A Christmas meme

Okay, this picture is a couple weeks old, the tree has just been put up and it looks kind of bare without presents, etc. And I really should take a picture of it in the dark (using a tripod) with only the lights on the tree providing illumination (the flash wshes things out). With this meme, I needed picture of my Christmas tree, even if eventhing looks a bit faded.

I've seen this around, but picked it up from Nanners and Noodles.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? How about a Hot Buttered Rum? Of if someone else is making them, a Tom Collins?

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? When I was a kid, he was lazy and didn’t wrap them, but since I had kids, he wraps all but the large ones.

3. Colored lights on tree/house? White lights, I grew up in a house with colored lights and rebelled. (of course, it was pretty bold of my parents to have colored lights in a white neighborhood--I didn't say this was a politically correct meme)

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Haven’t be able to find any up here which is why, I suspect, Yankees are bad kisses. Once when I was younger and living in North Carolina, I went out in the swamps and climbed a tree and cut out a whole bundle of mistoe to give to a girlfriend, the bunch of it was probably three feet in diameter with a peck of berries.

5. When do you put your decorations up? I start the weekend after Thanksgiving and still haven't finished which means some won't get put up this year which will only make them more dear next year.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Crab dip.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: My grandparents gave me a Kodak camera when I was nine. I had to coach them outside for a picture. It was the last picture taken of my grandfather; he died of emphysema early that January. I haven’t seen that picture in decades, but would give about anything to have it. I can still see it, there are slightly off to the side and a bit tilted, standing in front of the holly bushes that grew on each side of the stoop up to their porch, with arms around each other.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I learned this about the time my brother was born and was told that if I ruined it for him, it’d be all over and I’d really would get ash and coal, so I decided to keep believing. I stopped believing a few years ago after going to the World of Coca-Cola in Las Vegas and realized that the Santa we know and love is a trademark of a soft-drink company. That did it, I refuse to believe in a trademark.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? As a kid, I got to open one on Christmas eve, usually right before going to the Candlelight Service at church. The same tradition continues with my daughter.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Standing on a chair, I string lights, then standing on the floor while my daughter stands on a chair, we hang ornaments. It's generally the two of us decorating the tree, but this year we had our Korean exhange student who got into the act.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it, but looks like we’re having global warning, no white Christmas expected here.

12. Can you ice skate? Define skate. I can get around the rink without falling, but not good enough to play hockey (that’s for you Pergo) Now skiing, that I can do!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? My first bike. I was seven.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Celebrating Christ's brith and remembering the reason for the holiday.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? My mother’s rum balls, which are pretty dang good for a lady who is a devout teetotaller!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Candlelight worship services on Christmas Eve, as for something around the house, it's the Morvarian star hanging out on the porch.

17. What tops your tree? As a kid, a star; now, an angel. Have you heard the story about how the angel got perched on top of the… oh, forget it. That

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving (unless it’s a really good gift).

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? “What Child is This” to the tune Greensleeves. Or maybe George Winston’s piano solo of the “Carol of the Bells” on his December album.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? How about so-so. I’ll take chocolate anytime over candy canes.