Pages

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Christmas Questionnaire

The blog at Fraker Farm did a fun Christmas question tag posting today, and bent the rules by offering it to anyone wanted to do it on their own blog, rather than pointing the finger at people. I liked that approach, so here is my effort to get in the spirit of the season!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
I prefer hot chocolate, especially with a marshmallow in it.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrapped always.

3. Colored light on house/tree or white? Ohhh, I love blue lights. I have white on my tree, but I like blue ones outside. The reflection on the snow makes everything so wintery.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Depends on the year and how busy I am!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? My mother makes wonderful cheese crispy biscuits, Welsh griddle cakes, and delightful Christmas pudding. All favourites!

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Sometimes we've had family wrapping "contests" almost, for disguising things-Toblerone bars in particular. One year (I guess I was a young adult, more than a child for this memory, but on with the story), my father skillfully opened a full size Toblerone bar using a warm knife to soften the glue on the packaging, so that the opening "tear strip" thing wasn't damaged. He took out the bar, carefully unwrapped it, and made a replicate out of builder's plaster. He made it with a balsa wood core to keep the weight about right. After molding it perfectly, he rewrapped it carefully in the silver lining paper and resealed the box. I did not open it until about a week after Christmas. When I did open it, I was horrified, thinking it was moldy! I'm sure my face was worth a thousand words. Of course, he kept the real bar for me, but the joke is one of our classic Christmas memories.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember. I think maybe kids in my class told me.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Nope! Not here!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Most of the ornaments are either special ones from my childhood or ones that have been collected on travels. I have lots of rabbit themed ornaments. Most are handmade.

11. Snow. Love it or dread it? Depends on whether there is ice under it and how long it lasts. I like some snow for Christmas, but I wish it was gone by the end of January, instead of March.

12. Can you ice skate? Yes, but I don't do it very often at all any more.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? So many things, but two that stand out are a handmade wooden cutting board from my father and a beautiful multicoloured scarf from my mother that she made for me, even though she doesn't very much like to knit or crochet! I like gifts full of love.

14. What is the most important thing about the holidays for you? Taking time to relax and appreciate the season. It is always better when I can spend it with family, but that is much harder these days, since I live far away. In this busy life, it is a short few days to wind down and enjoy.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? My mother's Christmas pudding with brandy butter!! Oh, and roasted parsnips.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I love doing the huge crossword puzzle in the newspaper with my parents - it covers an entire centrefold page from the newspaper and takes a long time. We love crosswords and jigsaw puzzles too.

17. What tops your Christmas tree? A rabbit angel that I made.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? I love giving surprises and watching facial reactions as people open their gifts.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Anything from Mannheim Steamroller.

20. Candy Canes. Yum or Yuck? I like the peppermint ones and what I like best is to use one to stir a coffee or hot chocolate so that it ends up tasting minty.

21. What do you want for Christmas? A livestock trailer.

22. Do you attend an annual Christmas party? No.

23. Do you dress up for Christmas Eve or wear PJ's? Depends what I'm doing but usually PJs!

24. Do you own a Santa hat? No, but I do have footie pajamas that are red.

25. Who do you normally spend Christmas with? My family if I can, Kelly's family if I can't.

Hope that some of you readers will feel inspired to join in the holiday fun - feel free to do the Christmas Questionnaire on your own blogs!

Happy Holidays to all!

5 comments:

Paula said...

I loved it, Claire!! Especially hearing about all the goodies you consume this time of year... yummmm.
I hope Santa brings you a livestock trailer.... you might have to go sit on his lap and ask him in person for that one! LOL

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Oh!! I SO loved reading these Christmas things about you. We even have a few things in common, too.
What fun! I think I will even squeeze this inbetween my Alphabet Challenge. What a great idea.

~Lisa
New Mexico

Jolyne said...

Just curious...what do you do with all your eggs? Take them to the office, or is your cholesterol spiking? 100 eggs a month makes lots of cookies...

Claire MW said...

I make egg sculptures and place them artistically around the garden. :-)

No, in actual fact I eat more than I used to, but I do sell extras at the office. They are gone in a heartbeat when I take them in, so it helps with chicken feed!

Claire MW said...

My mother asked why I included roast parsnips under the dessert category. I had no answer...apparently I was on a food "thought process" and forgot it was only supposed to be dessert for that question. Put the parsnips back up with the other food question! I don't eat them for dessert!