Christmas Memories

I have to thank 'Brookem' over at Shrinkering Hearts for these questions. As I was reading hers I thought a lot about my own answers to these questions. Below are the ones that I liked best. :-)

Wrapping paper or gift bags?
I am pretty much obsessed with wrapping paper. I love picking out new paper every year that is colorful and fun!

Real tree or Artificial?

I prefer real. Every year my sister and I go with my Dad (and my husband too) to pick out a tree. My Dad was always the one to get in the snow and cut it down, but recently the job has gone to Jason (if only so we can watch him struggle in the deep snow with a saw.) It's great fun!

Do you have a nativity scene?
No, but my Mom does. Funny story about that Nativity Scene: My Mom doesn't put the little Baby Jesus figure into the manger until Christmas morning, so sometime after Christmas one year and before she packed it up for the season, a friend and I were playing with a ball and it hit the Nativity Scene, decapitating Baby Jesus. Yes, DECAPITATING! That was the only piece that broke, and it just HAD to be Jesus and it HAD to be his head. It wasn't a Wiseman's head, or a sheep's leg, no, no, it was Baby Jesus' head. My Mom was able to glue it back on and now it's fine and no one's the wiser but we thought it was hilarious terribly sad at the time.

Hardest person to buy for?
My father-in-law... by a mile! He loves gardening but it's often not fun to get someone gardening stuff in December. My husband's Grandparent's are also pretty difficult because I think they are a lot like me where, if they want something, they just buy it for themselves.

Easiest person to buy for?
My husband because we spend a lot of time together and I have the chance to get a lot of ideas. Also, my sister. Every year I have to actually stop buying things for her. I have to tell myself that I am DONE buying gifts for her because I always see things I know she would like.

Mail or e-mail Christmas card?
Mail. No question. I absolutely love getting Christmas cards in the mail and look forward to it every year!

Favorite Christmas Movie?
My favorite Christmas Special is Garfield's Christmas Special and my favorite movie is ELF (I've seen it 4 times already this year!) Favorite quote: "You smell like beef and cheese, you don't smell like Santa."

Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
My Mom's Christmas cookies (which we call 'breakfast cookies' because they go really well with coffee!) and my Mother-in-Law's peanut butter fudge (which we made 15 pounds of this past weekend to give to Jason's co-workers!)

Favorite Christmas song?
Baby, It's Cold Outside by Dean Martin (listen here) as well as anything else from Christmas with the Rat Pack.

Travel at Christmas or stay home?
We always travel home for Christmas so we can spend it with family and friends in Vermont. Living in Boston for the past 6 years has made that easier than it will be this year. We are still flying home though and can't wait to spend time with everyone and have a nice Vermont Christmas.

Do you have an Angel on top or a star?
Neither, I have a big bow. It makes my little tree look like a present! :-)

Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Christmas Eve at Jason's house and Christmas morning at my parent's house. Christmas morning consists of the whole run-down-the-stairs-way-too-early-in-the-morning-thing and anxiously wait until Dad takes a shower and gets his coffee before we are allowed to open presents. When I was little I swore he would take a longer shower than usual on Christmas morning just to mess with us... I still think that.

Most annoying thing about this time of year?
The pressure to find the perfect gift. I absolutely LOVE buying gifts for people, but I get super stressed when I can't find that really meaningful gift that I know exists somewhere out there.

Ugliest Christmas Decoration ever invented?
You know those Christmas lights that you put on your house that come in a net-like shape? The ones that are basically a blanket of lights that you drape over whatever you want to cover with lights? Sometimes people put one of those tiny little blankets of lights over a huge bush and it just looks awful. Otherwise, I love Christmas lights and decorations!

Do you like Fruitcake?

I do not. I do have a funny story about fruitcake though: At some point when I was little my Mom got a fruitcake as a gift one year. It came in a pretty holiday tin. It ended up at the bottom of our pantry closet of the house I grew up in. The following September (or possibly many years later, but still in September) we were packing up the house to move and found the fruitcake. I picked up the tin without knowing what was in it and my fingers went right through the bottom of the tin! The fruitcake had eaten it's way through the plastic and the tin it was in, basically disintegrating it. How crazy is that? We joked that it was 'lethal fruitcake' and that is basically why I won't even try the stuff now. Plus, it looks icky.