I saw this quiz on my cousin Pam's blog, so I thought I'd do it too! I don't know why, but I love these things.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Neither, I sew cloth bags that we can reuse over and over again. They are festive, they are environmentally friendly and SO easy to clean up! Friends and family are welcome to keep them, or give them back to me to use over again.
2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial. I loved having a real tree growing up. The smell was awesome.But it was so messy and I always felt sorry that the tree didn't get to grow up. Hacked down in its prime. I also like that I don't get a rash on my arms when putting decorations on the artificial tree. My skin is adverse to pine.
3. When do you put up the tree? This year it was up before the end of November! This is not the norm for me at all. When the tree goes up has really fluctuated a lot over the years based on timing with school. My dream is to put it up on Christmas eve and then celebrate Christmas full out until Epiphany! I imagine things will evolve the more settled we become.
4. When do you take the tree down? Definitely after Epiphany. When I was a child my mom always had to take the tree down when I was at school because I would cry. Thankfully my mom isn't the kind of person to rip it down right away.
5. Do you like eggnog? Nope, never have. I think it's one of those love it or hate it things. Plus almost anyone who knows me is aware that I primarily drink water. 2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial. I loved having a real tree growing up. The smell was awesome.But it was so messy and I always felt sorry that the tree didn't get to grow up. Hacked down in its prime. I also like that I don't get a rash on my arms when putting decorations on the artificial tree. My skin is adverse to pine.
3. When do you put up the tree? This year it was up before the end of November! This is not the norm for me at all. When the tree goes up has really fluctuated a lot over the years based on timing with school. My dream is to put it up on Christmas eve and then celebrate Christmas full out until Epiphany! I imagine things will evolve the more settled we become.
4. When do you take the tree down? Definitely after Epiphany. When I was a child my mom always had to take the tree down when I was at school because I would cry. Thankfully my mom isn't the kind of person to rip it down right away.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Oh, my. I don't know. Maybe this sounds silly, but it's probably my bright pink skating bag. It had a top and bottom compartment so my skates and clothes could be separate. I desperately wanted a bag like that so I could be like everyone else at the rink. As an adult, my favourite gifts tend to come from my niece Aimee. She is an expert at listening and paying attention to what you enjoy, and then putting a comical twist on it.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes. I have one larger set at my parent's house. I also have one in a snow globe, a tiny Peruvian one, and a wooden one for storytelling. I love the diversity of nativity scenes that they have at Ten Thousand Villages. I love seeing how people from other cultures interpret the birth of Christ.
8. Hardest person to buy for? Hmmm...my brother and sister-in-law
9. Easiest person to buy for? Alicia, hands down. She will always love anything I give her, just because it's from me.
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Oh, this I remember clearly. My parents gave me a diary and I was so mad. It was just not what I wanted and I wrote in it angrily for a couple of weeks and then it went in a drawer. I am not a journaler even now. I blog, but journaling feels different.
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail I guess. I'm just not a card person. I've done letters sometimes and photo cards. But I always find cards that just have the people's signature in them to be a waste of good paper. I am not a person prone to give cards or gifts out of obligation. If you get something form me, it's probably not a card, and I probably love you a lot or felt moved by the Spirit.
9. Easiest person to buy for? Alicia, hands down. She will always love anything I give her, just because it's from me.
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Oh, this I remember clearly. My parents gave me a diary and I was so mad. It was just not what I wanted and I wrote in it angrily for a couple of weeks and then it went in a drawer. I am not a journaler even now. I blog, but journaling feels different.
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail I guess. I'm just not a card person. I've done letters sometimes and photo cards. But I always find cards that just have the people's signature in them to be a waste of good paper. I am not a person prone to give cards or gifts out of obligation. If you get something form me, it's probably not a card, and I probably love you a lot or felt moved by the Spirit.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? White Christmas. I'm a sucker for musicals and Bing Crosby's voice has always made me feel happy.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I don't really shop much. We draw names at my parent's place and at Alicia's parent's as well. So that's only two gifts. We also give gifts to my two nieces and Alicia's nephew. Most of my gifts are handmade or from Ten Thousand Villages. So I work on them during the fall, and hope people don't change too much before Christmas comes! This year Alicia and I are giving each other something that cannot cost more than $2 and it has to be meaningful this requires searching, but not much shopping in malls.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I don't really shop much. We draw names at my parent's place and at Alicia's parent's as well. So that's only two gifts. We also give gifts to my two nieces and Alicia's nephew. Most of my gifts are handmade or from Ten Thousand Villages. So I work on them during the fall, and hope people don't change too much before Christmas comes! This year Alicia and I are giving each other something that cannot cost more than $2 and it has to be meaningful this requires searching, but not much shopping in malls.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Certainly. Most especially the 30 or so bars of Body Shop soap I got one year from various Sunday school children, skating children and clients at the hair shop where I worked. I can't use scented soap so they had to go somewhere!
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cranberry sauce? It's a bit harder now since I can't eat grains. I'm finding new things that I love, but some of the traditional things aren't options anymore. So this is certainly evolving. Maybe my mom's sticky chicken. We often have a meal of appetizers on Christmas eve and her sticky chicken is fabulous! Or her cranberry pork loin, that's really good too.
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? I don't care. Just so long as the tree doesn't look like it came out of a catalogue or a show room. It has to have some character, some story.
17. Favorite Christmas song? This changes. I don't have one that's just been THE song for my whole life. Right now I really love stuff from Mary Chapin Carpenter or Kim Thiessen. I find it hard not to critique theology in some of the old favourites.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Both, neither. It's weird. Since I've been a student I've come "home" for Christmas and always stayed for weeks. The expectation always seems to be that single people don't have homes, so they have to go home for holidays. I would love to actually spend some time in my own home at Christmas time. It's never really happened, maybe this year I'll get a day or two. We'll see.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Ah, the only one that ever mattered was Rudolph. My dad's name is Rudolf, with an "f" which he is always quick to point out. But singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" just to annoy him is kind of a Christmas tradition.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star, it always seems a bit weird to shove part of a tree up the angel's...
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? My immediate family has always opened presents on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning was when my mom was busy getting the Turkey etc. ready for dinner at Grandma's (not anymore), so it was far too frantic at our house for things like gifts.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Stress and expectations. Sometimes I have a hard time digging through all the stuff that happens at this time of year to see the joy of salvation and deliverance from oppression that the birth of Christ signifies. There are moments, surely, yet so often it seems that we are never as enslaved as much as we are during the month of December.
23. What I love most about Christmas? Strangely enough, making or preparing gifts. I really enjoy reflecting on the people in my life and what I might be able to give them that would most help them to live fully as themselves or most bring them profound joy, as opposed to temporary happiness. I guess it's the resourcer in me!
No comments:
Post a Comment