perfidy

JohnL, from TexasBestGrok, pings me with a meme. He thought he was being all sneaky by doing that after not posting for weeks. However, I read that post on the day he posted it, and the only thing I missed was the fact that he tagged others, including me, for his meme.

So, here is my Christmas Questions post:

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Whiskey
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Why bother wrapping coal? Seriously though, Santa wraps presents in attractive post consumer recycled gift bags and places them gently under the tree for the cats to knock over.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I don’t, or at least, haven’t, decorated the outside of my house. Someday, perhaps.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Never. Kisses are icky, so my son tells me.
5. When do you put your decorations up? Usually somewhere around the first weekend in December. Typically, we are traveling in Ohio over the T-day weekend. This year, decorations will go up this weekend, the delay thanks to an inconveniently timed move.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Stuffing, the way my Grandmother did, and now my mom and favorite aunt do it.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: Depends on what you mean by favorite. Most cherished memory is all the Christmases I spent at my grandparent’s 150 year old farmhouse in the country. There are many others, too numerous to mention. Some are favorite in that they make good stories, but weren't particularly pleasant at the time.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Somewhere around age five, I deduced that Santa was fake. I have hated the world ever since.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Sometimes
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? I am a firm believer in the eclectic school of tree decorating. I was given some ornaments by my mom – seed ornaments like John mentioned, and slowly added to that stockpile over the years. When my grandmother died, I also got a bag of ornaments from that tree. Since I’ve been married, my wife and I buy a couple ornaments a year. We did buy a bin of red glass ornaments one year. So first, put on multiple strings of colored lights, then hang about 200 ornaments, then put up the ugly angel on the top. It has a rubberband to hold the wings on, but I wouldn’t trade it for nothing.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Love it. Christmas just ain’t right without snow. In Columbus, Ohio, where we usually spend Christmas, it’s about 50-50 chances.
12. Can you ice skate? Barely.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I don't know what my favorite gift is. I loved them all, and thank all the people who got them for me. I never did get a BB gun, though.
14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Grandma’s sugar cookies, made by me. Seeing the fam. Ruthless competition in the five dollar gift exchange. Watching my son go totally bug eyed at the gifts.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Sugar cookies, made by me. Pumpkin pie, made first by granny, and now by my cousin Marianne. Though the wife's pies are getting better.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Pulling out one of my Nat King Cole Christmas albums (I have backups) and starting to decorate. Baking the cookies. Making the beans. The five dollar gift exchange. I can’t decide.
17. What tops your tree? A hideously ugly half century old plastic angel with a funky hairdo. It was once electric, with lights and shit. Now, its broken and has a fat rubberband holding it together. One year, the ugly angel got impaled a little too much by the top of the tree, and split her up the sides.
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Getting. Though I don’t mine giving. This question reminds me of Rainbow Randolph’s song in Death to Smoochy.
19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Any of the songs on Nat King Cole’s Christmas album. Probably O Tannenbaum, because it's so funky listening to Nat sing German. I’ve also become partial to the Squirrel Nut Zippers Christmas Album, Django Bells, and a couple Aimee Mann Christmas tracks we have on a compilation.
20. Candy canes: Candy sucks.
21. Favorite Christmas movie? Without question, The Christmas Story. You’ll put your eye out, kid. Although Bad Santa left a powerful impression last year. Not good for the kids, though I wouldn’t mind meeting Mrs. Santa’s sister.
22. What do you leave for Santa? Sugar cookies and a glass of milk.

Other Christmas thoughts? It's really all about the food. Most of my fondest memories, and most of the current family traditions, center on food rather than gifts. One of the greatest controversies in my family was over whether it was appropriate to introduce new recipes for traditional dishes. After some acrimony, the traditionalists won out. If you're going to change something, it has to be an addition rather than a replacement, because everyone wants what they expect - something else might be a nice bonus, but there damn well better be the right kinds of stuffing, gravy, rolls, green beans, cookies and pies.

As much as I like, and indeed treasure, the Christmas music that I listen to at home, I despise and detest the never ending crappy Christmas music that everyone else plays.

Sometimes it's hard to find good gifts - and while it is considered a cop out in my family to get gift cards, it is awfully nice to get them.

Having kids makes up for the fact that you're too grown up to get cool toys much anymore.

Traveling over Christmas is too damn expensive, but worth it. This year I won't be travelling, but I am going to really miss the rest of my family that I won't see as a result.

I'm not going to nominate anyone to participate, because that's not my idiom. But feel free to participate.

[wik] Another of JohnL's nominations has put one up.

[alsø wik] Ministry Crony and filthy Druid Rocket Jones has weighed in.