TrendWatcher: Tis the Season to be NICE!!!

Jen tagged with her holiday questionnaire. I was reading it thinking, "hm, I really want to do this" and then I saw she tagged me! Sweet! So holly jolly & enjoy! I'll save Jen's inspirational link for another day...

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay,here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Tag as many people as you want to....Tis the Season to be NICE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Plain brown white or kraft paper. Then I paint & draw on it with sharpies. My uncle wraps everything in tin foil & my dad uses black trash bags. Probably why ended up such a gift wrap overachiever.
2. Real tree or Artificial? I'm *SO* allergic! So I went the other way & chose a retro '50's style kitchy white mini tree.
3. When do you put up the tree? um...I mean to right after Thanksgiving. But I have done the 24 hour tree before & at the rate I'm going that's how it will be this year.
4. When do you take the tree down? somewhere between the weekend after Christmas & New Year's Eve.
5. Do you like eggnog? lactose intolerant - but just found out I ADORE Soy Nog!!!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? gosh...I got a turntable & speakers in the 6th grade along with 4 albums...Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Scheherazade by Rimsky Korsakov, Whale songs & ABBA. Three of those are still some of my absolute favorites. Whale song still scares me a little.
7. Hardest person to buy for? Usually my dad - but we've all committed to a no gift - spend time with each other holiday this year & we're really relaxed.
8. Easiest person to buy for? Meg & Amy. It's hard NOT to buy for them year round I know them so well.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Three that are all very special. One is a folksy Italian imported one my mom picked out {it even includes the village idiot at the birth along with a bunch of other "non traditional" characters}. Another is from Mexico, that I bought my mom when we were in San Antonio for our honeymoon. The entire nativity is in a tipped over teacup and is surrounded by beautiful, bright flowers. The other is in a straw ornament I've had since childhood. It's always the first ornament on the tree & I always center it over a bulb so it looks like light is shining in on the baby Jesus.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards. I wish...I have good intentions, but never get them mailed in time. Instead I've made everyone in our families personalized ornaments every year for the last 4 years.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? vibrating hair brush...I'm not kidding. And I'm so sorry if you read my blog. I love you & it was a long time ago. I'm sure it was fabulous. I just didn't "get it".
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? not quite a movie, but Charlie Brown's Christmas Special is a MUST every year.
13. When do you start shopping? When I buy I tend to shop year round, but then tell people or give them stuff early anyway. I get really serious Dec 1. nothing like pressure.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Hot chocolate mix - once. Desperate times called for desperate measures & I needed an "instant" gift.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? pigs in a blanket Christmas morning with a cup of coffee
16 color lights on tree? white but {grew up with flashing multis}
17. Favorite Christmas song? Santa Baby {I'm a jazz vixen at heart!}
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? HOME
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? um...Rudolph, Dancer, Donner, Blitzen, Comet, Cupid, Stupid {hey, it rhymes & somebody taught it to me that way and I always derail there...}
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? angel
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas eve. Christmas day has always been awkward for my family. Not only is it a family birthday & my grandfather died {at home, with me there} on Christmas morning when I was growing up. It's never been the same.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? people who forget to be Christian at Christmas
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I used to want a themed tree, but am so attached to our handmade history I wouldn't change a thing. I make and add one purchased ornament every year. My tree has every ornament going back 37 Christmas-es to my first, which was a little wooden figure of a boy on a rocking horse which was rescued from the mobile over my crib {and yes - I am so old I had a wooden mobile, next question}.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? ROCK ON...this is how you do it: WingStop {lemon pepper, garlic parmesan, regular & plain}, a massive veggie tray with ranch, my Italian cheese dip with ritz chips {a post in itself}, pea salad, pickled okra, black olives {gross}, mixed nuts, m&m's and angel food cake with berries. And yes, we're probably weirdos. And yes, it's divine.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? my family to be healthy enough to spend the holiday together.