Wendi {at random}

Here are some of my favorite things 

about Christmas...

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate. Egg nog is too thick to not be a milk shake.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Since last year, Santa has wrapped presents. The kids are just too nosey around 3 in the morning.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?  White lights on the outside. White and a sprinkle of blue on the mantel. Colored on the little trees scattered around the house. Big fat colored bulbs on the wonky tree. The more lights the better!. 

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No mistletoe. Isn't that stuff poisonous????

5. When do you put your decorations up?  The day after Thanksgiving. Not a minute sooner. 

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? I made the most amazing brisket a couple of years ago and I can't eat Christmas dinner without it. It's from Pioneer Woman's cookbook. And did you hear the good news? She's got another one coming out!!!!

  

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Every Christmas Eve after the candlelight service at First Baptist Church, Daddy would take the long way home, winding around the back roads and hollers (yes, I said "hollers") of Norton, Virginia, so we could view the Christmas lights. Shell and I would always go berserk at this one house at Hoot Owl Holler that was decorated to the hilt. We'd oooh and aaah at the other ones, but that house was a show stopper by Norton's standards. Those Hoot Owl Holler people could pimp a house. Oh, and also, there was the stretch of years when Daddy would go outside and yell, "On Dasher, on Dancer, Prancer, Vixen..." and we totally KNEW it was Santa Claus. 

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I believed and believed and believed till Mom bought my Holly Hobby purse at Hills (is where the toys are!) in Kingsport, Tennessee. And then, that purse appeared under the tree one Christmas morn. I'm gullible. I'm naive. I'm a fool for a good story. So I could have been 17 when this happened. But it's hard to imagine that even I would have not been humiliated to tote a Holly Hobby purse around in high school. So I'm gonna assume that I was around mid-elementary aged. But I don't know. Who knows, I could have been in 6th grade and that would surprise not a soul who knows me.  

 9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, every since I was a wee little naive girl. Shell and I had our choice of a gift to open on Christmas Eve, but Mom had veto power. As a grown-up, I open presents from my school kids at school and do their thank you cards right that very day. The boys have no choice at all in this house. We, ---- IIIIIIIII ---- choose it. They open it. They bow to us and thank us. Strict dictatorship here on Christmas Eve. They usually get Christmas jammies, but a little goodie is tossed in for their enjoyment and glee. :)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? We have the most amazing collection of hand-carved wooden ornaments from Curt's sister, Tam. She has been giving these to us since we got married. Waaaay back in 1992 when big hair was on the decline but I hadn't received the memo what with snail mail and all. Any other ornament that is special to us is on our wonky live tree. Some of our faves: the White House Christmas ornament from 1996 when Shell went to the actual White House Christmas party with then boyfriend Secret Service dude Dave (yes, she actually went to a White House party! I've got pictures to prove it; she's posed with Dave and Bill and Hill. Bill is not copping a feel of my sister in this picture. Neither is Hill.), the Santa gourds from Kathy the crafter friend, the handmade ones the kids have brought home through their school years, a leg lamp from A Christmas Story (It's fragile, honey), a glittered stocking from my sorority in college, and a chain of tinkling blue bells from Curt's mom. So many more.... I think I need a pigeon to make my tree complete.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? The more the better! When it snowed three feet that never melted last winter, we were in SNOW HEAVEN! I think God has our house in heaven planned for the snowiest part of the land. 

 

12. Can you ice skate? Yes, but I'm shaky wobbly, and it makes my ankles hurt. But I can roller skate backwards. 

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Holly Hobby purse. No wait, that's not right. Suntan Tuesday Taylor's penthouse. 

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14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?  Keeping the focus on Jesus. Without the King's giving up his heavenly crown for a crown of thorns, Christmas would be nothing. 

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Mom's chocolate pound cake.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? The eight o'clock viewing of A Christmas Story. Ad nauseum for the next 24 hours. 

17. What tops your tree? A star

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? As much as I LOVE presents, I do love the joy of giving. It's probably a God thing. And I thank Him for the ultimate gift, Jesus. 

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum?  Sticky and icky. Yuck.

20. Favorite Christmas show? A Christmas Story and It's A Wonderful Life. Oh yeah, and Elf.

21. Saddest Christmas Song? Ummm, I don't know a sad one. But Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer would be awfully depressing if it was really true.

22. What is your favorite Christmas song?  While You Were Sleeping, by Casting Crowns.