Christmas Meme

So here goes…all you have to do is answer the questions and tag a few of your friends.

What is your favorite Christmas gift?

I've started a tradition with my husband that both of us appreciate: Throughout the year I buy myself some things that I particularly want, including a big-ticket item (one year a spinning wheel, one year a shop-vac, one year a Kitchen-Aid stand mixer...) I start using them right away, as soon as I bring them home (what's the point of waiting til December?) and then when the holiday season rolls around, I bring them into the main room and put bows on them. I get what I want (when I want!), my husband gets the credit and doesn't have to go shopping.

What is your best memory of Christmas?

Oh! okay, I've got one... I was flying out of town one winter to spend the holiday break with my now-husband. The flight was just a few days before Christmas, so all the holiday house lights and street lights were up. It was a rare coincidence that we'd had a fresh snowfall. (Seattle does tend to get one or two snowfalls each year, but if you do the math, you'll realize that it's not likely they'll coincide with Christmas.) As the plane rose into the air, the beauty of the colored lights reflecting off the snowfall was inexpressibly breathtaking.

Depending upon where you live do you have a hot or cold Christmas?

Last year was memorably cold with our four days of power outage! (and we were luckier than some! Most folk had their power restored by Christmas Eve, but a few unfortunates did not.) Usually it's just wet. Wet and chilly.

Would you prefer to try the opposite weather at least just once?
I've spent time in Southern California for the holidays before, so just making it warm(ish) and sunny wouldn't be a stretch. But I would really enjoy a chance to spend a holiday season up in Norway feeding reindeer and watching the northern lights... I'd also like to spend a holiday season south of the equator-- Australia, perhaps? Hawaii would be nice, of course... and then I'd also like to spend the holiday season in a country that celebrates differently. What are the winter festivals in Thailand or Japan like, I wonder?

What do you prefer in a tree? Fake or real?

Real trees make my allergies act up. Fake trees are *so* not worth the effort! .. these days when I do manage to dress the house, I just string lights and ornaments up from the furniture instead. ...and sometimes I do put up a wee little fiber-optic tree on the dining room table.

What is your favorite carol?

Mele Kalikimaka

What is your favorite Christmas dinner?

I used to make something exotic and unusual for the holiday dinner.. something I hadn't ever tried before. Sometimes that meant a new recipe, sometimes it meant a new type of food-- like goose or quail or venison. .. but then there was the one year in which (unthinkingly) I cooked reindeer stew. I don't think I'll ever forget that faux-pas!

Do you wear a Santa hat at Christmas?

not really. but I do wear season-appropriate socks from time to time.

Have you ever seen Santa delivering gifts?

not telling. ;)