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12/23/2005 Archived Entry: "I heard the bells on Christmas Day"

A Holiday Meme

• Eggnog or hot chocolate?
  Definitely hot chocolate.

• Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
  When I was a kid, Santa wrapped. But apparently he didn't in Chris's family. We have adopted his tradition so in our house, Sants fills the stockings and leaves one largish gift for each kid in front of the fire place.

• Colored lights on tree/house or white?
  It's different every year. One year we went with only blue lights which I thought was beautiful. Ideally I'd love many trees (we currently have two) and each would be lit differently

• Do you hang mistletoe?
  I do occasionally. If I see it with the impulse items at the store, I'm pretty likely to buy it.

• When do you put your decorations up?
  Not a day before Dec. 1st. Chris's birthday is Nov. 30 and I will not over shadow his day with Christmas.

• What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
  We do a big meal at my in-laws' on Christmas Eve and really I love just about anything. No specific dish comes to mind. Christmas Day we eat at home and I'm very relaxed about it and we have a sandwich bar plus stuff to nibble so again, no specific dish.

• Favorite holiday memory as a child?
  One memory I've always held is bubble lights and chirping bird ornaments on my great-aunt and uncle's Christmas tree. We would spend Christmas Eve. at there house most years and I loved looking for that chirping bird. I actually bought my own set of bubble lights but they do not work properly so they rarely get set up. For Christmas Eve. I remember lots of people and lots of presents. I always wanted to pass the presents out and considered that a very important job. A couple years Santa came to visit which was cool, though I don't think I thought so at the time as I was young. I know one or two years I sang Christmas songs in front of everyone.
  My great aunt-passed away some years ago and my great-uncle just this past week so I've been thinking a lot about those Christmas Eve's.
  Another brief memory was I liked to go see my aunt's Christmas tree because it rotated and played music, how cool is that?
  As for my own house, I loved how my mom decorated. Sure, I made tons of fun to her about it, I used to say things like it looked like Santa threw up, but really, I loved it. Christmas was just everywhere in that house, we even had a fake fireplace, and I don't mean the kind you can get now that have real fire, I'm talking it was made out of cardboard. I do remember she didn't particularly like me to help with the tinsel on the tree. I guess I did it wrong, lol. But the tree was always pretty big, real, and overloaded with ornaments. Eventually my mom had so many ornaments that they wouldn't even all fit on the tree. But my mom's Christmas decorating is probably my number one memory.

• When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
  I want to say I was 5 or 6 and the way I remember it, Santa gave something I outgrew to my cousin. Since I had also caught a glimpse of a bike in my parents' room the year before and then Santa gave it to me, I kind of figured it out. I specifically remember taking my cousin aside in her laundry room and telling her the truth. Then I told her we shouldn't say anything or we wouldn't get the gifts. I never did tell my mom I knew the truth and still got gifts from Santa my last Christmas at home at age 20.
  For Tabitha I just deal with it by saying Santa only visits if you believe. She's so on the verge of knowing. I think she knows, but chooses not to and that's fine. She never has to say a word.

• Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
  As a kid I opened gifts from my dad's side of the family since that's who we spent Christmas Eve with. I used to beg to open one at home and ocassionally my mom would say yes but she got to choose. She usually chose pj's and then it just kind of evolved into there being one gift that specifically said to open on Christmas Eve and it was pajamas. I have carried on that tradition with my own kids. As for me opening a gift now, not really. We do Christmas Eve at my in-laws' and if a family friend gives us a gift, we'll open it, but that's it. Everything else waits until the actual day.

• What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him?
  It doesn't really matter. Half the time Tabitha leaves left over Halloween candy because she figures he's tired of cookies.

• Snow! Love it or dread it?
  Well, I'm lucky to live where the snow doesn't come to us, we go to it. I can tolerate it for a bit of time, but in general, I'm not a snow person. That being said, I would love to spend one Christmas in a cabin at Big Bear complete with snow.

• Can you ice skate?
  I've been maybe three times in my life, but I don't think can is the right word.

• Do you remember your favorite gift?
  Nope. I remember getting my shopping cart one year with a porcelain doll sitting in the seat. And I remember getting a bike. That would be it. Oh, and the footie pajamas with the bum flap when I was like 11, that was pretty funny.

• What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
  Being with family. I'm often asked why we celebrate Christmas considering our views on religion, but to me, it's just a great family gathering. Almost a Thanksgiving, but with presents.

• What is your favorite holiday dessert?
  I really don't have one.

• What is your favorite holiday tradition?
  Currently it would have to be our relaxed Christmas Day. We get up, the kids do stockings and then I make cinnamon buns for breakfast. After we enjoy, we move on the the actual gifts and then the day is just whatever. We see family, there's food, more presents and a wonderful feeling of merriment.

• What tops your tree?
  Tabitha's tree has Tinkerbell and the other tree has this gawdy, tinsel, color lights, starlike monstrosity.

• Which do you prefer: giving or receiving?
  I love to give. It's hard for me to think of things for people to give me, I just want my kids to get what I want them to have.

• What is your favorite Christmas Carol?
  Carol of the Bells

• Candy canes?
  I like to decorate with them and they're okay to eat, but nothing special