The Christmas Memories and Traditions

My friend Sarah @ Nesting in Pleasant View tagged me! I just love a good tag! Especially one that is for Christmas!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Egg Nog a little. Hot Chocolate a lot and Mocha Latte the most. :)

2.Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Santa leaves presents fore each child in various places around the living room, chairs, couch, etc. He does not wrap his gifts.

3. Colored lights on house/tree or white?
Year round we love the twinkly white. At Christmastime, we really love the old-fashioned Charlie Brown colored tree lights. :)

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
We've taken it to Christmas parties and held it over our own heads. :) Not as a tradition. I'm with Sarah, it would drive Mt. Man crazy most likely. :)

5.When do you put your decorations up?
The Thanksgiving weekend.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Everybody do not laugh now, we actually have a very similar Thanksgiving dinner at Christmas :) And I love my mother's Turkey and Cornbread Dressing. :) So we do it again. When I was five and sang, "Christmas is coming" constantly, my Daddy got us a Goose to have. That was special. And my family has me sing the song every year. :) No iMovie here.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
My parents made Christmas so special and it reminds in my mind pretty idealic. I seem to have a big picture memory of the traditions and things that made our Christmas special. We had my Grandmother and Aunt often with us. My mother made all manner of specialty dishes. There were so many presents and decorations with five children. Christmas is my favorite holiday.

8.When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I believed for a very long time. Would even sleep looking out the window and thinking I saw the Reindeer and Santa up by the moon, just like the books. :) You can laugh now. :) At some point I just knew and we always received Santa Claus presents until we went to college so we always played along for the younger children until we were all in college and beyond.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Not growing up but now we do. We let the children open their Christmas pajamas. :)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Our ornaments are a collage of Mt. Man, the Tigers and mine from Christmases gone by. My favorite are all of the toddler and preschool ones. :) Of course, a few favorites like the Colorado ski one with snow that shimmers like a snow globe. Or the Bayou Crab Claw my auntie brought just this Thanksgiving.

11. Snow. Love it or dread it?
Love snow! love skiing, snowboarding, even shoveling it. As long as it is warm soon after. :)

12. Can you ice skate?
Love ice skating. I took lessons as a child at the new rink in New Orleans, talk about novelty. :) And again, as a twentysomething at the Univ. of Colorado.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Holly Hobby was very special to me. :) And the year, I got all of my art pencils/set and a huge journal and sketch pad. ;)

14. What is the most important thing about the holidays to you? When I get a glimpse of the meaning of the Season, Jesus. I really capture the meaning of it all. Family and traditions are the best!

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
My mother made these amazing Martha Washington Candies. If you ever get a chance to do it, you will remember it as a favorite too. It was also a tradition for her to make them with our neighbor friend through the years and they would share the batch. Because it is candy, time is of the essence so four hands made it all work out. We loved it because they made several big Christmas tins of it and we would have two a day or something. It was special.

After the twins were born, that first Christmas as a Mom, I made them with my friend Julie. Wow, did I appreciate all the hard work once I did it. :)

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? We would go Christmas caroling as a family and have hot chocolate afterwards. Married, we love hanging the stockings that the Tigers GreatGrandmother made each of us before she passed away just last year. They are very meaningful because everyone has one and Mt. Man's is as old as he is. ;) We'll miss her again this our second Christmas without her.


17. What tops your Christmas tree?
A light up Star.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
Sarah and I have another same answer here. :) "I like to see friends and families faces when they open gifts I have given them. I wouldn't be honest if I said I didn't like to receive too though!" :)

19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
"O, Holy Night!" mesmerizes me each year. It holds many memories of years gone by.

20. Candy Canes. Yum or Yuck?
Yum!

21. What do you want for Christmas?
Peace on earth good will toward man. My family together healthy and happy. The children to enjoy and appreciate the season... and this really cool pair of clogs.... :)

22. Do you attend an annual Christmas party?
We do indeed and sometimes we host it.

23. Do you dress up for Christmas Eve or wear PJ's?
We do dress up for our Christmas Eve Service at our church and for Christmas dinner. Other than that, it is Christmas pjs for the children, and Christmas cheer for us.

24. Do you own a Santa hat.
Oh dear, I just received a second one from our Women's Ministry leader. Do not ask questions. :)

25. Who do you normally spend Christmas with?
Family, family, family.

That was fun! Not too hard. A walk down memory lane.

Now I get to tag 5 people who are all in my Blog Roll on my sidebar:
Southern Grits
The Homespun Heart
The Simple Wife
Simple Gifts
Colored With Memories
Our Moments, Our Memories

Here are the rules:
1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Fill out the questions.
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
4. Pass on the tag!

'Tis the Season!

Warmly,