Holiday meme
Gah, too busy to post about: first Entyvio treatment, stupid interim belt test, "gingerbread" house party, Two getting his implant removed, absolutely crazy-busy days, first gift exchange of the season with a friend, getting ready for our trip to CA, etc. But I did steal in a few minutes last week for a meme, gacked from siberian_angel:
Does your family send out yuletide cards?
Yes - maybe 60ish cards total? My list is much larger than my husband's, and I usually do all the addressing of his envelopes because his handwriting is so atrocious, the postman won't have a hope of delivering them correctly if I don't. All the husband has to do is sign and assemble the items for the envelope (the card, with sometimes a copy of the holiday newsletter and/or photo, as appropriate for that recipient). It saddens me that so many people have stopped doing holiday cards - I really do love receiving something happy in the mail. Not a bill, not junk. I realise everyone is busy and not everyone has money to spare on cards or postage, but I still feel sad about not receiving many cards anymore.
(We interrupt this meme to say thank you to pegkerr, thesmallhobbit, lanai, manue7a and Jama Rattigan for your holiday cards! <3 )
How soon do you start shopping?
Maybe mid-late October? Only casually, though, like if I just stumble upon something - not really seriously until November sometime.
Who do you shop for?
Husband, kids, R&K (minor gifts for them), my mom, my 4 nieces and my great-nephew, and my friend Jen. Sometimes small trinkets for other friends, if I stumble upon something I think they'd like.
Do you put up a Christmas tree? If so, is it fake or real? Do you put lights on the tree? White lights or colored lights? Blinking lights or still lights? Do you like tinsel? Star or angel?
I've always had a real tree. R&K have had an artificial tree. In all fairness, it's a pretty nice artificial tree, but still - I really wanted to keep up the tradition of having a real tree when we moved here. Because my SIL has allergies, we keep our tree in the entry hall, since nobody spends loads of time there, but it's really pretty to see when you walk in. We keep their artificial tree in the living room. Our tree: small white lights (although I have also done small colored lights, and grew up with large colored lights). I hang a small angel ornament at the top of the tree. Most of the ornaments are handmade by someone - many someone in the family made, but others are from craft fairs. Generally, the only store-bought ornaments were given to us, or are Stitch ornaments for Will. R&K's tree: small colored lights AND three decorative strings: white pinecone cluster lights, white pointsettia lights, blue snowflake lights. Almost all their ornaments are store-bought: Disney, mostly, but also Hallmark collectible ornaments (most of those are cat-related), and various things that have been given them over the years. The only handmade ones are from my kids, when they were small.
Do you use homemade or store-bought ornaments on the tree and general decorations?
See above. For me, personally, I vastly prefer homemade ornaments. They have way more character. :D
Do you put up lights outside your house? Is there a wreath hanging on your door?
Small colored lights around the front bay windows and around the garage doors. Icicle lights and blue/white snowflake lights on the roofline over the garage. Fake-greenery swag with small colored lights draped across the front of our fence.
The 24th/Yuletide-eve:
If we're in CA: Christmas Eve party at my great-grandmother's former house in San Francisco, an old Victorian now serving as a museum (and event location). If we're at home: we go to evening Mass, so we don't have to go out on Christmas morning. We also sometimes exchange family gifts on Christmas Eve (if we're home) to spread out the presents. Kids open their stockings on Christmas morning.
Do you hang up your stocking?
Nope, never have. Stockings just appear on Christmas morning. When I was a kid, stockings were left next to your bed. Once we had kids, we just leave them in the living room, our on the dining room table (out of reach of the dog, if there are edible treats in there!)
What's your favorite yuletide movie or TV show? Who's your favorite character from any yuletide movie or TV show?
I love the classics: A Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, plus Disney's old special Mickey's Christmas Carol. I also love A Christmas Story for its sheer ridiculousness. :D
Stories:
We used to have a ton of Christmas picture books. I'm trying to think which ones I really liked. Of course, there's the traditional Night Before Christmas. But I also liked more modern books like the aforementioned Grinch, plus Bear Stays Up For Christmas, How Santa Got His Job, Auntie Claus, oh, and Babar and Father Christmas (which I loved as a child).
What's your favorite yuletide song?
Joy to the World, O Holy Night, Silent Night (both English and German). Those are my top favorites, but I like a LOT of Christmas songs. Also quite a few Wizard Rock Christmas songs. *g*
What's your favorite yuletide memory?
Probably most of the ones in my childhood: Christmas Eve party in the City, sleeping on the floor of my mom's room because my grandma had my room, my grandpa had the guest room and my uncle (and later my aunt) had the sofabed. Opening gifts on Christmas morning with everyone, and having pastry and eggs for breakfast.
Gløgg (mulled wine/non alcohol drink) or julebrus?
Just hot apple cider is fine. I don't even know what julebrus is!
Dinner?
So, I never grew up with the huge Christmas feast. My mom would make chicken (pieces, not a whole roast), with rice, a steamed veggie of some kind, salad, and a berry-and-gelatin mold (WAY better than cranberry sauce, and I say that as someone who likes cranberry sauce). To me: that's Christmas dinner. Eating the full ham-potatoes-stuffing-etc blowout when we're back East still feels weird to me.
Cookies and sweets:
"Little white cookies" aka Russian teacakes, Mexican wedding cakes, snowballs, etc. Finely ground nuts, butter, cake flour rolled into balls and baked, then carefully rolled twice in powdered sugar after baking (they're fragile - this can be tricky). There's a picture of me, age 2.5, sitting on the counter and absolutely covered in powdered sugar after "helping" my mom do that. I also have a picture of MiniPlu at the same age, also perched on the counter and "helping." I used to keep those pics side-by-side. :D
Give or Receive?
Both. I *LOVE* watching people open the gifts I've picked out for them. But, you know, it's also nice to open something you really love, too. :D
What do you want for yuletide this year?
There's several books I want (aren't there always? *g*) but, honestly, what I always want are things I'm not going to get: more time to myself, a vacation (to Ireland, Hawaii, London, Scotland, Italy, the Christmas markets in Germany - I'm not fussy). I'd like the Crohn's to go away. I want a personal trainer. I want to go back to my old TKD dojong.
What's the best yuletide gift you've ever gotten?
We got Two's referral right around now, just two weeks before Christmas. :D I also got engaged in early December. For proper Christmas presents, hmmmm. I can think of things I really wanted when I was younger - a new record player, my Varsity jacket - things that my grandparents usually provided for. I can't think of anything super-standout as an adult.
What's the worst gift you've ever gotten?
I can't think of anything truly hideous. I'm sure there were things that got exchanged, given away, or regifted, but those would probably be along the lines of "shirt that's not to my taste" or "bland candle or body lotion" that people give when they don't know what else to give, and it's not a scent you like. That sort of thing.
Who gives you the most gifts?
When I was a kid, that was definitely my mom.
Have you ever had a Secret Santa?
Yes, my first year at college/uni, our dorm did a Secret Santa signup. I was assigned a senior I didn't know at all, but we became good friends after that.
Do you like wrapping gifts?
Yes - I just wish it didn't take so much time!
Do you burn a yule log?
Nope.
Can you name all the reindeer?
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen ... and Rudolph. ;-) (Just out of curiosity - do other Christmas-celebrating cultures have names for the reindeer? Or is it just an English/American thing?)
Do you bake cookies?
I'm not sure I'll get to it this year, but sometimes I do. (See "Little White Cookies" above. Or sometimes I'll bake my BIL's cookies if he doesn't have time - basic chocolate chip, PB and/or oatmeal raisin.)
Have you ever gotten a kiss under the mistletoe?
I'm not sure I've ever been anywhere that had mistletoe (either real or artificial), except for my grandparents' house when I was small.
Do you go caroling?
The only time I ever "went" caroling, in the traditional sense of walking around to people's homes and singing for them, was three of my four years at college/uni, when a group of us would go to professors' homes and sing for them. It was fun. Otherwise, I just sing to recordings of carols at home, or sing them at church.
Do you drive around and look at the Christmas lights?
When we lived in PA, I would take the kids out (sometimes Will would come, too) and we'd drive around. One of the local newspaper columnists made a point every year of collecting nominations for awesome holiday displays, then he'd put together "tour" routes around various neighborhoods, that you could follow. Around here, it's too rural. If we happen to pass something neat, that's great, but we don't deliberately drive around looking for displays.
Have you ever left Nissen porridge?
What the heck is that? Is it what people leave for Santa in other cultures? (Frankly, I think he'd prefer the cookies which are traditional around here. ;-) )
Have you ever sat on Nisse/Santa's lap? Have you ever had your picture taken with Nisse/Santa?
Oh, Nisse is a person. I thought it was a type of porridge! >_< Anyway, I'm sure I sat on Santa's lap a few times when I was a kid. No idea if my mom ever took or bought an official picture or not. When my kids were small, they only ever visited Santa a) if they wanted to and b) at locations where they let you use your own camera to take a pic, rather than forcing you to buy their expensive photo packages.
Who do you celebrate yuletide with and where?
Family - either Will's (in NJ) or mine (in CA). There were times, especially before we had kids or when they were small, when I had dreams of running off to a snowy mountain cabin with S&S and Scott's brother Eric, who is a priest (not that he'd ever get Christmas off, but I could dream) and just have a quiet retreat for Christmas, with a very simple celebration and a whole lot of heavenly peace and quiet. Ah well - never did happen.
Have you ever had a white yuletide?
I think there was one year when our kids were little? We ended up having Christmas on our own at our house because it snowed and roads were treacherous.
What part of yuletide do you look most forward to?
Decorating the tree, seeing the lights and decorations people put up outside their homes, watching people open the gifts I chose for them. I do love Christmas carols, too, but on my own schedule: AFTER Thanksgiving!
Does your family always take a picture at Christmas?
We tend to take a family photo to use for Christmas cards, although this year that picture was taken at Disney World, in front of Cinderella's castle. :D (When our kids were smaller, many times we just took a pic of them, not of us, too.) Growing up, we'd take pictures during Christmas - opening gifts, or standing around talking during the Christmas Eve party, that sort of thing, but not an official posed photo.
In baking, I made this cake, which I guess is more a sponge cake than a pound cake. I added a light lemon glaze, which helped, but I still don't think I'd bother making this again. I only made it because I had 13 egg yolks to use up (initially 17 yolks, after needing 5 egg whites for a chicken dish (batch and a half) and 12 whites for the "gingerbread" house glue/frosting, but I used 4 of those yolks for cinnamon rolls). Anyway, in future, I'll see if there's something else I can make with an excess of yolks.
More successful were these positively evil cookie bars, which I made tonight. Yum! And speaking of those bars, I'm off to steal another one before I fall into bed. Another looong day tomorrow, sigh.
Hope all is well. My apologies for being a terrible friend and not keeping up with my flist as well as I'd like.
Does your family send out yuletide cards?
Yes - maybe 60ish cards total? My list is much larger than my husband's, and I usually do all the addressing of his envelopes because his handwriting is so atrocious, the postman won't have a hope of delivering them correctly if I don't. All the husband has to do is sign and assemble the items for the envelope (the card, with sometimes a copy of the holiday newsletter and/or photo, as appropriate for that recipient). It saddens me that so many people have stopped doing holiday cards - I really do love receiving something happy in the mail. Not a bill, not junk. I realise everyone is busy and not everyone has money to spare on cards or postage, but I still feel sad about not receiving many cards anymore.
(We interrupt this meme to say thank you to pegkerr, thesmallhobbit, lanai, manue7a and Jama Rattigan for your holiday cards! <3 )
How soon do you start shopping?
Maybe mid-late October? Only casually, though, like if I just stumble upon something - not really seriously until November sometime.
Who do you shop for?
Husband, kids, R&K (minor gifts for them), my mom, my 4 nieces and my great-nephew, and my friend Jen. Sometimes small trinkets for other friends, if I stumble upon something I think they'd like.
Do you put up a Christmas tree? If so, is it fake or real? Do you put lights on the tree? White lights or colored lights? Blinking lights or still lights? Do you like tinsel? Star or angel?
I've always had a real tree. R&K have had an artificial tree. In all fairness, it's a pretty nice artificial tree, but still - I really wanted to keep up the tradition of having a real tree when we moved here. Because my SIL has allergies, we keep our tree in the entry hall, since nobody spends loads of time there, but it's really pretty to see when you walk in. We keep their artificial tree in the living room. Our tree: small white lights (although I have also done small colored lights, and grew up with large colored lights). I hang a small angel ornament at the top of the tree. Most of the ornaments are handmade by someone - many someone in the family made, but others are from craft fairs. Generally, the only store-bought ornaments were given to us, or are Stitch ornaments for Will. R&K's tree: small colored lights AND three decorative strings: white pinecone cluster lights, white pointsettia lights, blue snowflake lights. Almost all their ornaments are store-bought: Disney, mostly, but also Hallmark collectible ornaments (most of those are cat-related), and various things that have been given them over the years. The only handmade ones are from my kids, when they were small.
Do you use homemade or store-bought ornaments on the tree and general decorations?
See above. For me, personally, I vastly prefer homemade ornaments. They have way more character. :D
Do you put up lights outside your house? Is there a wreath hanging on your door?
Small colored lights around the front bay windows and around the garage doors. Icicle lights and blue/white snowflake lights on the roofline over the garage. Fake-greenery swag with small colored lights draped across the front of our fence.
The 24th/Yuletide-eve:
If we're in CA: Christmas Eve party at my great-grandmother's former house in San Francisco, an old Victorian now serving as a museum (and event location). If we're at home: we go to evening Mass, so we don't have to go out on Christmas morning. We also sometimes exchange family gifts on Christmas Eve (if we're home) to spread out the presents. Kids open their stockings on Christmas morning.
Do you hang up your stocking?
Nope, never have. Stockings just appear on Christmas morning. When I was a kid, stockings were left next to your bed. Once we had kids, we just leave them in the living room, our on the dining room table (out of reach of the dog, if there are edible treats in there!)
What's your favorite yuletide movie or TV show? Who's your favorite character from any yuletide movie or TV show?
I love the classics: A Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, plus Disney's old special Mickey's Christmas Carol. I also love A Christmas Story for its sheer ridiculousness. :D
Stories:
We used to have a ton of Christmas picture books. I'm trying to think which ones I really liked. Of course, there's the traditional Night Before Christmas. But I also liked more modern books like the aforementioned Grinch, plus Bear Stays Up For Christmas, How Santa Got His Job, Auntie Claus, oh, and Babar and Father Christmas (which I loved as a child).
What's your favorite yuletide song?
Joy to the World, O Holy Night, Silent Night (both English and German). Those are my top favorites, but I like a LOT of Christmas songs. Also quite a few Wizard Rock Christmas songs. *g*
What's your favorite yuletide memory?
Probably most of the ones in my childhood: Christmas Eve party in the City, sleeping on the floor of my mom's room because my grandma had my room, my grandpa had the guest room and my uncle (and later my aunt) had the sofabed. Opening gifts on Christmas morning with everyone, and having pastry and eggs for breakfast.
Gløgg (mulled wine/non alcohol drink) or julebrus?
Just hot apple cider is fine. I don't even know what julebrus is!
Dinner?
So, I never grew up with the huge Christmas feast. My mom would make chicken (pieces, not a whole roast), with rice, a steamed veggie of some kind, salad, and a berry-and-gelatin mold (WAY better than cranberry sauce, and I say that as someone who likes cranberry sauce). To me: that's Christmas dinner. Eating the full ham-potatoes-stuffing-etc blowout when we're back East still feels weird to me.
Cookies and sweets:
"Little white cookies" aka Russian teacakes, Mexican wedding cakes, snowballs, etc. Finely ground nuts, butter, cake flour rolled into balls and baked, then carefully rolled twice in powdered sugar after baking (they're fragile - this can be tricky). There's a picture of me, age 2.5, sitting on the counter and absolutely covered in powdered sugar after "helping" my mom do that. I also have a picture of MiniPlu at the same age, also perched on the counter and "helping." I used to keep those pics side-by-side. :D
Give or Receive?
Both. I *LOVE* watching people open the gifts I've picked out for them. But, you know, it's also nice to open something you really love, too. :D
What do you want for yuletide this year?
There's several books I want (aren't there always? *g*) but, honestly, what I always want are things I'm not going to get: more time to myself, a vacation (to Ireland, Hawaii, London, Scotland, Italy, the Christmas markets in Germany - I'm not fussy). I'd like the Crohn's to go away. I want a personal trainer. I want to go back to my old TKD dojong.
What's the best yuletide gift you've ever gotten?
We got Two's referral right around now, just two weeks before Christmas. :D I also got engaged in early December. For proper Christmas presents, hmmmm. I can think of things I really wanted when I was younger - a new record player, my Varsity jacket - things that my grandparents usually provided for. I can't think of anything super-standout as an adult.
What's the worst gift you've ever gotten?
I can't think of anything truly hideous. I'm sure there were things that got exchanged, given away, or regifted, but those would probably be along the lines of "shirt that's not to my taste" or "bland candle or body lotion" that people give when they don't know what else to give, and it's not a scent you like. That sort of thing.
Who gives you the most gifts?
When I was a kid, that was definitely my mom.
Have you ever had a Secret Santa?
Yes, my first year at college/uni, our dorm did a Secret Santa signup. I was assigned a senior I didn't know at all, but we became good friends after that.
Do you like wrapping gifts?
Yes - I just wish it didn't take so much time!
Do you burn a yule log?
Nope.
Can you name all the reindeer?
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen ... and Rudolph. ;-) (Just out of curiosity - do other Christmas-celebrating cultures have names for the reindeer? Or is it just an English/American thing?)
Do you bake cookies?
I'm not sure I'll get to it this year, but sometimes I do. (See "Little White Cookies" above. Or sometimes I'll bake my BIL's cookies if he doesn't have time - basic chocolate chip, PB and/or oatmeal raisin.)
Have you ever gotten a kiss under the mistletoe?
I'm not sure I've ever been anywhere that had mistletoe (either real or artificial), except for my grandparents' house when I was small.
Do you go caroling?
The only time I ever "went" caroling, in the traditional sense of walking around to people's homes and singing for them, was three of my four years at college/uni, when a group of us would go to professors' homes and sing for them. It was fun. Otherwise, I just sing to recordings of carols at home, or sing them at church.
Do you drive around and look at the Christmas lights?
When we lived in PA, I would take the kids out (sometimes Will would come, too) and we'd drive around. One of the local newspaper columnists made a point every year of collecting nominations for awesome holiday displays, then he'd put together "tour" routes around various neighborhoods, that you could follow. Around here, it's too rural. If we happen to pass something neat, that's great, but we don't deliberately drive around looking for displays.
Have you ever left Nissen porridge?
What the heck is that? Is it what people leave for Santa in other cultures? (Frankly, I think he'd prefer the cookies which are traditional around here. ;-) )
Have you ever sat on Nisse/Santa's lap? Have you ever had your picture taken with Nisse/Santa?
Oh, Nisse is a person. I thought it was a type of porridge! >_< Anyway, I'm sure I sat on Santa's lap a few times when I was a kid. No idea if my mom ever took or bought an official picture or not. When my kids were small, they only ever visited Santa a) if they wanted to and b) at locations where they let you use your own camera to take a pic, rather than forcing you to buy their expensive photo packages.
Who do you celebrate yuletide with and where?
Family - either Will's (in NJ) or mine (in CA). There were times, especially before we had kids or when they were small, when I had dreams of running off to a snowy mountain cabin with S&S and Scott's brother Eric, who is a priest (not that he'd ever get Christmas off, but I could dream) and just have a quiet retreat for Christmas, with a very simple celebration and a whole lot of heavenly peace and quiet. Ah well - never did happen.
Have you ever had a white yuletide?
I think there was one year when our kids were little? We ended up having Christmas on our own at our house because it snowed and roads were treacherous.
What part of yuletide do you look most forward to?
Decorating the tree, seeing the lights and decorations people put up outside their homes, watching people open the gifts I chose for them. I do love Christmas carols, too, but on my own schedule: AFTER Thanksgiving!
Does your family always take a picture at Christmas?
We tend to take a family photo to use for Christmas cards, although this year that picture was taken at Disney World, in front of Cinderella's castle. :D (When our kids were smaller, many times we just took a pic of them, not of us, too.) Growing up, we'd take pictures during Christmas - opening gifts, or standing around talking during the Christmas Eve party, that sort of thing, but not an official posed photo.
In baking, I made this cake, which I guess is more a sponge cake than a pound cake. I added a light lemon glaze, which helped, but I still don't think I'd bother making this again. I only made it because I had 13 egg yolks to use up (initially 17 yolks, after needing 5 egg whites for a chicken dish (batch and a half) and 12 whites for the "gingerbread" house glue/frosting, but I used 4 of those yolks for cinnamon rolls). Anyway, in future, I'll see if there's something else I can make with an excess of yolks.
More successful were these positively evil cookie bars, which I made tonight. Yum! And speaking of those bars, I'm off to steal another one before I fall into bed. Another looong day tomorrow, sigh.
Hope all is well. My apologies for being a terrible friend and not keeping up with my flist as well as I'd like.