Hey, Look! A Christmas Meme!

It's SEC Championship Day. Hubs is Atlanta at "The Game," I'm home with 3 kids, and it's 30 degrees outside. Brrr. So I'm gonna be the follower and jump on the Christmas Meme bandwagon.

Here goes.

1. Eggnog or Hot Chocolate? Hands down, without debate, undoubtedly, hot chocolate. I think Eggnog is one of the grossest drinks ever. But then again, I don't like eggs. Or vanilla. So that makes sense.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa brings 3 presents to each child and they are unwrapped. But presents from Mommy & Daddy are wrapped. Now if only Santa would take the toys out of the packaging that has 1000 twist ties, unbreakable plastic, and that requires an engineering degree to get in to....

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White. But my mom uses colored lights and they definitely hold a special place in my heart. I hold no ill will toward any peeps who use colored lights, but I prefer white.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I did for a couple of years - I had a mistletoe ball that hung. I loved it. But Mary Emma whacked it with a ball one day (that kid has great aim) and demolished it. O well.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Usually the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? I don't really have a favorite - we don't have traditions when it comes to food at Christmas. Except my mother-in-law's cheese ball. It isn't the holidays without it. And, even though it's technically not a dish, my dad's Wassail is amazing.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? I have 2. 1) My parents used to hide our "big presents" and make us think we didn't get them. We would open all of our presents and have that moment where we were disappointed that we didn't get that ONE THING that we had wished for all year long. Then dad would send is to his closet to get his slippers or something like that and that gift would be there. And he would laugh and laugh. 2) My dad is a crappie fisherman. He fishes using cane poles. One year, my brother gave my dad some cane poles for Christmas. He was so excited that he went outside to "practice" by "fishing" out of our swimming pool. In his pajamas and slippers. In the winter. We loved it.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't really remember. I do remember being "too cool" to sit in his lap that year and had to pretend because my brother was still a believer. I have a feeling this might be our last year with Mary Emma being a believer. She's getting really skeptical.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? I always want to (I'm not the most patient person in the world) but Spencer doesn't like to let me. He enjoys watching me squirm. :)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? We have two trees — both are decorated very traditionally. We don't have a color theme or anything like that. The downstairs tree has the traditional ornaments on it - a bunch of wedding gifts (we got married on Dec 20, so we got a LOT of "Just Married" ornaments). We also get an ornament whenever we go on vacation anywhere. Spencer has his ornaments from when he was a kid, and I have mine. The upstairs tree is the girls' tree. It has any ornament that was given to them or that they have made (which are my personal favorite).

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love, love, LOVE the snow. LOVE. Unfortunately, I live in Alabama where there is rarely snow. We did get some snow last night, but the ground was too warm for anything to stick. But it was SO PRETTY!

12. Can you ice skate? I actually can. And by "skate" I mean I can skate around the rink in a nice big circle. I can't spin and stuff. (I KNOW - shocker.) But again, I live in Alabama. Ice rinks are not exactly on every corner.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I don't really have a FAVORITE. Things were favorites according to what was going on in my life at the time. Things that stick out in my mind are 1) a model of the Space Shuttle when I was about 10 ( I wanted to be an astronaut my entire life), 2) my very own TV for my room when I was 13, 3) a diaper bag with Mary Emma's initials on it that Spencer gave me right after we found out that we were having a girl, 4) an ornament that looks exactly like my bridal bouquet, which was given to me by Spencer's grandmother

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Christmas is all about the "Who" and not about the "what." I love teaching my girls about the true meaning of Christmas. Camille's little mother's day out class is having a "Happy Birthday Party for Jesus" this year instead of having a Christmas Party. I CAN'T WAIT. It's gonna be precious.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Anything chocolate. My mom makes fruit cake cookies, which she loves and I think are gross, but the story behind them makes me glad that they're around during the holidays.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I LOVE a Christmas Eve service. I love dressing my girls and nephews alike and taking pictures of them. I love riding around and looking at Christmas lights. I love making cookies and decorating them for Santa. I love staying up really late with Spencer and setting out all the Santa stuff. But I mostly love watching all the girls climb in Spencer's lap and him reading the Christmas story to them.

17. What tops your tree? An angel.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Both. I love giving gifts, but I'm not gonna lie and say I don't like receiving them, too.

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? I'm Switzerland when it comes to candy canes. Totally neutral.

20. Favorite Christmas Show? Miracle on 34th Street. Preferably the old one, but I like the new one, too.

21. Saddest Christmas Song? Is there a sad Christmas song? Um, Little Drummer Boy. Because it makes me want to beat my head against a wall. The injury sustained from that would make me sad.

22. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Silent Night, O Holy Night (especially the Point of Grace version), Travis Cottrell's "In The First Light," and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (complete with the little interjections between each line "...had a very shiny nose (like a light bulb!)"

I'd love to read yours, too. If you participate in this HIGHLY INTELLECTUAL meme, please let me know in the comments and I'll jump on over to your land of blogginess.

Have a great Saturday!