Christmassurvey
December 07, 2006 - 3:41 p.m.
I�m in survey mode these days. Maybe I�ll do nothing but surveys for December. (Maybe not.) Here�s one for celebrants of Christmas, emailed to me by Sandy.
1. Eggnog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot chocolate, spiked with Bailey�s or Buttershots or Kahlua, please.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just place them under the tree?
The Santa of my childhood brought wrapped presents.
3. Clear or colored lights on tree/house?
Either is fine for trees. No lights on the house, please. And nothing *F*L*A*S*H*I*N*G*, please. Personally, I have clear lights on my Christmas tree. The blue spruce in the front yard gets colored lights. This may be the last year for the lighting of the blue spruce, though. It�s getting too tall for me and my stepladder. Also, I fill the window box with jack pine and white pine branches. Both are long-needled. (Razzberry to my copycat neighbor who uses branches trimmed from his Christmas tree for his window box. He uses too few, and those short-needled branches look like toilet brushes.) I wire a few pinecones in, wrap a gold ribbon around the box, and add a short string of clear lights in the branches. Very lovely, if I do say so myself.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No. Years ago I did, but guys don�t seem to like that kind of pressure. (Yeah, �cuz it�s forced, not from the heart. Sure.) Of course, if it were �getting felt up underneath the mistletoe� or �fellatio underneath the mistletoe,� I�m sure it would be a different story, right, boys?
5. When do you put up your decorations?
Anytime after November 30. Preferably the second week in December. The calendar must be on December. None of this day after Thanksgiving foolishness.
6. What is you favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Faber Dewar in his leather apron and tool belt. Oh, wait, that would be considered a dessert.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
I don�t think I have a favorite. Maybe when I was eleven and got the hamster my mother adamantly told me I could not have, despite my repeated requests. And how she managed to wrap it (in its cage, with the wrapping paper covering the top and sides of the cage).
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
Jenny and I figured this out in second grade. We discussed the logistics of it � flying reindeer, going to every child�s house in the world in a single night, fitting all those presents in a sleigh � and decided it was an impossibility. What great thinkers we were. We decided not to let on to our parents, though, for fear it would mean an end to those Santa gifts.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
As children, we were never allowed to do this. As an adult, I am a proponent of the DO NOT OPEN �TIL CHRISTMAS rule.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Um, with decorations? No tinsel (bad news for households with kitties) or metallic garland. Garland is either wide ribbon or strung popcorn and cranberries. I have a collection of Hallmark ornaments and lots of artsy-craftsy looking stuff and anything else that strikes my fancy. The tree skirt is cotton fabric, not one of those dreadful flannel-backed vinyl things my parents used.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
I prefer weekend snow, when I don�t have to get up extra early to shovel out so I can make it to work on time.
12. Can you ice skate?
Hell, yeah! It�s the one sport I�m quite good at. I had a natural talent � and years of figure skating lessons, most with a Russian coach who was big on �power skating.� I would have liked trying speed skating, too, but there were no ovals in the area. It�s just as well � the women�s overdeveloped thighs were a bit of a turnoff.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Hmmm. The hamster? Barbie�s groovy orange and yellow camper? (It�s in the attic with all the rest of my Barbie paraphernalia.)
14. What�s the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Making merry with friends and family.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
After Faber, I�ll take a slice of my squash pie, please. It�s not just for Thanksgiving, you know. (Recipe is in my recipes link.)
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
From the time I had my first apartment up until a few years ago, I had a Christmas party. It has become tricky now that so many of my friends have young children � difficult to schedule a date that is good for most during this busy season when all the kids� activities are added to the mix. Still, I try to at least have a girls� night, for holiday rest and relaxation. Sometimes it�s before Christmas, sometimes on New Year�s Day, sometimes the first Saturday in January. It�s still fun, but nothing like those bashes of yesteryear. You know, buy eight cases of beer, two big bags of chips, and at the end of the night (well, sometime the next day), there�s leftover chips but not a single bottle of beer.
17. What is your tree topper?
In recent years, it�s been a plush snowman. This year I�m going to try a Santa hat. It�s cone-shaped, like the top of a tree, right? And then use the trusty snowman if the hat thing doesn�t work out.
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving a gift?
It depends. What are you giving me?
19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
�The Christmas Song� (Nat King Cole). Or �Christmas Wrapping� by The Waitresses, or anything from �A Charlie Brown Christmas.� Or that Ramones Christmas song. Or even �Jingle Bell Rock� if I�m feelin� it.
20. Candy cane? Yucky or yummy?
Let it dissolve in a cup of hot chocolate.
Oh my god, how could I forget?! Dogs barking Jingle Bells for #19! It�s not Christmas without it!
Autumn
Stuck in my head : �Linus and Lucy� and �Skating� � Vince Guaraldi Trio
Trick or Treat - November 02, 2007
Autumn Has Left the Building - July 19, 2007
The Nail - June 04, 2007
Ungolding - June 01, 2007
Bollocks - May 29, 2007