Holiday Questions Thread

[priceyfatprude]

Greetings & salutations, zeMonkeys. Let's learn about how our fellow Monkeys spend their holidays, shall we? I know some of us are abroad, so you can choose to answer what you did growing up, or what you do now.


1.) Do you celebrate Christmas? If not, do you celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice?

1a.) If yes, what do you do to celebrate?

1b.) Is there a special meal involved? What does your family have?

2.) Do you have any holiday traditions you follow, such as writing out cards the Friday after Thanksgiving, or getting your shopping done by September? (Don't laugh, my stepdad's mom does this)

3.) Best childhood holiday memory.

4.) Worst childhood holiday memory.

5.) Are there any traditions that you've married/dated into that just make you shake your head & chuckle?

6.) Your favorite outdoor activity in winter? If you're in a warm climate, you can still answer this!!!

7.) What is your absolute favorite part of the holiday season?

8.) What is your absolute NON-favorite part of the holiday season?

9.) If you're in the States, did you go shopping yesterday?

9a.) If yes, are you fvcking high? joj Also, what didja score?

10.) If you're not in the States, have you ever seen it here the day after Thanksgiving? What did you make of it?

11.) Is is better to give or receive?

12.) Best gift you ever gave.

13.) Worst gift you ever gave. C'mon, 'fess up. We're not here to judge.

14.) Best gift you ever received.

15.) Worst gift you ever received.

16.) Favorite holiday treat/food.

17.) LEAST favorite holiday treat/food.

18.) Last-resort gift you give when you can't think of anything else to give that person who has everything.

19.) Favorite holiday movie.

20.) Favorite holiday song.

And I'm spent!

[Frieda]

1.) Do you celebrate Christmas? If not, do you celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice?
i celebrate christmas, yes

1a.) If yes, what do you do to celebrate?
on the 24th i watch "a nightmare before christmas" with my friends and then i light a candle for all the people i´ve lost in the past year, then i go to the pub at midnight.

on christmas morning i usually sleep late and at 4pm i go to my parents to exchange gifts.

this year my uncle is hosting a classic dinner on the 26th with a black tie dresscode so i have to find myself a dress!

1b.) Is there a special meal involved? What does your family have?
no special meal

2.) Do you have any holiday traditions you follow, such as writing out cards the Friday after Thanksgiving, or getting your shopping done by September? (Don't laugh, my stepdad's mom does this)
i usually do shop early to avoid the christmas crowd. we also have a dutch holiday that´s called Sinterklaas (clicky or clicky) but we don´t celebrate that anymore in my family.

3.) Best childhood holiday memory.
snow!

4.) Worst childhood holiday memory.
my uncle being in the hospital because he got drunk and fell down the stairs..

5.) Are there any traditions that you've married/dated into that just make you shake your head & chuckle?
nope

6.) Your favorite outdoor activity in winter? If you're in a warm climate, you can still answer this!!!
outdoor activity in winter?? nothing!! seriously, nothing. i love skiing, but that´s impossible here.

7.) What is your absolute favorite part of the holiday season?
watching "a nightmare before christmas"

8.) What is your absolute NON-favorite part of the holiday season?
celebrating christmas on the 25th with my parents

9.) If you're in the States, did you go shopping yesterday?
don´t live there

9a.) If yes, are you fvcking high? joj Also, what didja score?
see 9

10.) If you're not in the States, have you ever seen it here the day after Thanksgiving? What did you make of it?
never seen it, heard it´s pretty crazy!

11.) Is is better to give or receive?
give

12.) Best gift you ever gave.
a pink genuine bowling ball with glitters

13.) Worst gift you ever gave. C'mon, 'fess up. We're not here to judge.
perfume

14.) Best gift you ever received.
knight´s gauntlets

15.) Worst gift you ever received.
i don´t remember!

16.) Favorite holiday treat/food.
pepernoten (see Sinterklaas link)

17.) LEAST favorite holiday treat/food.
uhh.. something that we call "boerenkool" here

18.) Last-resort gift you give when you can't think of anything else to give that person who has everything.
fridge magnet alphabet & words

19.) Favorite holiday movie.
a nightmare before christmas!

20.) Favorite holiday song.
seriously, NONE!!

[LadyCrow]

1.) Do you celebrate Christmas? If not, do you celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice?
-yes, & Winter Solstice as well

1a.) If yes, what do you do to celebrate?
-For Christmas, it's a get together @ Mom's house w/family; for Solstice, it's a get together w/my fellow pagan friends

1b.) Is there a special meal involved? What does your family have?
-Christmas: usually a ham & the trimmings (potatos, etc); Solstice: funky potluck

2.) Do you have any holiday traditions you follow, such as writing out cards the Friday after Thanksgiving, or getting your shopping done by September? (Don't laugh, my stepdad's mom does this)
-I drive past one of the biggest malls in the area on Black Friday & laugh (not because I've got all my holiday shopping done, which I haven't, but I do it for the laughs)
-I also go to a light display @ an area park, which is fun

3.) Best childhood holiday memory.
-getting my first stereo for Christmas when I was 11-12 (a little boom box which I still have)

4.) Worst childhood holiday memory.
-the year my grandmother died ('81?); approximately one month before Christmas

5.) Are there any traditions that you've married/dated into that just make you shake your head & chuckle?
-since neither term applies (married/dated), let me relate a tradition @ a friend's family's house. A couple of years ago, we were sitting around the table, & popped crackers (paper twist thingys, for those who may not know; it usually has a toy or magic trick inside, as well as a paper crown); it was fun, but also something that I hadn't done before

6.) Your favorite outdoor activity in winter? If you're in a warm climate, you can still answer this!!!
-snowball fights

7.) What is your absolute favorite part of the holiday season?
-giving presents

8.) What is your absolute NON-favorite part of the holiday season?
-dealing with shopping crowds

9.) If you're in the States, did you go shopping yesterday?
-hell NO; I'm not that much of a psycho... unless I wait until the last week before Christmas (which I've been known to do sometimes)

9a.) If yes, are you fvcking high? joj Also, what didja score?
-see above answer

10.) If you're not in the States, have you ever seen it here the day after Thanksgiving? What did you make of it?

11.) Is is better to give or receive?
-Morally? To give... but receiving isn't a bad thing either

12.) Best gift you ever gave.
-plastic grapes; one of my friends had a joke about grapes that she told all the time a couple of years ago, & I thought she'd get a kick out of a bunch of fake grapes.. which she did

13.) Worst gift you ever gave. C'mon, 'fess up. We're not here to judge.
-a lame-ass gift certificate for the secret Santa thing @ work.. I had no clue what to get the person I had picked, so I figured what the hell (I know I would've been happy w/it, but she wasn't too thrilled)

14.) Best gift you ever received.
-a friend took a picture of me @ my first craft show that I displayed my jewelry @, & put it in a frame; she then took beads & put the name of my business on the top (reminds me of old font type print); it was (& still is) totally frigging cool

15.) Worst gift you ever received.
-crappy candleholders from a Secret Santa thing @ work.. I guess karma was kicking me in the ass that year, hmm?

16.) Favorite holiday treat/food.
-my mother's homemade alcoholic Egg Nogg...yummy

17.) LEAST favorite holiday treat/food.
-including New Year's, pickled herring on a cracker... supposedly for good luck, but considering my mother's sense of humor, I'm not so sure... absolutely disgusting, btw

18.) Last-resort gift you give when you can't think of anything else to give that person who has everything.
-something as a joke; or candy

19.) Favorite holiday movie.
-it doesn't qualify as a movie, but it's old animation w/figures (from the '70's, I believe; Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer, & so on... I've always loved those shows.. they play every year on network tv)



20.) Favorite holiday song.
-"Grandma got run over by a reindeer"

[red]

1.) Do you celebrate Christmas?
yes

1b.) Is there a special meal involved? What does your family have?
no special meal on christmas, but on christmas eve we always have tamales, chili con queso and chips.

2.) Do you have any holiday traditions you follow, such as writing out cards the Friday after Thanksgiving, or getting your shopping done by September?
no

3.) Best childhood holiday memory.
It was a Thanksgiving memory. My entire family spontaneously singing MEATFORK. M-E-A-T-F-O-R-K, MEATFORK! My sisters and I grew up listening to Alan Sherman records (the guy who sings, Hello Mutha, Hello Faddah, Here I am at Camp Granada) and one of the songs was RATFINK, which was a parody of RAGMOP. So when someone said something about the meatfork we ALL BURST INTO SONG. Really! We all laughed so hard we couldn't eat. It was great. *happy sigh*


4.) Worst childhood holiday memory.
finding out my dad was Santa. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw my dad placing toys in my bedroom.


5.) Are there any traditions that you've married/dated into that just make you shake your head & chuckle?
no

6.) Your favorite outdoor activity in winter? If you're in a warm climate, you can still answer this!!!
we don't have winter. how can I possibly answer this?
how about not having to mow the lawn 'cause it doesn't grow as fast. woo


7.) What is your absolute favorite part of the holiday season?
doing something nice for someone else when they aren't expectling it.


8.) What is your absolute NON-favorite part of the holiday season?
seeing christmas crap in stores before halloween crap

9.) If you're in the States, did you go shopping yesterday?
no way. I'm an on-line shopper.

11.) Is is better to give or receive?
I like it both ways. heh.

12.) Best gift you ever gave.
I have no clue

13.) Worst gift you ever gave. C'mon, 'fess up. We're not here to judge.
riiight…nooobody here judges.
I would have to say a lottery ticket. I thought it would be really cool, but it sucks rocks if you win nothing.

14.) Best gift you ever received.
a painting from my sister

15.) Worst gift you ever received.
soap. WTF kind of gift is soap? It says I really could care less about you and you need to bathe. bleah

16.) Favorite holiday treat/food.
tamales

17.) LEAST favorite holiday treat/food.
any veggie that has had the life cooked out of it.

18.) Last-resort gift you give when you can't think of anything else to give that person who has everything.
the gift of entertainment. A dinner out, movie tickets, tickets to a play, etc.

19.) Favorite holiday movie.
a chirstmas story

20.) Favorite holiday song.
Robert Earl Keene's Merry Christmas from the Family

[lapietra]

1.) Do you celebrate Christmas? If not, do you celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice?
Yup.

1a.) If yes, what do you do to celebrate?
Usually go to visit one set of parents on the day of, and the other set sometime after, alternating each year.

1b.) Is there a special meal involved? What does your family have?
Traditional stuff (turkey, stuffing, mashed 'taters, creamed peas & onions, cranberry sauce etc.), tho' my dad likes to do a goose or ham every once in awhile.
One year my mom & stepdad got a soy turkey, as an experiment. It was god-awful.

2.) Do you have any holiday traditions you follow, such as writing out cards the Friday after Thanksgiving, or getting your shopping done by September? (Don't laugh, my stepdad's mom does this) Not really... There were a bunch of years that I started doing professional Christmas caroling the day after Thanksgiving, dressing up in a Dickensian costume & going as a part of a quartet to different places to sing - malls, private homes, company Christmas parties. It was fun, but crazy-making... don't think I'll be doing that anymore.

3.) Best childhood holiday memory.
The Christmas when I got Rocky Raccoon - I was 3.

4.) Worst childhood holiday memory.
Can't really remember any bad ones right now...

5.) Are there any traditions that you've married/dated into that just make you shake your head & chuckle?
No significant other right now... tho' my mom and stepdad's families have wildly diverging styles of opening prezzies... In my mom's family, they sit and each person opens one present at a time, with the rest of the family as an audience. Lotta pressure to show enjoyment/surprise etc. There's usually quite a few gifts per person, so we actually have to take a break for lunch... In my stepdad's family, it's kind of a free-for-all - sounds of tearing and paper flying everywhere - it's usually over before everyone's finished their coffee...

6.) Your favorite outdoor activity in winter? If you're in a warm climate, you can still answer this!!! I like doing anything better in the winter. Hate warm weather.

7.) What is your absolute favorite part of the holiday season? Seeing people open the presents I've given them.

8.) What is your absolute NON-favorite part of the holiday season? Worrying about not having enough money to do everything I want.

9.) If you're in the States, did you go shopping yesterday?
nopity.

9a.) If yes, are you fvcking high? joj Also, what didja score? see #9

10.) If you're not in the States, have you ever seen it here the day after Thanksgiving? What did you make of it? n/a

11.) Is it better to give or receive? They're both a lot of fun, but I like giving better... less pressure.

12.) Best gift you ever gave. I think maybe the year I gave my mom a little stained-glass-top table... she seemed to like that gift the best.

13.) Worst gift you ever gave. C'mon, 'fess up. We're not here to judge. One year I tried to crochet my step-dad a hat. It came out weird, but I gave it to him anyway... I was kinda young.

14.) Best gift you ever received. A bright pink wool full-length coat from my dad when I was 17. I wore it for years.

15.) Worst gift you ever received. I hate to sound ungrateful, but my grandparents (especially my grandmother) have a history of giving me awful gifts that were really hard or impossible to return, that they'd either made or gone to great trouble to get. For example, one year my grandparents gave me a full set of dishes they'd gotten from a grocery store (you know the kind that you take in receipts for and put together piece by piece?). It was incredibly ugly, and I already had a great set of plain white, elegant dishes... I ended up tracking down the store they'd gotten them from and returning them, since I had nowhere to store them... Luckily they've never been to my place so they don't know... Lately they've been giving me gift certificates... I think my mom said something to them...

16.) Favorite holiday treat/food. Stuffing! 'specially if it has chestnuts in it...

17.) LEAST favorite holiday treat/food. Can't think of any... I even like *fruitcake*. I know, I know...

18.) Last-resort gift you give when you can't think of anything else to give that person who has everything. For women, usually some kind of nice, innocuous lotion/bath gel combo; for men, a gift certificate to Tower Records.

19.) Favorite holiday movie. "A Christmas Story"... "You'll shoot your eye out!!!"

20.) Favorite holiday song. I don't have one in particular... but my favorite Christmas album is the Harry Simeone Chorale's "Little Drummer Boy" ... just puts me in the mood

[rmr]

1.) Do you celebrate Christmas? If not, do you celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice?
yes
1a.) If yes, what do you do to celebrate?
Christmas

1b.) Is there a special meal involved? What does your family have?
On Christmas Eve we always have filet of beef, twice baked potatos, asparagus(sp?) and some sort of salad. This tradition started when I was very young and when my parents didn't have much money so it was a huge deal to us to have this meal once a year. Then on Christmas Day a huge brunch and then we eat left-overs the rest of the day.

2.) Do you have any holiday traditions you follow, such as writing out cards the Friday after Thanksgiving, or getting your shopping done by September? (Don't laugh, my stepdad's mom does this)
I always bake cookies with my mom and I always meet up with old friends late on Christmas Eve for cocktails.

3.) Best childhood holiday memory.
around 7 pm on christmas eve my dad would pack the three of us in the car (mom was always left behind) and we'd go for a ride to look at the christmas lights. Upon our return Santa would have made his delivery. It took me a long time to put the two together.

4.) Worst childhood holiday memory.
We had Christmas at my sister's the two years after my brother died. I hated it, we weren't huge on tradition, but the one thing you could always count on was christmas at my parents.

5.) Are there any traditions that you've married/dated into that just make you shake your head & chuckle?
nope

6.) Your favorite outdoor activity in winter? If you're in a warm climate, you can still answer this!!!
i'm not a huge outdoor person.....no matter what the season. I do however love to watch the snow come down from the comforts of my living room.

7.) What is your absolute favorite part of the holiday season?
seeing all my friends that live all over the country come home for the holidays.


8.) What is your absolute NON-favorite part of the holiday season?
being broke.

9.) If you're in the States, did you go shopping yesterday?
nope

9a.) If yes, are you fvcking high? joj Also, what didja score?
nada

10.) If you're not in the States, have you ever seen it here the day after Thanksgiving? What did you make of it?

11.) Is is better to give or receive?
give, but i will admit it's fun receive

12.) Best gift you ever gave.
an antique teapot that my mom fell in love with

13.) Worst gift you ever gave. C'mon, 'fess up. We're not here to judge.
PJ's....awful ones

14.) Best gift you ever received.
a bracelet that i had saw about six months before christmas and had all but forgotten about

15.) Worst gift you ever received.
a really bad pair pants or a sailing video......

16.) Favorite holiday treat/food.
my mom's christmas tree cookies

17.) LEAST favorite holiday treat/food.
egg nog

18.) Last-resort gift you give when you can't think of anything else to give that person who has everything.
wine

19.) Favorite holiday movie.
It's a wonderful life.....or the biography of irving berlin....it's on almost every year and i'm just in awe of him.

20.) Favorite holiday song.
white christmas sung by elvis (i know)

[jaymirror]

1.) Do you celebrate Christmas? If not, do you celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice?

yes!

1a.) If yes, what do you do to celebrate?

Christmas

1b.) Is there a special meal involved? What does your family have?

There is a meal involved and it has to be huge. We often eat capon and even if i don't eat a lot of meat usually i HAVE to eat meat on Christmas otherwise my mum flips.

2.) Do you have any holiday traditions you follow, such as writing out cards the Friday after Thanksgiving, or getting your shopping done by September? (Don't laugh, my stepdad's mom does this)

We make a christmas tree and a manger (even if we never go to church). We put the sheeps and all the carachters apart from jesus and jesus only appears on the 25th. The fun part is getting the musk to fake grass and crating rivers with aluminum paper.

3.) Best childhood holiday memory.

When i was little, my stepdad used to make up a whole story about Santa, and together we would prepare a meal for him to leave on the table before going to bed on the 24th. And then the morning after the meal had been eaten, the wine drunk, and presents appeared under the tree.

4.) Worst childhood holiday memory.

The day i told my childhood friend that i knew Santa did not exist, while she still believed in him and so she started to cry and cry...

5.) Are there any traditions that you've married/dated into that just make you shake your head & chuckle?

No.

6.) Your favorite outdoor activity in winter? If you're in a warm climate, you can still answer this!!!

Soccer!!

7.) What is your absolute favorite part of the holiday season?

Coming back home in Italy and seeing my old friends and my family and hugging my dogs.

8.) What is your absolute NON-favorite part of the holiday season?

Going shopping on the 24th to buy last minute presents.

9.) If you're in the States, did you go shopping yesterday?

9a.) If yes, are you fvcking high? joj Also, what didja score?

10.) If you're not in the States, have you ever seen it here the day after Thanksgiving? What did you make of it?

No. Is it fun?

11.) Is is better to give or receive?

Let's say exchange.

12.) Best gift you ever gave.

Last year i gave my little sister a book called "The worst case scenario dating and sex handbook", found in London, with useful tips on how to realize on time if your date is a murder, how to ulock a zip, and what to do if you wake up in a bed with someone whose name you don't remember.

13.) Worst gift you ever gave. C'mon, 'fess up. We're not here to judge.

I must have given an ugly candle to my cousin once.

14.) Best gift you ever received.

My first bike when i was 3.

15.) Worst gift you ever received.

A pen, from a boyfriend, together with the warning that it had been very expensive. So we broke up. Maybe it wasn't such a bad gift after all...

16.) Favorite holiday treat/food.

Something called "pandoro" that looks like this:



17.) LEAST favorite holiday treat/food.

Something called "panettone" that looks like this:



I'm not fond of candied fruits.

18.) Last-resort gift you give when you can't think of anything else to give that person who has everything.

A bookmarker.

19.) Favorite holiday movie.

Don't have one. But i enjoy going to the cinema with my little cousins and watch cartoons.

20.) Favorite holiday song.

"White Christmas". I also like "Santa must have been drinking".

[Reader]

1.) Do you celebrate Christmas? If not, do you celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice?

Yes, Christmas

1a.) If yes, what do you do to celebrate?

Go to my folks' house in a small town in Texas. It's very quaint and makes me feel like I'm celebrating Christmas in the 50s.

1b.) Is there a special meal involved? What does your family have?

Yes, turkey and cornbread dressing, yams, asparagus (my dad had it every Christmas when he was in the Navy in WWII), pecan pie, pink salad.

2.) Do you have any holiday traditions you follow, such as writing out cards the Friday after Thanksgiving, or getting your shopping done by September? (Don't laugh, my stepdad's mom does this)

No hard and fast rules.

3.) Best childhood holiday memory.

Don't be jealous but I got a letter from Santa. One Christmas when I was but a pup I got a little red wagon that my dad had to put together. A part was missing. So I got a letter from Santa explaining that due to some hijinks on Rudolph's and the other reindeers' parts, the crucial piece fell out of the sleigh, but my dad would fix it later. I was more proud of that letter than any gift from Santa I ever got.

4.) Worst childhood holiday memory.

The Christmas after my uncle blew his brains out.

5.) Are there any traditions that you've married/dated into that just make you shake your head & chuckle?

No.

6.) Your favorite outdoor activity in winter? If you're in a warm climate, you can still answer this!!!

Sitting outside on my deck in December in shorts and a t-shirt hanging with my dogs (did this today!).

7.) What is your absolute favorite part of the holiday season?

The feeling of it being a "special" time.

8.) What is your absolute NON-favorite part of the holiday season?

The pressure to give "perfect" gifts.

9.) If you're in the States, did you go shopping yesterday?

Nope. I heard a woman got trampled in Louisiana by people lunging for discount DVD players. Sick.

9a.) If yes, are you fvcking high? joj Also, what didja score?

10.) If you're not in the States, have you ever seen it here the day after Thanksgiving? What did you make of it?

Never been, although I secretly hope to some day.

11.) Is is better to give or receive?

Trick question.

12.) Best gift you ever gave.

A 35 mm camera for my dad. He was thrilled!

13.) Worst gift you ever gave. C'mon, 'fess up. We're not here to judge.

Well, according to Red, soap!

14.) Best gift you ever received.

Oooooh, just one? Well, I guess that letter from Santa, mentioned above.

15.) Worst gift you ever received.

Food products.

16.) Favorite holiday treat/food.

Chili con queso and chips -- major weakness!

17.) LEAST favorite holiday treat/food.

Fruitcake -- yuck! Even the incredilby rum-soaked variety.

18.) Last-resort gift you give when you can't think of anything else to give that person who has everything.

Gift certificate, wine, food product (see #15).

19.) Favorite holiday movie.

National Lampoon's Christmas movie and White Christmas.

20.) Favorite holiday song.

Luther Vandross' entire Christmas CD - God, he's got the sexiest voice!

And I'm spent!


__________________

[beckstra]

1.) I celebrate Christmas with my family. We have a huge Italian dinner...lasagna, manicotti, spagetti, fetticini...the works.

2.) Our only real Christmas tradition has been after the whole exchanging of gifts, we all sit and watch Scrooged.

3.) Mom, Kristin, and me. Dad was on TDY. The three of us woke up and opened our presents on mom's bed. Dad sent us our first CD player and we got the Newsies soundtrack. We were really poor at that time, so it wasn't much, but it was us. It was good.

4.) Birthday + Clowns = phobia

5.) Nope.

6.) Making shoeprints in a pristine sheet of snow. Gah. So cool!

7.) The abundance of penguin decorations!!!

8.) The extra bumps and brusies from ice-skating.

9.) HA! No, I worked instead.

11.) Give...TOTALLY.

12.) I'm a very personal giver. I like to give according to the person. I think though, the giving my brother-in-law a $50 gift card to Victorias Secret will please him. My sister might turn a few shades redder, but yeah. HEHEHE!!!

13.) I'm a great gift giver...even my white elephant gifts are awesome!

14.) The tossup is between the guitar my brother-in-law and sister got me two years ago or the art supplies they gave me last year. Anything that gets me closer to my goals in life make me a happy little bird.

15.) A button maker that said it was a button maker but didn't actually make buttons. We're (my sister and I) are giving it to a friend of ours' kid.

16.) Pumpkin roll. Gah.

17.) Egg nog.

18.) Journals...although they can also be the best gift if you personalize them as well.

19.) Scrooged

20.) It's a tie between one I wrote with my friend Vanessa and St Patrick's Day by John Mayer.

[DancingDuck]

1.) Do you celebrate Christmas? If not, do you celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice? Sure do! Every year!As far as I know that is. . . .

1a.) If yes, what do you do to celebrate? Christmas

1b.) Is there a special meal involved? What does your family have? Nope, It's pretty random every year considering we truely don't have Christmas at the same relatives house every year.

2.) Do you have any holiday traditions you follow, such as writing out cards the Friday after Thanksgiving, or getting your shopping done by September? We get our tree the day before Thanksgiving, but don't end up putting anything on it till the week before Christmas.

3.) Best childhood holiday memory. Having my Mom's siblings, 2 brothers, 1 sister, all up at their childhood home on a little lake in Michigan

4.) Worst childhood holiday memory. Seeing my Grandma cry because she was over stressed with the holiday season.

5.) Are there any traditions that you've married/dated into that just make you shake your head & chuckle? I go to the store with my Dad and we pick out whatever dessert ingredients we would like and create a masterpiece.

6.) Your favorite outdoor activity in winter? If you're in a warm climate, you can still answer this!!! Downhill skiing!!!! Oh and I often wear flip-flops out side in the winter. Don't laugh. . . .

7.) What is your absolute favorite part of the holiday season? Seeing all the frantice shopping being done, going to Chicago every year to see the window displaies, and decorating the tree

8.) What is your absolute NON-favorite part of the holiday season? The feeling of bing fat and gaining 20 pounds after you have just eaten

9.) If you're in the States, did you go shopping yesterday? Nope! Never do. I just went to dance . . .

10.) If you're not in the States, have you ever seen it here the day after Thanksgiving? What did you make of it?

11.) Is is better to give or receive? Well, when you give, hasn't it been said you resive aswell? So, I would pick give.

12.) Best gift you ever gave. Oh, yea gotta love my pathetic homemade little presents.

13.) Worst gift you ever gave. C'mon, 'fess up. We're not here to judge. Nothing. (Like I didn't give anything at all)

14.) Best gift you ever received. A picture from my little brother of us together that he drew.

15.) Worst gift you ever received. Plastic lamb Cop watch.

16.) Favorite holiday treat/food. Toll House chocolate chip cookie dough cake not totally cooked.

17.) LEAST favorite holiday treat/food. Cranberry crap

18.) Last-resort gift you give when you can't think of anything else to give that person who has everything. One of my disterbed handmade scarfs.

19.) Favorite holiday movie. Does Finding Neo count . . .?

20.) Favorite holiday song. All songs, but jazz piano and Aluminum Tree.

[RuneT]

1.) Do you celebrate Christmas? If not, do you celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice?
yes, but we celebrate in the evening of the 24'th.

1a.) If yes, what do you do to celebrate?
we watch a chech version of cindarella on tv. Maybe some disney as well. Have a large dinner, ribs from lamb +aquevite. Eat cake and drink brandy + coffee. open presents. Play games.
on christmas morning we have a late big breakfast.


1b.) Is there a special meal involved? What does your family have?
lamb ribs, salted, dried, steamed over birch wood and lightly grilled.

2.) Do you have any holiday traditions you follow, such as writing out cards the Friday after Thanksgiving, or getting your shopping done by September? (Don't laugh, my stepdad's mom does this)
My best pals used to come visiting late in the evening and we used to drink, eat and play games. and smoke cigars.

3.) Best childhood holiday memory.
snow and new skis

4.) Worst childhood holiday memory.
none

5.) Are there any traditions that you've married/dated into that just make you shake your head & chuckle?
Susie is celebrating xmas on the 25'th! and they go to a pub on the 24'th.

6.) Your favorite outdoor activity in winter? If you're in a warm climate, you can still answer this!!!
you know!

7.) What is your absolute favorite part of the holiday season?
family, food and friends

8.) What is your absolute NON-favorite part of the holiday season?
getting presents

9.) If you're in the States, did you go shopping yesterday?
i don't live in the bush regime


10.) If you're not in the States, have you ever seen it here the day after Thanksgiving? What did you make of it?
nope, enlighten me!

11.) Is is better to give or receive?
i like to give stuff

12.) Best gift you ever gave.
a bad ass panasonic cordless drill

13.) Worst gift you ever gave. C'mon, 'fess up. We're not here to judge.
chocolate?

14.) Best gift you ever received.
stereo, tv, skis, tv-game

15.) Worst gift you ever received.
anything soft

16.) Favorite holiday treat/food.
my mums home made caramels

17.) LEAST favorite holiday treat/food.
dades?

18.) Last-resort gift you give when you can't think of anything else to give that person who has everything.
antiques

19.) Favorite holiday movie.
maybe a nightmare before christmas if Frieda bothers to send it to me.

20.) Favorite holiday song.
Unforgettable, nat and natalie cole

[malina]

Originally posted by RuneT
13.) Worst gift you ever gave. C'mon, 'fess up. We're not here to judge.
chocolate?

YOU GOTTA BE KIDDIN'!!!!

[RuneT]

don't judge me!

really, it's a crap present!

[Perky Pat]

Originally posted by RuneT
don't judge me!

really, it's a crap present!

Try giving malina some of THIS make of chocolate. She does tricks for it, you know.

[jaymirror]

I also want some chocolate! Malina will you share with me?