Deck the halls with badgers and spoons...

Dec 01, 2008 12:52

I'll write about Tucson and last week a bit later. Till then, a festive holiday meme nicked from sylphslider.

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy this entire thing and answer it. Change all the answers so that they apply to you.

Wrapping paper or gift bags?
I tend to be fonder of gift bags, which can be re-used for many years.

Real tree or artificial?
I used to be keen on real trees, then I killed three of them in a row - two in one season. It was then that I borrowed an artificial one from my parents. The next year, I thought to myself 'you could have another go with a real tree, or you could fetch the fake one down, assemble and decorate it and you'd be done with the lot of it today'. Two years later (or so), we'd purchased our own rather classy (narrow diametre) artificial tree with lights on. Shaddow's sister and I decided that only the red ornaments (well, and Shaddow's railway ones) were to be used. It looks fantastic.

When do you put up the tree?
During my years with Omni, I put myself in the habit of doing it the weekend after Thanksgiving.

When do you take the tree down?
6 January, which is either Coptic Christmas or the Epiphany - depending upon your calendar. It's amusing, really, since neither of us are at all Christian.

Do you like eggnog?
My figure rejoices that it's only sold for a short time during the year. It's odd - for most of my life, I despised it. I'd not have it. Then Something Changed. Now I'm mad for it. I prefer to take my egg nog with brandy and a bit of nutmeg.

Favorite gift received as a child?
I've answered this one before, I know. I think my favourite gift was the sleeping bag I was given at four or five years of age. There was a girl making patchwork printed on it. It was lush and fluffy for...well, I don't know how long exactly, but I do know I was round 17 when I decided that no amount of patching it up ('cos it was literally patchwork by then) was going to salvage it. I was also (round about the same time) given a green and yellow steel aeroplane with working landing gear and a propellor that spins. I've still got it.

Hardest person to buy for?
My father or Shaddow's father - either of them. We've managed something for Shaddow's father this year; I think I'm going to buy my father a mountaineer's headlamp.

Easiest person to buy for?
Shaddow and Sessa.

Do you have a nativity scene?
Myself, no. My friend Lisa keeps one, however, and when we go round her house at the holidays, we're usually naughty and add something to it. A black plastic spider still lurking about from Hallowe'en...Homer Simpson...that sort of thing. Army men. She gets livid, it's quite amusing.

Mail or email Christmas cards?
I often make my own cards, so I use the post. This year...I don't know. It's difficult for me to print anything anymore, so unless I have enough time for Kinko's, I'll either buy cards or email them. Assuming I've got an inspiration, of course. This year's Hallowe'en card I had to carve out of my psyche.

Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
I don't think I've ever been given anything truly horrid. The strangest gift I've ever received came from my auntie Kathleen. It was a little silver heart-shaped locket thingummy. No worries, right? Only it came with a pearl to put into the locket - which was still nestled in the shell of a dead mollusc in a little container. :| I think I did eventually re-gift that one. I couldn't bring myself to open the container and prise open the mollusc.

Favorite Christmas movie?
The Charlie Brown Christmas one.

When do you start shopping for Christmas?
I started today.

Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
I don't know, actually.

Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
I'm keen on pumpkin pie. Which reminds me, I've got more pumpkin goop to make.

Lights on the tree?
A must. I prefer white lights. Our tree sports a combination of clear and frosted white lights.

Favorite Christmas song?
Anything rendered up by Vince Guaraldi, that one by the Waitresses, or 'Fairytale of New York'.

Travel at Christmas or stay home?
We got to Shaddow's parents house, which isn't terribly far away. When I was small, we once spent Christmas in Nuremberg. I wanted the Glockenspiel (the large church at the centre).

Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Well, I believe they've got names already, but...sure why not?
Josephine
Mark
Janis
Roland
Patricia
Scott
Carmine
Julius
and Ringo

Angel on the tree top or a star?
I've got a frosted white star. Shaddow and I have decided that it stands as a reminder that astronomy's a grand pastime, and we should all spend more time gawking at the heavens.

Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning
Both.

Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
The adverts demanding that I buy things. We re-connected our cable last week so that our fathers could look at the traditional football game. It's been aeons since I've seen an advert, and now they're all chock-a-block with holiday sneer cheer. I no longer have a firm grasp on meaning as far as Christmas goes, but the rabid calls to consumption are off putting.

Favorite ornament theme or color?
This year's red was a good choice. If I hadn't done that, I might have been tempted to go out and buy all black and white ones. They appeal to my modern tastes in decor.

Favorite for Christmas dinner?
Shaddow's mother makes fantastic stuffing.

What do you want for Christmas this year?
There's not a great lot I require. I've got an Amazon wishlist, but if none of it arrives at my doorstep with bows and my name on, I'll not feel slighted.

ex-moose, memes

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