas quiz

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?

yes please. with cinamon and whipped cream. and mulled wine and hot apple cider.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?

Santa sub-contracts the work out to the elves known as 'mom' and 'dad.'

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?

Colored on tree, white on house. NOTHING BLIKNING. It's a holiday, not a f*&#ing carnival.

4.Do you hang mistletoe?

Usually, but no one ever seems to pay much attention to it.

5. When do you put your decorations up?

Usually around the 2nd sunday of Advent.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?

Hmm. That's a tie between the gallumbki (we're Polish. we eat cabbage rolls on Christmas. Deal with it), the kielbasa (again, we're Polish), the pierogi (are you noticing a pattern here?), the kapusta (ditto), the pumpkin bread (finally - something normal!), and all the other stuff.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?

To be honest, Christmases are loads better now than they were when I was a kid. Mostly this is because my grandparents are dead and therefore not here to spend the entire holiday argueing with each other and informing the rest of us of our rampant inadequacy.

I do remember the year that my family got our first VCR. It was a gift from the family to the family because that single purchase blew my parents' entire Christmas budget. (Times were tight back then.) The only other thing under the tree was the complete Star Wars trilogy on VHS. We hooked up the VCR and spent Christmas Day glued to the TV watching all three Star Wars movies and eating candy from our stockings. Best Christmas ever. We had so much fun (for the first time ever) that we declared it a tradition and have done it every year since. Other families play games and spend "quality time" together. We eat junk food and argue over whether Han Solo or Luke Skywalker is cuter. I love my family so much.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?

Honestly, I never really believed in Santa. I always thought it was a bit of a stretch, so I wasn't surprised when one year, I think I was about 7, I saw some toys in my parents' closet before Christmas, and they wound up under the tree on Christmas morning with 'From Santa' tags. One year my older brother told me there was no Santa, and my mom was furious, but I didn't care because I already knew.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?

Actually, we open all of the ones from mere mortals on Christmas Eve. The only gifts we open on Christmas day are the ones from Santa. (And yes, my brother and I still get gifts from Santa. Until we have our own kids we are still the babies in the family, so we still get the Santa pressies.)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?

With colored lights, strings of popcorn and cranberries, and all the rediculous, miscelaneous ornaments my brother and i made as kids. It's totally haphazard and it always looks great.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?

Love it love it love it love it love it. But that's because I'm the one in the family who still likes to play in it: skiing, sledding, anatomically correct snow-couples doing rude things, snow angels, forts, fights, driving like a maniac (in empty parking lots), etc. oh, yeah.

12. Can you ice skate?

Reasonably well. I'm out of practice, though. It's been a while since the ponds around my parents' house were solid enough for skating on the rare occasions I've been home.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?

My cat, Noelle, the Christmas kitty. May she rest in peace.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?

Relaxing. I work like a dog the rest of the year, and the Christmas holiday is the only real vacation I get.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?

Hmm. That would either be pumpkin pie, gingerbread, Christmas cookies, cheesecake thingys, buckeyes, or hummers.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?

That's a tie between question 7 and the Advent Concert at my old church. On the first Sunday of Advent my choir hosts a concert and carol sing-a-long for the whole city. It's the biggest church in town (giant romanesque thing that seats about 2000 people) with a huge organ and great acoustics. We invite about a dozen choirs, who each sing 2 non-traditional songs. Between each choirs performance the whole audience joins in singing the well-known carols, and at the end all the choirs come on stage and sing the 'Hallelujia Chorus' from Handel's Messiah together. With the organ and the brass accompaniement it's absolutely spectacular.

17. What tops your tree?

A star. Usually something glitzy and tacky that my dad has picked up from the local Rite Aid.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?

Giving. Definately giving. I don't remember half the stuff I've got over the years, but I usually make all my gifts and I can tell you everything I've given to each of my family members since I was about 12.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?

See this post from last year.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yummy?

Meh. They're ok if you stick them in a glass of hot chocolate and let them melt, but otherwise they don't do a whole lot for me.