I have great news, everyone!
Redskins win!!!!!
I promise I have done more today than a mild victory dance around my apartment living room… With all my new found down time, I thought I would do a fun holiday survey that I saw over on Tessa’s blog this morning.
1. Eggnog or hot chocolate?
I’m a hot chocolate person for sure. I prefer dark chocolate perhaps with some caramel or peanut butter mixed in too. Eggnog flavored things are alright, like ice cream, just not in huge quantities.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Umm, I’m not sure I truly understand this question but I will say that my family is a big believer in Santa gifts. Basically we all make up names to fill in the “From:” line that are usually elf/Santa themed. They give you a clue as to what’s inside.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
We hang all sorts of colored and white lights on our house. Dad and I even made our own awesome icicle lights for our front porch. Who needs store bought ones?
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
We do not. The only memory of mistletoe I have is back when I was five at my best friend’s house during the holidays. They hung some over the entrance to the living room. Pretty sure we all skirted it the whole night. No 5-year-old wanted to end up underneath that!
5. When do you hang your decorations up?
The weekend after Thanksgiving is typically the time we did it when I was living at home during high school and college. I’m not sure when my dad does it now.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
I’m a huge fan of stuffing which we usually have at both Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. I could eat my weight in it easily!
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
I don’t have anything that stands out. Essentially any memory of me and my family around the holidays is a favorite of mine. I do remember one Christmas we spent out in Vegas as part of a family reunion. We so rarely get the chance to have everyone in the same place for a holiday so that was very neat/special.
8. What is on your Christmas wishlist?
I feel like this questions becomes harder and harder to answer every year. This time around I would say anything cooking/kitchen related would be a win.
9. Do you open a gifts on Christmas Eve?
We do not open gifts on Christmas Eve though I will say that when the gifts are opened is becoming less and less important as I get older. Also, the fact that I have essentially three Christmases each year now (two with Jack’s family and one with mine) means that gifts could be opened anytime from the 20th to the 31st in all reality.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
We light the whole tree and overload it with a bunch of ornaments. We have ones form when I was younger and making things out of macaroni and glitter was the cool thing to do and we also have more professional looking things. We also garland the tree sometimes with silver or gold. We use a bright red tree skirt too.
11. Snow? Love it or dread it?
I love it if it is between the 23rd and the 31st of December. Any other time I dread it because all it means is that I need extra time to scrape off the windshield of my car…
12. Real tree or fake tree?
Hha. There is a story behind my answer of “fake tree”. When I was little there was a bird that roosted in our front door wreath. When mom and I opened the door coming home from daycare the bird flew right into our house. When it got inside it totally skipped our fake tree and drove itself directly into the heart of our real tree. From then on I never wanted a real tree plus, in my opinion, fake trees are way easier to deal with. It’s always in your basement and can go up any time you’re ready for it. You don’t have to go and pick one, buy one, drag it home, etc.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
I don’t think I have one favorite gift to be honest. I’m sure there were many, and I’m even more sure my favorite changed every single year.
14. What’s the most important thing about Christmas for you?
Being with family. Plain and simple. Short and sweet. Period.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Probably pie. Or chocolate. Or truffles. Or anything sweet, let’s be honest.
16. What is your favorite tradition?
Mom and I always watch Christmas movies together and dad always makes fun of us, in a loving way of course. As far as other traditions, the most prevalent one in my mind is that after opening presents on Christmas morning dad always makes waffles. Brunch on Christmas morning is key.
17. What tops your tree?
We have this gorgeous spire-like ornament that is ice blue with white/silver sparkle and shine. When we used to have two trees, we used a similar pink one on the other.
18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving?
I love both. Giving the perfect gift makes me feel great, like I really know the person, like I have given them something that they will like/use/treasure for time to come. On the other side of the coin, receiving the perfect gift is great too for the same reasons as above. For instance, I love using the beautiful, red, ceramic 9x13 pan Jack’s mother gave me last year and remembering who it’s from and all the memories about the Christmas I got it during.
19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
I’m not a big fan of the traditional Christmas songs. Instead I love the boy band Christmas CDs. Last week we were actually singing N*Sync holiday songs off the cuff in the lab. It was very heartwarming. So if I had to pick a favorite it would certainly be Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays by N*Sync though my favorite album is Hanson’s Snowed In.
20. Candy canes, yuck or yum?
Yum in moderation. I do love trying all the different flavors and kinds.
21. Favorite Christmas movie?
White Christmas, hands down. Though, I must mention that my family’s Christmas movie is Lethal Weapon. Weird I know but if our defense it is set at Christmas time.
22. What do you leave for Santa?
I don’t leave anything. I don’t think I ever left anything.
23. Do you have a Christmas morning tradition?
Oh, I already mentioned this earlier. Brunch with dad’s waffles!
24. Do you prefer to shop online or at the mall?
Depends on the gift. Magazines have way better deals online but if you’re looking at getting clothes, the mall is probably the best bet so you can actually look, try on, touch, feel, etc. Important perk of choosing online (especially from Amazon): free shipping to wherever that gift needs to go.
25. Christmas letter or Christmas card?
My family sends both. We pick out a nice Christmas card and then include a long letter detailing what everyone has been up to for the past year. My job when I was younger was to stuff the envelopes and put the stamps on. I took my job pretty seriously from what I can remember and trust me, there were a ton of envelopes! Now that I’m on my own I bat around the idea of doing a Christmas letter sometimes. I think it’s more a thing I do if truly, hands-down inspired.
Hope you liked that. It was fun to recall all of my Christmases in order to answer the questions. In other news, Jack and I have been doing our best at doing nothing. It’s great. Today I did laundry but that is about the full extent of it. =D
Recent eats have included a yogurt mess with peanut butter, wheat puffs, cinni-mini crunch, peanut butter & chocolate puffins, chocolate crispy oats, banana slices, wheat germ, and chia seeds:
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches:
Chubby Hubby bars:
Riesling and homemade pizza (turkey pepperoni, mushroom, and Italian cheese) with a side salad (romaine, carrot, celery, mushrooms, tomatoes, green pepper, red onion, feta, and sunflower seeds with Asia toasted sesame dressing):
Spumoni and peanut blast ice cream with yogurt covered pretzels:
Wheat toast smeared with green goddess dressing and Italian cheese plus a side of sesame sticks, plantain chips, and pretzels:
Tonight Jack and I are headed to a big dinner for the Foodie’s Guild (an undergraduate club associated with the graduate school I am at) at a kitchen here in town. We’re all meeting at 5p to start cooking everything. The dishes have been chosen by the members of the club and I’m guessing based on the range of ethnicities present that we’re in for a great range of eats. Yummy! I’ll have more on that tomorrow.
Questions: One week until Christmas…plans?
Fill out the survey!
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