Audra's 25 Christmas Questions

Audra has a great set of Christmas questions on her blog - I thought I'd write in my own responses. The post with her questions & answers is now buried beneath a stack of cute baby pictures of Drew . . . so you'll probably never get to her Christmas question post.

Enjoy!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?

I’d wrap presents more often if the wrapping paper had built-in tape like diapers do – that would be awesome!!

2. Real tree or Artificial?

See here.

3. When do you put up the tree?

ASAP after Thanksgiving. Tate’s birthday is the first week of December so if we don’t get our tree up quick then it will never go up.

4. When do you take the tree down?

It’s Kelly’s job to take the ornaments off so I have to wait until she finishes with that first. Usually it’s down pretty quick after New Year’s . . . but there was that one year when it was practically Valentine’s Day before the tree was back in the attic!

5. Do you like eggnog?

No, I'm allergic to nog.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?

• My dog Bonkers – who was appropriately named.
• My Mellinium Falcon – It helped establish my adolescent coolness because I was the only kid in my neighborhood to have one . . . at least until Jeff, a kid down the street, got one for his birthday the following January . . . jealous!

7. Hardest person to buy for?

Kelly is not the hardest person to buy for but she can tricky sometimes. Some years she gives me a list, other years she just drops hints. I’m much better with lists than I am with hints.

This year is a list year, thank goodness!

8. Easiest person to buy for?

Me, of course!

9. Do you have a nativity scene?

Yes, doesn’t everybody?

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?

Christmas Cards. I’m better with pictures than I am with words.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?

A family member gave me Mickey Mouse suspenders one year. I might have enjoyed them but I was in the 6th Grade and had already become self-conscious about my social status among my peers.

I got the suspenders from the same person who, only the previous year, scored big when they gave me a Jose Canseco and a Mark Maguire rookie card! How do you go from Canseco-Maguire rookie cards one year to Mickey Mouse suspenders the next???

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?

Christmas Vacation – why even ask?


13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?

Usually the week of.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

Yeah, if you count tossing a brand new pair of Mickey Mouse suspenders in a Goodwill Store collection bin.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

Blue Bell & Magic Shell

(You should have known I was going to say that!)

16. Lights on the tree? Is there an option?

I’m with Audra – white lights and lots of them.

17. Favorite Christmas song?



(Click Play to start)

I like the Barenaked Ladies' version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen . . . otherwise, I like the Mute button. Sorry, Christmas music makes me loony!

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?

There’s no place like home!

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?

Yes.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?

Whichever doesn’t scrape the ceiling.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?

Both. We got our normal presents on Christmas morning but my parents gave us “The Spirit of Christmas” gifts on Christmas Eve. They were the presents that they wanted to give us - meaning, these gifts weren't on our Christmas lists.

Which usually meant you were pretty disappointed as a kid if you were expecting a toy. But now I love those gifts because they’re usually special and well thought out – except for the year we all got house shoes. Apparently my mom couldn’t think of anything unique or special that year! But hey, at least they kept our feet warm on our cold concrete floors!

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

Don’t get me started! I don’t mind playing the scrooge this time of year because I think most of our society has totally missed the point of Christmas. Audra said it well on her post.

Rick Atchley also said it well from the pulpit this weekend [paraphrase mine], “Even Christians become so consumed in celebrating baby Jesus that they forget that the only reason he was born in the first place was so that he could eventually die for us on the cross!” Meanwhile, we all just sit around admire the stack of gift cards we've piled up over the holidays.

Other than that, I love this time of year!

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?

Pass!

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?

You can’t go wrong with the standards – turkey, ham, stuffing . . . and . . . oh! Blue Bell & Magic Shell!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?

This year, all I want is for it to be January – and not for the reasons you think!

. . . more on that later!