December 4, 2006 @ 3:20 am | Filed under: Games

here’s one more I received…feel free to leave comments and tell me about YOUR favorite holiday traditions!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?  Normally I’d choose hot chocolate. But at least once during the holiday season we spend an evening sipping egg nog and watching It’s a Wonderful Life. I’m pretty sure my guys go along with this evening just because they know it makes me happy, but I’m pretty sure that by the night’s end, everyone is having a good time. (There’s almost always cookies involved….)

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?  Santa (a.k.a. Mom/Nana wraps every. single. thing. Stocking stuffers included. It’s a thrill for me. I love the whole process: selecting carefully coordinated paper and ribbon, spending three hours on the floor surrounded by all my supplies, and then seeing the end result placed around the tree. I really, really like it….

Clear lights on both. (That is, when I can cajole my husband into hanging outdoor lights for me!) I do have fond memories of colored lights though. Growing up, we always had blue lights on our house and the family across the street had red ones. By and far, we were the two coolest homes on the block!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?

4. Do you hang mistletoe?  I do not hang mistletoe. But I do kiss. How horrible would it be to think you had to wait until you caught someone beneath a clump of leaves hanging from a doorway…?

5. When do you put your decorations up?  I’d love to say that I have a set date each year when the stuff gets dragged from the attic, unboxed, and displayed. But the truth is that changes from year to year, depending on our schedules. It’s on the agenda for tonight, but I have to write a 10 page research paper that’s due at 8:00 in the morning, so…we’ll see!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?  I love my mom’s cornbread dressing and I enjoy my own corn casserole. (Okay, I totally did not see the ‘corn’ theme coming…)

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Being at my grandparents’ home in East Texas, with all six of us cousins bedded down on pallets in the den. I cannot even tell you how many time we got in trouble each year for NOT GOING TO SLEEP! We talked, and laughed, and played pranks on one another – we were just kids catching up on all the months we went without seeing one another.

I don’t think there was ever a Santa in my past. I don’t think there was one in my kids’ past either? Does that mean there is most likely therapy in our future…?

8. Did you learn the truth about Santa? 

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?  Christmas Eve is the Wilder Family get-together so we always gather at my sister-in-law’s house for dinner and gift-giving.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Fairly traditionally. I’m not big on novelty trees. I love simplicity in the season and my decor tends to reflect that, I think.

11. Love it or Dread it Love it. I don’t always relish the work involved and sometimes all the preparations and decorating take time that I don’t feel I can spare. But I love the end result and I love the festive feeling of the season.

12. Do you remember your favorite gift?  A doll named Rosie when I was about eight.

Family and friends, without a doubt. More than anything else, I love the warmth and love that I feel surrounded by during this season.

13. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? 

14. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?   I really like pumpkin pie, but I’d have to say that my favorite dessert now would be any cheesecake made by Robyn. (Hint, hint, Robyn, I’m giving you three weeks notice!)

15. What is your favorite holiday tradition?  Making pumpkin muffins for my guys on Christmas morning.

16. What tops your tree?  A star? I think. You know, I can’t really remember. I think for the past couple of years it may have been a large bow. It sounds corny, doesn’t it? But trust me, it’s pretty and festive.

17. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving?   Giving — HANDS DOWN! I’m not sure that I’ll ever be totally comfortable with receiving gifts – not even Mom’s. It just feels much more natural to me to give. My favorite ‘gift’, I suppose, is watching delighted expressions on faces as they open something I’ve prepared for especially for them.

18. What is your favorite Christmas Song?  Would it make me a terrible person to admit that I’m not a huge fan of traditional Christmas carols. I much prefer Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You or the music of big bands or an orchestra…