Thinking Christmas Before Thanksgiving, Just This Once

It's coming up on the Advent season (wow, end of this week... time flies!) and I'm beginning to look toward Christmas so I thought I'd do this Christmas meme:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper with pretty ribbon and cool gift tags!

2. Real tree or artificial? We had an artificial tree for years (much more convenient), but this year we're going real (love the fragrance!)

3. When do you put up the tree? Around the 2nd week of Advent. No particular reason, just happens that way.

4. When do you take the tree down? Epiphany!

(Where'd 5 go...?)

6. Favorite gift received as a child? A Winnie the Pooh stuffed doll. I still have him... he sits on my bed. :)

7. Do you have a Nativity scene? Oh yes, a few. My daughter has her own, we have a family set that we've had for about 20 years, and I inherited my grandmother's set when she passed away in 2005.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My brother. He's got everything already!

9. Easiest person to buy for? My eldest daughter. She loves anything with Sleeping Beauty on it! Did I mention she's 22 and in the Navy?

10. Worst Christmas Gift you ever received? No such thing, as it's the thought that means a lot to me.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Snail mail, definitely.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? This year, it's The Christmas Shoes (a Hallmark movie).

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Around Thanksgiving time is when I start really thinking about buying things, but mostly we make our gifts so that's an Advent project.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I honestly can't remember!

15. Favorite things to eat at Christmas? Honeybaked Ham, Yams, Mashed Potatoes, Turkey with Gravy... pretty much the traditional stuff

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Depends on the year.

17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Depends on the year and our budget. All our family lives several hours away, so sometimes we make the trek but we've been known to stay home for a quiet Christmas as well.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolf... did I get them all? Had to sing the song in my head!

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Mother Mary cradling Baby Jesus in her arms.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning (I don't know why I can't "unbold" this answer....)

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? People getting pushy and irritated at the stores. Gosh, that's not what the season's about.

23. What is the “silliest” family tradition you do, or miss doing? Taking the kids' Christmas pictures by the tree: after they did the "posed" shots, I let them pose themselves and the result was always a series of hilarious, fun photos that we used in our cards! Three are grown and moved out now, sigh...

24. Ugliest Christmas Decoration ever invented? Don't know.

25. Which looks best, theme trees or homey trees? I like both, though my tree is always decorated with the Christmas ornaments that my kids made and collected as they were growing up.

26. Gingerbread or sugar cookies? Sugar cookies all the way!

27. Do you like Fruitcake? Not particularly.

Well, that's it!Big thanks to Corinna for this meme! You can check out her way cool blog here: Corinna's blog

Have an awesome day!