2006 Christmas Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends...

Thanks Cheryl for posting this!  I had found this on a blog somewhere the other day and had intended to put it on mine too...but you beat me to it....I think it is a great way to get to know all your "blogging" buddies and maybe learn some new ideas about the holidays.

Like Cheryl said....

Submit your own answers, answer just one or two of them (I know it's kinda long), comment on my answers, or send us a link to your blog where you've done the quiz yourself.

I'd love to hear about all of your Christmas memories, traditions, and favorites! Here are mine . . .

So here ya go... WARNING!!!  This is LONG!!!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate, definitely!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa just sits presents under and around the tree.

3. Colored or white lights on tree and house?  White lights rule!!!  No lights on the outside of the house ever since my hubby got stuck on the roof one year...ha ha!  (He didn't think it was too funny then....but I secretly can laugh about it now!)

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I  have a mistletoe ball with a bell attached to the bottom of it that I love to hang...however, I have been ban from hanging it this year because my hubby hits his head on it every time he enters or leaves the doorway in which it hangs.  Hey, is it my fault he is so tall?  :)  So now I just have it hanging on my back door in the kitchen that goes out to the garage....so I can hear everytime someone enters or leaves the house. 

5. When do you put your decorations up?
I try to have mine up by Thanksgiving each year so that we can enjoy them as long as possible.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Well, it isn't just one dish....but my favorite holiday meal is our Christmas morning breakfast.  Every Christmas morning we have a big home cooked breakfast with all the fixin's at my grandparent's home...yum, yum!!!

7. Favorite Christmas cookie? Not sure if I have a favorite cookie...but lately I have been making this treat with crushed Oreo's and cream cheese....which I just call Oreo Bites....maybe there is a better, more unique name out there....but they are SOOOOO good and easy tooo!!!!

8. Favorite Christmas memory as a child? Oh me...I have lots of favorite memories from Christmas as a child....I will have to think about this one and give it a whole post to itself later in the week...I can just say this, though...My family are Christmas nuts....my Gram, my Dad, me....my husband, my mother and father-in-law, and now we are working on my kids....so Christmas has always been a big deal and always been very special to me.  My Gram has always made it special for us and I know how much it means to her and I guess maybe that is why I have grown to love it so much!!!  I am trying to give that same feeling to my own children. 
9. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
The only thing I know about Santa is that he lives at the North Pole, drives a sleigh with Rudolph at the lead, and delivers presents on Christmas.  Is there something else I need to know?  Oh...I didn't think so!!!  :)  I was always told when you don't believe then the presents stop coming....so I still believe.

10. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Nope!  Gotta wait till the big day!

11. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
Tons of white lights, primarily red, green, white, and silver decorations, handmade red bows all around, red glass beads, special collected ornaments from my kids and that Shane and I have gotten for each other or received over the years. 

12. Snow ... Love it or Dread it?
Love it, never get it here where we live now...do get to see it usually when we travel back to Indiana for Christmas...but then after about a week of it I am sick of driving in it and ready to get back to Alabama where there is no snow.  :)

13. Can you ice skate? Have you ever fallen on the ice?
I CANNOT ice skate.  Will not try....you can't make me!!!

14. Do you remember your favorite gift?  Can't remember one favorite one that just sticks out right now.

15. Do you have a favorite ornament? My favorite ornaments are the handmade ornaments that my kids have made for me in school and in Bible class.  Also, the first Christmas ornaments that each of them have, the ornaments that Shane and I received as wedding gifts (since we were married the week before Christmas), and the Disney ornaments that we bought and had personalized when we took the family to Disney World on a fabulous vacation...I might add!!!  I have a huge tree...so it takes lots of ornaments to fill it up....but these are my favorites!

16. What's the most important thing about Christmas for you? Spending lots of time with my family and making time to do things together that we might not normally take the time to do together.  Making sure that my children know that Christmas is about much more than getting gifts....it is about something you can't buy at a store!  That is why I love the song that I mentioned below....read on and you will see it!

17. What is your favorite Christmas dessert? My favorite sweet treats for Christmas are my Gram's fudge and peanut butter balls.  I remember when I was growing up that around the holidays she always had a plate of this stuff sitting out on the bar for us to grab some as we walked by....not good for the waistline....but it tasted so good! 

18. What is your favorite Christmas tradition?  Probably waking up at Pap and Gram's every Christmas morning and having a big breakfast before opening gifts....the rule is...if you don't clean your plate....you don't open presents!!!  lol

19. What tops your tree?
A handmade bow made with ribbon that matches the ribbon on the rest of the tree.

20. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving to my kids,family, and friends is where I get my joy!!!

21. What is your favorite Christmas song?  I'll Be Home For Christmas and there is a whole album of Statler Brother's songs that I grew up listening to with my grandparents that I absolutely love.  I have downloaded it off Napster and still listen to it every year...and probably always will.  Two of my very favorite on this album are:  Christmas To Me...and...Something You Can't Buy.  Now, I know that this isn't the hip music for today's generation....but I still love it!!!  In fact, when I listen to it I just have so many memories that run through my mind.  If you have never heard these songs....and you are sentimental and if you are a music buff like me that really listens to the words and their meanings....you will like these holiday songs!  I highly recommend it!!!

22. What is your least favorite Christmas song?  Probably ... Little Drummer Boy...

23. How soon in the season will you start listening to Christmas carols?  I usually start pretty early.  This year I started right around Thanksgiving time...

24. Favorite Christmas cartoon?  Santa Claus is Coming To Town and Frosty's Winter Wonderland

25. Favorite Christmas movie?  Wow...I have lots of those...I have really gotten into watching ABC Family 25 Days of Christmas... the last few years and been recording many of the movies from that channel....most of them are sooo good!  Here are some of my favorites:

1. Once Upon a Christmas
2. Polar Express
3. Home Alone (all of them)
4. Snow
5. Eloise at Christmastime
6. Miracle on 34th Street
7. It's a Wonderful Life