Happy Ho Ho Ho

I have been terribly neglectful of my blog...I'm so sorry, I've been overcome with Facebook and books. Yes, books. I'm determined to get through a couple books before end of the year. So my poor, poor blog has gotten the shaft. But Baloney and my SIL have inspired me to do the Christmas version of Get-to-Know-You. So here ya go...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. Always, always. Unless I have one gift left to wrap and just used the last bit of paper. I'm not going to go run out and get more for one tiny gift. I adore beautiful wrapped gifts--who cares what's inside if it looks pretty on the outside (okay--that's stretching it, but pretty on the outside is very important).

2. Real tree or Artificial? Real, real, real. I will only and ever have real.

3. When do you put up the tree? It varies from year to year. Since we have a real tree I usually put it up a couple weeks before Christmas so it doesn't dry out too much and/or become a fire hazard.

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually the weekend after New Years.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yuck, no. It's like drinking cake batter. Uck.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I remember when I was in about 1st or 2nd grade I had an all Barbie Christmas. Everything was hot-pink and Barbie. Barbie house, Barbie furniture, Barbie car, Barbies. I loved Barbies!

7. Hardest person to buy for? My dad and step-dad are the hardest to buy for because who knows what they want. But my mom is hard to buy for because I always want to get her something really special, but can never find exactly the perfect thing.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Any of the Three Little Lams. They are thrilled with whatever I get them and they flood me with ideas throughout the year.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, we have The Little People navity. It's silly to only have a child's navity, but it's important for them to be able to play with it and for us to explain as part of their play.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. I love getting Christmas cards. I'm terrible about getting mine out--but I love getting them in the mail!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? My grandma used to give us some of the most hideous clothing items. I can't recall any one in particular but trust me, they were bad.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I really like Elf with Will Ferrell. It's probably my favorite. But I also like It's a Wonderful Life a lot.

13. When do you start shopping? Let's just put it this way...I haven't bought anything yet. Does that answer the question?

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not as a serious gift, but I've regifted White Elephant/Dirty Santa gifts.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Hmmm, that's a hard one. As far as sweets go...fudge, I only make it at Christmas and it's oh so good. But I also love my MIL's beef tenderloin with mushroom sauce, so good. And my mom makes a rockin' egg casserole that is a must for Christmas morning.

16. Color lights on tree? This is an area of disagreement for WM and I. I want white lights on the tree. Lots and lots of beautiful white lights. He likes the big colored ones. So we're switching back and forth from year to year. This year is his year--so right now we have large colored lights. Next year it'll be beautiful, peaceful, sophisticated, sparkly white lights.

17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home, last year we decided to stay home because it's just too hard to travel with three kids and all the gifts, etc. Plus, the kids want Santa to come to their house. I must say, last Christmas was one of my best ever because it was so low stress and at our pace.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? I absolutely can, I'm not going to type them all out, but trust me, I can name them all.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning. Santa doesn't come on Christmas Eve.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The unnecessary stress.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I've given up on the pretty/themed tree. It's all about the kids and how they want to decorate. My favorite ornaments are the three baby rattle/baby cups ornaments that marked each Little Lam's first Christmas.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? See above...MIL's beef tenderloin. Or I have to admit I do a pretty mean honey baked ham. Yummy.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Ha! I have quite a list this year, here are a few of the items on my list...Ugg boots, Tag Heuer watch, MacBook, black boots with spiky heel...the list goes on and on...I want to update my post-baby wardrobe that has been neglected for the past 6 years. And world peace.

Okay, I guess that's it. Have a happy ho, ho, ho. I promise my gift to you will be a more currently updated blog!