A Christmas Tag

(The above picture was taken on Christmas 2006 at Disneyland, one of my favorite memories, when I was pregnant with Zander)
Someone actually emailed me this last year and I found it saved on my computer and I thought it would be fun to make it a blog tag. It is kind of long, but I had so much fun filling it out, I think you will too. I kept my answers from last year and only updated slightly. Pictures (especially old ones) would make this even more fun, but it is already so long and you all know my current computer problems. I was able to upload the above picture only because it happened to be saved on another computer.

1. Do you like Eggnog or Hot Chocolate? I like them both. I like “light” eggnog because it is not as thick as original so I think it tastes better. But I also love hot chocolate, especially all the different flavors they have now.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just put them under the tree? When I was growing up Santa laid out all our presents in our section of the room, be it part of the couch or chair, everything was neatly arranged with our names on it. I loved it that way, because the temptation to peek was so great that it kept you up all night and we as kids usually got up around 4 or 5 and dragged our parents out of bed. Now, I wrap all the presents from Santa for my kids, I wish I could lay them out but David insists that this is the way we do it and so I have relented that tradition.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White lights on the tree always, we have had both outside before. Out of the blue this year, David told me he wanted colored, well too bad, we are already stocked up on the white. I think I like a classy mixture if I had my choice. My dad hates white lights, he says it looks like a used car parking lot, so my family’s tree has alternated every year.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? We don’t have any, but I would if we did.

5. When do you put up your decorations? I like to put them up on Thanksgiving that is when we always did growing up while listening to The Carpenters, but our tree is so outrageous that it usually takes us days to finish it because it is so overwhelming and we usually enlist help too! We are doing something a little different this year, but I will have to do another post about that :)

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? I absolutely love the yams that my mother-in-law makes, they are to die for. We never had yams growing up, I always thought they were gross, but I was so wrong!

7. What is your favorite Holiday memory as a child? We never had much money growing up, but somehow my mom was always able to pull of a fantastic Christmas. She would secretly shop all year, or she would make things, or go to garage sales and find brand new things. One year when we lived in Arizona, we had a pretty tough year. I know my mom was dreading Christmas and I think that year she was planning on giving each of us a dress that she labored on for months. A few nights before Christmas, we got the “knock on the door”. Our entire porch was filled with tons of presents and food! It was so much, gifts for each of us and for the family and tons of yummy food. My mom balled uncontrollably. On Christmas morning we still had our dresses that my mom made and I know we all wore them for years. Every year, if we are able at Christmas, I love to do Secret Santa stuff because that experience has become such a treasured memory for our family.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, we always choose one gift to open on Christmas Eve and take turns.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Our tree is pretty fancy with silver, gold and a deep red. My family tree growing up was always so eclectic with crazy things we had made over years and family favorites we seemingly had for decades..

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I love it for Christmas, but not on the roads! After Christmas I usually get sick of it pretty fast.
12. Can you ice skate? I’m really bad as it turns out. David and I went a few years ago. I think I was better when I was little and we lived in Crestline right next to where all the Olympic skaters would train.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? This is a hard one, for some reason my memory picks out the weirdest things to remember. I know I have gotten some really great gifts and David always gets me really nice things, but I am strangely remembering loving it when I got the new Milli Vanilli album (on cassette tape of course!) along with a new pair of LA Gears and a new boombox, does that date me or what?

14. What is the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Family. Though it is getting harder and more chaotic to actually endure, nothing beats your family on Christmas and holding on to those old traditions. Now that we have our own family I enjoy splitting our holiday between both my husband and my parents as you spend just enough time with each to enjoy the holiday and not get too tired (though I think David might disagree…)
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? I don’t really like the traditional stuff like pumpkin or pecan pie (though I did have pecan at Thanksgiving and it was actually pretty good), my mom makes these really good treats called “Hello Dolly” bars, and I have no idea where that name from. I just like treats in general which abound at Christmastime.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I love Christmas Eve most of all, I loved staying up with all night with my sisters and playing games while we anxiously waited for Christmas morning to arrive. Once we learned of mom and dad being Santa Claus, then we got to participate in the tradition of filling my parent’s stockings. This was also a prime opportunity to take a quick peek at what Santa had left for us. Now, I like that we try to go to Disneyland at Christmastime, Disneyland is like the ultimate memory of my childhood and I love sharing it with my husband and kids. Though we won't be going this year, we went the last two years and it was so great.
We have also made it a tradition now to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas concert which is always so awesome. My favorite was the year Sissel came. We are all holding out for Josh Groban to be the guest sometime.

17. What tops your tree? Always a star. I think angels look weird.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Of course when I was little, the receiving was always on the top of my mind. But now I just love getting gifts for people and surprising them most of all. It is hard to surprise my husband because he is so picky and I agonize over what to get him. I LOVE shopping for my kids and it brings a whole new spin on Christmas when you become Santa Claus.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? I have always said through the years that “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” was my favorite, but this year I am really enjoying “A Cradle in Bethlehem” by Nat King Cole. My favorite choir piece is “Once in Royal David’s City” the version that my high school choir teacher composed that is absolutely amazing, haunting and ethereal. As previously mentioned, I can't stand "Christmas Shoes".

20. Candy Canes? I actually hate candy canes; peppermint candy is not my thing. When we were little we always got candy in our stockings including candy canes, by a week after Christmas all our candy was gone except those candy canes which would always eventually get thrown out. But my mom always still got them, I guess for tradition’s sake.
21. Do you feel Christmas is too commercialized? Yea, sometimes it is, but you can’t control what other people do, only your own actions and attitudes so I make it a point to focus on the many aspects of Christmas that bring joy including the most important, the celebration of our Savior.
22. Favorite Christmas movie? ‘Home Alone’. Though I always hated ‘A Christmas Story’ growing up, I have just recently found it to be one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. It reminds me of what my dad’s childhood would have been like. I also like an old eighties made for television movie with Jaclyn Smith called "The Night They Saved Christmas". When I was little that was on every year and we all always got together and watched it. I haven't seen it in years.

I hope you all do this tag because I would love to read it, but I'm going to call out Maleen, Melinda, Emily L., Patrick and Lindsey, Sharon, Shaunee...and Jamie (though many of her answers would probably be the same as mine).