I took this from Girl in a Boy House:
Eggnog or hot chocolate? I like both, but I don’t drink either one very often.
Does Santa wrap the presents or leave them open under the tree? Since we don’t believe, we don’t receive. We try to make up for it so the kids don’t miss out on Christmas, so the only difference is we have to pay for the presents ourselves instead of getting them free from Santa, and the kids thank us for them instead of thanking Santa.
Colored lights on a tree or white? Colored, but I like white ones too.
Do you hang mistletoe? No.
When do you put your decorations up? We don’t have a set day for it, but it’s between Thanksgiving and, say, the end of the first week of December.
What is your favorite holiday dish? Wurstebroodjes (pigs-in-blankets).
Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? ALL of them: we celebrate on Christmas Eve night. I always say it’s a holdover from a family tree of ministers and farmers, plus Dutch/German ancestry, but I don’t actually know that that’s the case.
How do you decorate your Christmas tree? As many ornaments as will fit, none of them matching. A total melee, if that’s the word I want. The kids have been doing it the last few years—first because I was pregnant and too tired/queasy to manage it, and now because they like to. I’d rather have everything evenly spaced, but have grown fond of their “dripping with ornaments, especially on the lower half of the tree” effect. I have an aqua-metallic bead garland. No tinsel or tinsel garland. Candy canes. Colored lights.
Snow: love it or hate it? I like it while it’s falling, and I like it lying prettily on the ground (but not the roads) for Christmas, but basically I hate it.
Can you ice skate? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA no.
What is your favorite holiday dessert? Spiked sherbet floats.
What is your favorite holiday tradition? Driving around looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve night, right before opening presents.
Candy canes: yum or yuck? I don’t eat them, but I like them on the tree, and I’ll stir a hot drink with one if I think of it.
Favorite Christmas show? Scrooged, and the tape I made of a bunch of holiday-themed episodes of kids’ programs one year.
This was, as Nicole promised, surprisingly fun to do, and you should copy if you want to.
Also, I am home from the Christmas party, and I had a shot of vodka beforehand and two large glasses of wine during, and I felt JUST FINE. Still anxious, but able to fake it, and also still able to focus my eyes, so it was a happy medium is what I’m saying.
Also, I realized my clothes were a MAJOR STRESSER, and it seemed like “having nothing but jeans, t-shirts, and a funeral outfit” was a situation that it was okay to remedy, so I went out this morning and bought some clothes, and I was dressed PERFECTLY for what everyone else was wearing, which was like a major psychic triumph. I wore dark, slightly flared jeans, dark grey and silver flats, a black cami, and a so-pink-it-was-almost-red button-down shirt with only a few buttons in the middle buttoned and the sleeves rolled up. I also wore sparkly earrings and my (men’s department) belt bracelet and my grandma’s cocktail ring.
And I brought wine, and thank you to everyone who suggested it because it was the perfect thing and roughly half the other people who came also brought wine. Then I had some of THEIR wine, and I ate many yummy little foods, and I talked with wallflowers, and now I am thinking we should go to parties every night! Or never again—either way.
Ohh fun! I’m going to steal this to put up when it’s busy next week and I have no content. hehe
Glad the party went well! Your outfit sounds great, plus a bunch of classic pieces you’ll be able to put w/ other stuff and keep for like 10 yrs!
1) Candy cane for stirring a hot drink? Genius!
2) You basically summed up my party neuroses in that last paragraph. I almost never not enjoy myself, but I’m always so so happy when they’re over.
YAYAYAY for a good party! Wine always helps me.
Your party outfit sounds fun! Also, yay wine!
You may have meant “melange” instead of “melee”, but I LOVE “melee” used in that context. I’m not joking, I think I’m going to steal the idea from you.
Yay party triumph! It is so gratifying when all the fretting about what to wear results in the correct outfit.
Congrats on surviving the party! (And how is it you so accurately describe my current wardrobe?)
I’m glad the party went so well! I love reading your Christmas traditions because this is our first Christmas with baby Charlie and it is fun to begin our own traditions. The one that surprised me the most was not the non-practice of the Santa myth but the Christmas Eve present opening!
Yay on the party! We also had a holiday party but Josh was out of town and I was dreading going by myself because I wasn’t going to have anyone to look busy with without him. I did go, though, and it was fine although WAY dressier than I’d anticipated.
Thanks for the teacher gift post! I just realized I don’t have teacher gifts and Monday is his last day of school! Eeek!
I’m glad that the party was a success! And that is a really fun meme – it’s always interesting to see what other peoples’ traditions are. My husband’s family always celebrated on Christmas Eve, but I insisted on Christmas Day once we had kids (because I resolutely believe in doing Santa). I didn’t have to insist that hard, as he remembers Christmas Day being the most boring day of the year, with all the festivities over and all his friends busy with theirs. Though he probably wouldn’t have felt that way if he’d gotten along with his family better….
Yay on the party! And wine is always a good hostess gift, so long as you don’t require the hostess server it right then. But she probably will.
I’m jealous of your outfit, because this year I realized that I go to at least one party a year and that I should have a party dress. I was totally going to go buy one before Andrew’s company dinner, but then I came down with The Sickness (respiratory infection that WILL NOT DIE), so I couldn’t. But! I found sparkly shoes I forgot I had! So all was not lost. It’s amazing what wearing nice clothes that fit will do for your psyche, isn’t it?
I’d love to see a picture of your tree; it sounds like my perfect idea of what one should look like.
Our family always did the Christmas Eve ride to see the lights and it’s one of the things I miss most about the holidays of yore.
I’m glad you had a good time at the party!
So glad to hear the party was good! I love the psychic triumph of dressing perfectly; that is such an enormous source of stress for me when I’m to attend a get together.
Someone else who knows what wurstebroodjes are! I stumbled upon your blog from Devan’s and had to laugh that you had wurstebroodjes listed as your favorite holiday food. We had it for dinner the other night.:)
Your outfit sounds perfect and lovely! I think I need a pair of flats matching that description–dressy and fun but still comfy and fairly casual (at least that’s what I’m picturing!)
I’m glad the party went as well as could be hoped for, AND you got a cute new outfit out of the deal!
Good to hear the party went well.
What are spiked sherbet floats? It sounds like something I would like (i.e., alcohol spiked?).
Aimee- I found the flats at Walmart for $10. They had several other good possibilities, and in fact I also bought a pair of “velvet” maryjane flats on clearance for $7.
Nicole- Oh so yum: diet or regular 7-up or Sprite or whatever, with scoops of rainbow sherbet. And then we add a shot or two of vodka.
A nice outfit, makeup, clean hair- all stuff that make me feel better if I’m wanting to feel better. (I say this because I’m kinda in a “mood” and not interested in getting over it).
I stole this meme from you.
In Germany everyone celebrates on Christmas Eve. Maybe it’s a European thing?
Glad the party went so well! Congrats!
I’ll steal that – thanks!
Mmmm, do you have a good float recipe I could also steal?
Glad the party went well.
Success!
Jess- Oh! I wonder if that’s it! Both the Christmas Eve celebrating and the traditional Christmas dinner wurstebroodjes come from the Dutch side of my family.
Nicole from MMTAM- We take a big cup, fill it about 1/3 full of 7-up or Sprite, add a shot or two of booze, then fill it the rest of the way with rainbow sherbet. MMMMmmmmmm.
Glad you had fun at the party. We share similar party fears. A new outfit always helps.
I will steal this and post it maybe tomorrow, I love reading other’s answers to such questions.
You recommended the Skwish to me a few weeks ago when I asked which I should buy (Skwish or ??) from Amazon. 9 month old Baby Lauren has it in her crib and it keeps her happy for a good 20 minutes after she’s woken. Thank you.
On a completely unrelated note, has any of your kids ever had pink eye? Which is to say, has pink eye spread like wildfire to everyone? Just wonderin’.
OH I’m so glad the party went well. Alcohol can be a great social lubricator (hee hee).
Party of 5- We haven’t had pinkeye here yet, but I’ve definitely heard of it spreading like crazy once it starts.
Here’s mine!
http://playamind.blogspot.com/2009/12/just-what-you-wanted-christmas-meme.html
So glad the party went well! And your outfit sounded awesome!
Spiked sherbet floats? I need that recipe. Like RIGHT NOW. Sounds very yummy.
I’ll steal the meme to post a few days before Christmas.
After finally reading the comments – I see the recipe. Will definately have some of those on Xmas. Woo hoo!!!!
Oh, so glad the party went well! What a great triumph to end the year with. :)
finally had time to steal this from you. we open gifts on christmas eve too. it’s the european way.
I stole this from you (and half the people in the blogoshpere from what I can see in my reader).
Love to read about other people’s traditions… thanks for sharing!