All About Christmas

1. What is your favorite Christmas movie?
  I can only take a certain amount of Hallmark Christmas movies before I reach my limit. There are several I do enjoy, and one I enjoy watching every year is The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

2. Have you ever had a white Christmas?

 Most Christmases have been white. Part of the fun of going to my grandparents house on Christmas day as a child used to be tying our sleds to the back of the buggy and riding to their house that way.

3. Have you ever built a gingerbread house?

   I can only remember one year when we made an actual gingerbread house. We preferred using graham crackers. Building them is a tradition that I have allowed to die. Kind of sad now that I stop and think about it.

4. Candy canes or gingerbread men?

 Neither. I don't care for gingerbread at all, and candy canes while pretty are not something I want to eat.

 5. Is your Christmas tree real or fake?

 We have a fake tree. It's getting to the point where it needs to be replaced. It's the only one we have ever had and it is showing its age.

6. What's the best Christmas gift you have ever received?

 This is hard. All my Christmases, except one, have been very special. I guess my favorite gift would have to be the lovely Corinthian Bells wind chimes I got several years ago.

7. Are you a pro at gift wrapping or do you fail miserably?

 I really enjoy wrapping gifts, and I'm good at it so I'll go ahead and label myself as a pro in this department.

8. What is your favorite food at Christmas?

 Our Christmas breakfast is my favorite meal of the year. It's not one specific food necessarily, but rather the combination, variety, and quantity that make this meal one we look forward to all year long.

9. Eggnog, hot chocolate, or peppermint mocha? What is your favorite Christmas drink?

 Hot chocolate! With plenty of mini marshmallows.

10. What is your favorite Christmas song?

 There are so many, but I never grow tired of listening to Rhonda Vincent's Beautiful Star of Bethlehem.

11. Do you go Christmas caroling? Do carolers come to your house?

 We don't go caroling.

Carolers have come to our house already. The first time I was not happy about it at all. Putting a cranky baby and two toddlers to bed I wanted them to sleep uninterrupted and not awakened by carolers who then went merrily on their way while I could go ahead and try to get everyone back to sleep again.

The next year wasn't much better. They had no idea what they had interrupted. We didn't answer the door and tried to stay hidden until they left.

 12. What is your favorite Christmas candy?

   While I love chocolate, my favorite is the rice krispie candy we make every year.

13. Do you make homemade candy for Christmas?
We make a variety of candy for Christmas. This year we're not making as much, but still a nice selection to choose from on Christmas day.

 14. When it comes to Christmas gifts do you prefer to buy or make the things you give? Receive?

 A little of both. We're doing more of a homemade Christmas again this year.

15. Do you open gifts on Christmas Eve or wait until Christmas morning?

 We always wait until Christmas morning.

16. Do you go to Christmas Eve services at a church?
We have already, but it's not something we do every year.

 17. Have you ever had a ride in a one horse open sleigh?

 I have. It's so much fun, or at least it used to be when I was a little girl. Wrapped up in a thick buggy blanket, sitting next to Daddy, the sun making the snow glisten, and nothing but the muted sound of hoof beats and the sleigh runners gliding over the snow was every bit as fun as one would imagine it to be. Getting cold toes was worth it.

18. Do you like fruitcake?
I used to think I don't until I discovered a recipe to make one that requires you to candy your own fruit. It's a long drawn out process. (45 days) but the end result is worth it and it has become one of our traditions. We all love it and it never lasts long enough.

19. Do you make your own Christmas cookies, or do you prefer the store bought kind? Sprinkles, or no?
The girls enjoy baking Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve. I don't care for sprinkles so we usually use colored sugar instead.

 20. Of the 12 days of Christmas ..... which one is your favorite?
Going by the song ...... Day five. :)

Actual 12 day celebration. I don't really have a favorite. We only ever did the twelve days of Christmas celebration once. By the twelfth day it was relief to have it be over.