Important Christmas Meme

Here ya go, courtesy of Goldbloom:

1. What is the worst Christmas gift you ever received?

When Sam was a toddler, my brother gave her an indoor toy lawnmower for Christmas.  It became herfavorite toy.  I will let you think about that for a moment.

(pause).

Do you remember Fisher Price stuff??   Interactive Fisher Price toys???

The noise from all those popping balls drove me batty for weeks on end, as she "mowed" the living room carpet and  bedrooms, and hallways over and over for weeks on end. It was too cold outside to send her out to play with it.  (We were living in North Florida back then, and it was the year of The Great Freeze).  Come to think of it, he's the one that also gave her a Fisher Price trumpet, and I have never, EVER given his son drums for Christmas....  (yet).

2. Two weeks before Christmas you win $1 million. You have to spend it all by the end of this year and you cannot buy anything for yourself. How do you celebrate the holidays? 

I'd divide the money up and buy an waterfront house for my dog so fast, his head would spin. And it wouldn't be in South Florida, either.

Or, I'd fly my whole family somewhere on vacation for the best vacation of our lives. 

(yes, yes, yes, I know all about the charity issue. I'd do that too. but this is a fantasy...)

 

3. Do you have any family traditions? What are they and do you continue the tradition in your own household? -

The big brex on Christmas morning after the presents are opened. Coffee first.  The fact that my kids never seem to wake up early on Christmas morning. We always have to wake them up!!  They are not right, I tell ya.

Pancakes are always part of the menu.

Standard stuffs: cookie baking, eggnog, family card games after dinner, football.   Hub's family always has a big ham on Christmas eve and turkey the next day, so I'll do that if they're coming for dinner.  But this year, I think it will just be us at the table. I've been known go with Crown Roast or Prime Rib or something differeent.  Just depends on what we're in the mood for.

And this year, I'm adopting Goldblooms tradition, which I think ROCKS! Check this out, in her words:
"...We’ve also started a new tradition which we’ve done the last 4 years, we don’t put names on the kids gifts under the tree. We number them and keep a master list of what the number is and who it belongs to. It’s great the kids get so excited trying to figure out which ones are their presents." 

4. What is your favorite smell from this season?

Inhale thy tree!!  It's my all time favorite.  We have an artifical tree because hub is allergic to the mold.  Publix has 'em for sale, so I inhale on the way in.

(Publix= grocery store chain).

Obvious favorites: turkey roasting, stuffing cooking or the cookies baking.

Yankee candle's Mistletoe and Pumpkin Pie candles are favorites also.

5. Do you regift? (That’s when you get something you hate and give it to someone else on another Christmas later) - mmm, sometimes, I give the gift to one of those charity gift drives.

6. If you have kids, how hard do you try to preserve the myth of Santa Claus? What do you do to keep the Fat Man "alive?"

When the girls were little, Santa came to the house every Christmas eve, courtesy of  a neighbor who dressed up and went to visit each house in the subdivsion.  How could I tell them any differently? And why would I?

7. When do you decorate your house and tree? When do you take everything down? Are you one of those batshit crazy people that does a countdown to Christmas (who anticipate that one day as if it is the birth of your firstborn)? -

We're usually on the road at Thanksgiving so can't get to it the following week, or week after.  I"m not particular about the timing.

Decorations usually come down the day before New Years or that weekend, if possible.  I like to start the new year fresh!

8. Do you sing along with the Christmas muzak in the stores? What’s your favorite Christmas song and which is the one that you hate so badly that you go postal and run amok in the aisles of Walmart when you hear it? -  Off Key singing is the way to go!

That aside, I have  a gripe: We were in the Lonestar Steakhouse restaurant this past weekend and they were playing carols so loud, you had to holler across the table to get a word in.  The manager wouldn't turn it down.  (I asked).  So, I'm writing a letter to their district manager.  I have nothing against the music, but not when it's your face like that.  I would have walked out, but the rest of hub's family wanted to stay and shout across the table.   The Motrin, it was my friend.

Play along in comments or on  your own site!

Comments

[CircusKelli]

Off-key singing! For ME, there is no other kind! ;)

I don't remember what my Mom told us about Santa. Bio-Mom, however admits to NEVER telling her children he 'wasn't real' -- to this day. That's the route I'm taking when the time comes. :)

This is a great Meme! I might do it on my site!

[Nils]

"Myth"? "MYTH"???? WHAT?????

[mom]

That was a cute little lawnmower! You had a toy like that.. It was a little horse on wheels and each wheel had little bells in it. You loved it. rode it all the time all over the house and even took it with you when we went visiting. We were not invited out much after you got that toy. It drove everyone nuts. Somehow it got broken.Since it was very well made, very strong, I often wonder how.
Pancakes on Christmas morning are a tradition. When Jeff and Karen married I gave her an electric griddle so she could continue the tradition. Incidently, the tradition was passed on from your father's family.

[Seamus]

1. What is the worst Christmas gift you ever received?

Toughie…would have to be between the “velvet Elvis” gifted by ex-SIL or the bad jar of moonshine gifted by a roomie (never have I been so sick – god knows where it came from or how it was distilled)!

2. Two weeks before Christmas you win $1 million. You have to spend it all by the end of this year and you cannot buy anything for yourself. How do you celebrate the holidays?

I’d split it between kids and grand kids and set up a college/retirement fund and a good portion I’d give to this girl - Megan (http://www.megansmission.freeservers.com/)

3. Do you have any family traditions? What are they and do you continue the tradition in your own household?

We always had a duck dinner Christmas Eve and for many years went to the Christmas concert put on by the chamber orchestra that my dad played in.

4. What is your favorite smell from this season?

The Christmas Tree!!!

5. Do you regift? (That’s when you get something you hate and give it to someone else on another Christmas later)

We’ll donate the items to a charity. Re-gifting in our family almost always bit someone in the ass.

6. If you have kids, how hard do you try to preserve the myth of Santa Claus? What do you do to keep the Fat Man "alive?"

We played the game while they were very small, but didn’t prolong it. Once the oldest figured it out the jig was up anyway!

7. When do you decorate your house and tree? When do you take everything down? Are you one of those batshit crazy people that does a countdown to Christmas (who anticipate that one day as if it is the birth of your firstborn)?

It’s usually up by the end of the 1st week in December and comes down by New Years Eve – except the outside lights – they stay up until spring!
LOL – absolutely not!!!

8. Do you sing along with the Christmas muzak in the stores? What’s your favorite Christmas song and which is the one that you hate so badly that you go postal and run amok in the aisles of Walmart when you hear it?

I am not a fan of Christmas Carols at all and by the end of the season I’m really fed up with it all.

[Seamus]

The link I just posted should have been: http://www.megansmission.freeservers.com/

[Florida Cracker]

We were very careful to keep Santa real as long as possible. That was very important to me and even today I speak of him in that way.

It's all about the magic.

[Nils]

1. Worst Christmas gift I ever received: every year, my Mom would get me a sweater - woolen, warm, itchy. I hated it. every year. I developed a disdain for "soft presents", which were presents from aunts and grannies and moms that were squishy so you just KNEW they'd be some sort of ugly socks, pyjamas, sweater, or underwear. I STILL hate soft presents.

2. One million - not on myself - how do I spend it? Yeah, yeah, charity, political correctcakes, fine, whatever. I'm saying MAJOR party, and damned if my dog Roxy doesn't get her some nice property, too. She and Buddy can be penpals.

3. Family traditions: Christmas Eve. Church where my daughter is the musical director, back home to major steak and lobster dinner, then games. No presents. NOT ONE. Not on Christmas Eve. And a hard and fast rule since I was a small child: nils does not leave his house on Christmas Day unless there is fire licking at his ass. Case closed.

4. Favourite smell: Mandarin oranges, freshly peeled.

5. Regifting: if it's that bad, we wait for a joke gift exchange or Yankee Swap.

6. About this so-called "myth" of Santa Claus. I'm unclear about the question ...

7. No decorations are allowed inside the house until December 9th, Erin's birthday. From then on, fill yer boots, and the girls do. I am able to restrain my enthusiasm for Christmas bric-a-brac, although, if pressed, I play along. Decorations come down by Twelfth Night.

8. Singing along: Yeah, I do. I can't pretend not to like Christmas music, not just because there is some OK music out there (The Roches' "We Three Kings", Google it and get it - best Christmas album EVER) but also because what it MEANS is this amazing time of the year.

It's fashionable and cynical and smart and funny to talk about Christmas like it's put on earth ot annoy us or stress us out. I think that misses the point. It's a time of year when people CAN be the best they ever are. I love it and look forward to it every year.

[kenju]

I wish I had thought of the number thing when my kids were small. That would have solved a lot of problems. I used to have to hide the presents until about midnight on Christmas Eve, otherwise, they would have shaken them all to pieces trying to figure out what was inside.

[Laura]

Kenju, a commenter on Goldbloom's site had the same shaking problem with her kids...she called them "lethal shakers". ;)

Nils, it's my favorite time of the year also. I would love to stay home each and every Christmas, I get tired of going on the road all the time! You're right about that last point, as well. We tend to lose track of the meaning with all the commercialism. That was never my goal with the girls.

FC, and once we lose the magic, we become boring old, dried up prunes.

Seamus, I was very impressed by what Megan is doing. That's amazing, and she is so young. I can see why you'd donate to her cause, most definitetly. Did you ever regift the velvet Elvis? ;)

Mom, I don't remember that one, lol. Still, I'm sure they all got over it, Billy always made the most noise anyway. ;)

Kelli, I'll look for it on your side if you decide to do it!

[Laurie]

I am not too fond of keeping the santa myth going with kids. I felt terrible the day I told Sean there was no santa-it was the same day I had to tell him there was no easter bunny. He still believed in Santa Claus until he was 11 1/2.Yikes.