so much fun
i stole the following survey from hallie and charlotte; i was going to do the "i've had it with journal surveys" survey that michaela did, but i'm in too good of a mood. in spite of certain details (like the very negligible progress i'm making on the papers), there has been something going on like a rewarding schedule. and i'm still feeling generally spoiled, but not doted upon, and still exposed, but not vulnerable. comfort is wonderful.
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? hot chocolate. deliciously rich. egg nog makes me gag.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? wraps them. and still signs them "from santa." if it's something like a new outfit for me, it will say "from mrs. claus." charming.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? my family usually puts colors on the tree and white on the house, but i'm a purist (hey...just like a "katharine" to be a purist...) and i tend to favor the simplicity of white lights.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? FOR THE LAST TIME, ITS PROBABLE LINGUISTIC ROOT IS BIRDSHIT. but that aside...(clearly) no, i never have. that should change.
5. When do you put your decorations up? lights go up shortly after thanksgiving, usually, and sometimes the tree goes up at the beginning of december, but we've missed it a few years because we were in florida.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? anything with sweet potatoes...owaiejfowaijfowe. and my mom has a damn fine recipe for cranberry relish. I WANT TO COOK A LOT OF FOOD BUT NOT NECESSARILY EAT IT BECAUSE IT WOULD MAKE ME FEEL REALLY SICK TO EAT ALL THAT FOOD!
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: i was older than a "child," but there was a gorgeous (but dangerous) ice storm in 1997(?) that got us about a week extra off school, and more visiting time with my grandma and cousin. i went out and jumped on top of a 3 foot pile of snow and only sank six inches or so. one of my ultimate favorites was when all the girls and john and eric and i went ice skating together, because they didn't all get along, but for one night they did.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? i came downstairs once because i couldn't sleep and found my dad wrapping presents. i asked my mom about it the next night. she told me she still believes in the spirit of giving that santa is supposed to "mean," so i guess i do too.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? nope.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? the word "sporadically" comes to mind. we just sort of throw on our amalgam of ornaments, including the expensive ones and the hand-made childhood ones (seriously, an angel made of paper, crayon, and cotton that my brother made when he was probably 6). lights go on next, then garland.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? i love it if i don't have to drive in it. it looks and sounds pretty when it falls, and for a week or two when it's first sticking, but not in the spring when it's brown and gross. (just the other day, i had this debate and convinced the other party that his southerner-grumbling was on account of his busy week and did not bear any weight with the prettiness of snow, and it was also not complementary to my own shiny pretty attitude. yes, i know.)
12. Can you ice skate? yes, but not really well. i probably shouldn't do on account of my back problems, but i remember laura telling me that she was jealous of how i made my falling look graceful.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? my "poetry speaks" book with the three disc set of POETS READING THEIR OWN WORKS! as a kid: the dancing my pretty ballerina, even though it made a really ridiculous gear-grinding noise that was *not* particularly pretty.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? the spirit of goodwill towards all human beings. whether or not you trace that to the christian traditions and the birth of Jesus is up to you, but i'll be happy if you are. also, try not to confine it to one season!
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? definitely pumpkin pie. (hehe...if you understand the reference to "pumpkin pasta" you can have a million bonus points.)
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? oplatek. i used to like it more when it was a big deal to see how much of someone else's wafer you could break off and get away with it. if you can spell it phonetically, you can have 10,000 bonus points. POLISH CHRISTMAS!
17. What tops your tree? usually an angel, but we had a really campy 70s star for a long time. (hahaha...what tops your tree? or..."whatever tops your tree, sweetheart"...sounds like a new phrase in my lexicon.)
18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? definitely giving. not just any gift, but THE most individual-appropriate gift i can think of.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? i like the ones in minor keys ("god rest ye merry gentlemen" is probably up at the top), the religious ones, and *love* listening to celtic traditional songs and gregorian motets and chants. ("et in terra pax hominibus!")
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? pretty fantastic. not a big fan of the fancy ones. give me peppermint.
21. Do you like fruitcake? Would you give it to someone as a gift? i've never had it, nor ever made it, nor ever known anyone in my family who has made it.
22. How long will you keep up your Christmas decorations? like hallie...usually until the epiphany.
23. If you could have a reindeer as a pet, which one would you have? prancer or blitzen, because they have the two coolest names.
24. Do you stay up to see if maybe you hear sleigh bells? i used to, and i heard a "ho ho ho" one year that didn't even sound like either of my parents. that's kind of terrifying, now that i think about it....
25. Are you one of the people always wearing a Santa hat around? i used to for family gatherings to denote that i was a "helper" for gift distribution, but now my dad has inherited it for when he does bell ringing for the salvation army. it doesn't fit his head
(hey, remember how earlier in the summer "the long hot summer" was on during a paul newman night on TCM at a most opportune time? (maybe only i remember?) i'm watching "hud" right now. most opportune.)
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? hot chocolate. deliciously rich. egg nog makes me gag.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? wraps them. and still signs them "from santa." if it's something like a new outfit for me, it will say "from mrs. claus." charming.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? my family usually puts colors on the tree and white on the house, but i'm a purist (hey...just like a "katharine" to be a purist...) and i tend to favor the simplicity of white lights.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? FOR THE LAST TIME, ITS PROBABLE LINGUISTIC ROOT IS BIRDSHIT. but that aside...(clearly) no, i never have. that should change.
5. When do you put your decorations up? lights go up shortly after thanksgiving, usually, and sometimes the tree goes up at the beginning of december, but we've missed it a few years because we were in florida.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? anything with sweet potatoes...owaiejfowaijfowe. and my mom has a damn fine recipe for cranberry relish. I WANT TO COOK A LOT OF FOOD BUT NOT NECESSARILY EAT IT BECAUSE IT WOULD MAKE ME FEEL REALLY SICK TO EAT ALL THAT FOOD!
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: i was older than a "child," but there was a gorgeous (but dangerous) ice storm in 1997(?) that got us about a week extra off school, and more visiting time with my grandma and cousin. i went out and jumped on top of a 3 foot pile of snow and only sank six inches or so. one of my ultimate favorites was when all the girls and john and eric and i went ice skating together, because they didn't all get along, but for one night they did.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? i came downstairs once because i couldn't sleep and found my dad wrapping presents. i asked my mom about it the next night. she told me she still believes in the spirit of giving that santa is supposed to "mean," so i guess i do too.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? nope.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? the word "sporadically" comes to mind. we just sort of throw on our amalgam of ornaments, including the expensive ones and the hand-made childhood ones (seriously, an angel made of paper, crayon, and cotton that my brother made when he was probably 6). lights go on next, then garland.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? i love it if i don't have to drive in it. it looks and sounds pretty when it falls, and for a week or two when it's first sticking, but not in the spring when it's brown and gross. (just the other day, i had this debate and convinced the other party that his southerner-grumbling was on account of his busy week and did not bear any weight with the prettiness of snow, and it was also not complementary to my own shiny pretty attitude. yes, i know.)
12. Can you ice skate? yes, but not really well. i probably shouldn't do on account of my back problems, but i remember laura telling me that she was jealous of how i made my falling look graceful.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? my "poetry speaks" book with the three disc set of POETS READING THEIR OWN WORKS! as a kid: the dancing my pretty ballerina, even though it made a really ridiculous gear-grinding noise that was *not* particularly pretty.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? the spirit of goodwill towards all human beings. whether or not you trace that to the christian traditions and the birth of Jesus is up to you, but i'll be happy if you are. also, try not to confine it to one season!
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? definitely pumpkin pie. (hehe...if you understand the reference to "pumpkin pasta" you can have a million bonus points.)
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? oplatek. i used to like it more when it was a big deal to see how much of someone else's wafer you could break off and get away with it. if you can spell it phonetically, you can have 10,000 bonus points. POLISH CHRISTMAS!
17. What tops your tree? usually an angel, but we had a really campy 70s star for a long time. (hahaha...what tops your tree? or..."whatever tops your tree, sweetheart"...sounds like a new phrase in my lexicon.)
18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? definitely giving. not just any gift, but THE most individual-appropriate gift i can think of.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? i like the ones in minor keys ("god rest ye merry gentlemen" is probably up at the top), the religious ones, and *love* listening to celtic traditional songs and gregorian motets and chants. ("et in terra pax hominibus!")
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? pretty fantastic. not a big fan of the fancy ones. give me peppermint.
21. Do you like fruitcake? Would you give it to someone as a gift? i've never had it, nor ever made it, nor ever known anyone in my family who has made it.
22. How long will you keep up your Christmas decorations? like hallie...usually until the epiphany.
23. If you could have a reindeer as a pet, which one would you have? prancer or blitzen, because they have the two coolest names.
24. Do you stay up to see if maybe you hear sleigh bells? i used to, and i heard a "ho ho ho" one year that didn't even sound like either of my parents. that's kind of terrifying, now that i think about it....
25. Are you one of the people always wearing a Santa hat around? i used to for family gatherings to denote that i was a "helper" for gift distribution, but now my dad has inherited it for when he does bell ringing for the salvation army. it doesn't fit his head
(hey, remember how earlier in the summer "the long hot summer" was on during a paul newman night on TCM at a most opportune time? (maybe only i remember?) i'm watching "hud" right now. most opportune.)