Christmas Tag

Welcome to the Christmas edition of
"Getting to Know Your Friends".

(I originally got this in an email from my sister-in-law, Jenny. And I blatantly copied and pasted the format from my sister-in-law, e.e. foley)

1. wrapping paper or gift bags? both
2. real tree or artificial? artificial. we love our tree so much and love how much we've saved by getting it on sale as newlyweds and using it every year. we also have a little kids' "Hershey Tree" that is also artificial and a lot of fun.
3. when do you put up your tree? day after Thanksgiving
   
4. when do you take it down? january 2nd. Thing 2's birthday is the 3rd.
   
5. do you like eggnog? Yes, but not a lot of it.
   
6. favorite gift received as a child? cabbage patch kid.
7. worst christmas gift ever received? can't think of anything that would fit this category, but, because I'm horrible at guessing presents and figuring out clues (hints always confuse me more), one year my parents and brother had me convinced that I was getting a pogo stick and I was SO excited. it turned out to be a synthesizer which is also VERY cool but they had worked so hard to throw me off the track about that, that I was convinced it was a pogo stick, so I think I did feel slight disappointment.
   
8. hardest person to buy for? varies.
   
9. easiest person to buy for? our kids.
   
10. do you have a nativity scene? several (thanks, Grandma Pope).
    
11. mail or email christmas cards? omigosh, email all the way--so much easier, so much cheaper. plus our christmas letters are always ridiculously long, so putting it on the web doesn't show exactly how many Word pages it is, giving the illusion of it being shorter than it really is since you get to scroll through the letter and pictures. it's very interactive.
    
12. favorite christmas movie? A Christmas Story
    
13. when do you start christmas shopping? as early as possible.
    
14. have you ever recycled a christmas present? possibly; don't recall.
    
15. favorite thing to eat at christmas? oh there are so many--cheese balls and crackers, peanut m&ms, spinach-artichoke dip, Portuguese cookies (biscoitos), various finger foods
    
16. lights on the tree? yes. and I love how it looks against our red walls. I can stare at it for a very long time. beautiful.
    
17. favorite christmas song? The Prayer, but growing up it's always been Silver Bells. we also love anything that Harry Connick, Jr. touches. and one of our very favorites is "The 12 Pains of Christmas."
    
18. travel or stay home? home and we love it.
    
19. can you name all of santa's reindeer? can you?
    
20. angel or star? old-fashioned papa noel
    
21. open presents christmas morning or eve? christmas eve. it's a Portuguese tradition--we eat a big, fancy meal (whatever suits our fancy) and we open all our presents and stay up late enjoying them. we sleep in as much as we please the next day and have a kick back day. we love it.
    
22. favorite ornament theme or color? gold and cream balls, deep red and cream bows, a few antique-y-looking ornaments, and a big gold ribbon down both sides of the tree, we really like our little gold manti temple (where we got married) ornament, too. the Hershey tree has all SORTS of ornaments on it--Hershey and otherwise (homemade, etc.).
    
23. favorite place for christmas dinner? here, but my Uncle Joe makes an awesome spread as well.
    
24. most annoying thing about this time of year? crowded stores.
    
25. what do you want for christmas this year? I fear I've become boring. we have no idea what to get ourselves or each other and we're feeling rather anti-stuff at times but we don't want to be "bah humbug" either. ugh. it's a conundrum.