December....and the countdown begins

Wow! This year has really just whizzed right by. I can't believe that it's December, we started our Christmas countdown calendar today & although we haven't actually done the activity yet, we will be making some paper & glitter snowflakes a little later this evening.

I was visiting Darcy Baldwin's (she's an awesome fontographer & designs some other fun digi-stuff) blog this morning & thought this was a fun way to kick off December on my blog. I'm going to attempt to have a post everyday of this month, to go along with the 'Countdown to Christmas & December album/family journal' that I'll be working on for our family.

So without any further blabbing from me....

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate, definitely, espeically if its topped with some peppermint & whipped cream. If you know me at all, you'll know that me & eggs don't see eye-to-eye...in fact I think they're pretty gross, so just the thought of this makes me gag a little. ;)

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Our Santa does both & he fills the stockings, usually with little wrapped gifts as well. But he uses different wrapping paper than Mom & Dad.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? It just depends, we switch it up from year to year for the tree, sometimes we've go with colored & a hodge-podgy look, sometimes I like the 'classical' look of the white lights with coordinating ornaments. The outside, often looks like Clark Griswold was here decorating, but he used colored lights, big ones, little ones & lots & lots of them.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Sometimes, depends on if there is a girl/boy scout group selling it when we go into town. We don't go cut it or make a special trip for it. But it's a fun little thing to have around. I try to hang it near a doorway or somewhere that we stop often, it's not just mistletoe though, I try to 'spruce it up a bit & turn it into a decoration.

5. When do you put your decorations up? It begins the day after Thanksgiving, little things here & there. We go all out the day we get the tree, usually the weekend after Thanksgiving weekend. More little things will pop-up throughout the month though as we create & craft with the kids.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Everything tastes better during the holidays. My most favorite is a pink salad that my Granny would make special for me. Raspberry jello, cottage cheese, pineapple, cool whip. Ham. Sweet potato casserole stuff, with crunchy yummy pecans & brown sugar.

7. Favorite Christmas memory as a child? Singing Christmas carols with my sister, in our bedroom around our tiny tree & making our own 'music videos'.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I was a kid....it was long ago, & I don't even remember, but if you don't believe in his magic, you don't get visited by him either. ;)

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We usually have multiple Christmas celebrations, like 3 or 4, one of them normally falls on Christmas eve, so we do open gifts then too.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? With lights & balls & a combination of homemade & other sentimental ornaments. We don't do the fluffy garland or tinsel, but sometimes strings of beads.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love & loathe. Love watching it fall & seeing its softly scattered among the trees. Love that I can choose to go out in it or stay in warm & snuggly. Loathe the need to go out in it for un-fun things like running errands with the kids or driving in it.

12. Can you ice skate? Never tried.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? There was a favorite every year. One year my sister & I got special dolls from some very dear friends, hers lit up & was pink, mine had awesome long blonde hair that changed colors with water. One year we got a play kitchen. One year we each got $100 bill tucked into a jewelry box that we could do what we wanted with, I spent most of mine on crafting things, I still have some of the beads I bought then.

14. What’s the most important thing about Christmas for you? Teaching our children that it's a season for love & giving, and being surrounded by family. Celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus.

15. What is your favorite Christmas Dessert? Christmas cookies. All of them. & cheesecake.

16. What is your favorite Christmas tradition? Driving around looking at Christmas lights. Baking & candy making day. Decorating the tree. Hopefully we'll have some new traditions after this year, one of them being our 'Family countdown calendar'.

17. What tops your tree? An angel.

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Giving. Creating & crafting special homemade gifts for all of the people we hold near & dear.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? There are several, way too many to name (dispite my sweet hubbys general dislike of Christmas music--or the overplaying from Thanksgiving through Christmas). Go Tell it on the Mountain. Away in a Manger. O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Santa looked a lot like Daddy.

20. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Delicious!

21 Favorite Christmas Show? The Grinch (the animated version). National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. Annabelle's Wish.

22. Saddest Christmas Song? Christmas Shoes by NewSong.

23. What’s your Wish for Christmas. That our lives & the lives of those we love be touched with love & their hearts be filled with joy. & that over the next year we can try to be as thoughtful everyday as we are throughout the Christmas season.