What do you do with a snow day? Well, if you were me yesterday, you:
-worked on a few blog posts
-visited many of your great blogs
-shoveled snow
-took pictures
-swam in the pages of Grayson
-did some light housekeeping
-watched my favorite Firefly episode: Out of Gas
-went and bought groceries since your wife was ill (aww…what a good husband! 😉 )
-played Star Wars Legos on PS II with your daughter
-watched an old Andy Hardy Christmas movie
-played a little Oblivion on the PC
-slept the sleep of the dead
It was wonderful staying home yesterday. One of the posts I worked on was this one…I think I’ll count it as one of my 2006 G.I.F.T. Challenge bonuses, in the Christmas Memories category. I saw this first on Angela’s site:
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
I seem to remember having some egg nog years ago that I liked but I’m a bit afraid to try it now. My parent’s neighbor makes some pretty powerful egg nog…more nog than egg, I believe! I love Quick Trip Hot Chocolate: a quarter of the cup with vanilla, a quarter with caramel, and the other half chocolate. Mmmmmmm….
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
He wraps, no doubt about it. The wrapping, figuring out what, if any, trimmings to put on the package, etc. is part of Santa’s fun.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Both. We have white icicle lights hanging from the roof and colored and white lights on the trees and bushes. I have some of those white, light up deer as well.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No. Mostly because I think I’d feel weird about the whole kissing thing. But, I have super fond memories of mistletoe as a young man, especially around the time I first started getting interested in girls. I don’t know if some people put it up or if it was just the idea of being able to kiss a girl standing under the mistletoe, but the aura of mistletoe still lingers in my imagination and the idea of it makes me quite nostalgic.
5. When do you put your decorations up?
As early as possible. We did it the weekend before Thanksgiving this year. That’s the joy of having a birthday so close to Thanksgiving, I can ask to put the lights, etc. up as part of my present.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
My mother’s Thin Bread. I never used to like it as a child (probably never even tried it), but I love it now and gorge myself on it during the holiday season. I love turkey and green bean casserole and stuffing…the usual stuff.
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
I think my favorite childhood memory is more of an amalgam of memories. I have many remembrances of ways that I was lead to believe in Santa that are very fond memories. I always enjoyed going to my dad’s Christmas work party, you waited in line to visit Santa and got a gift and fruit and nuts. The party was catered and they always had a ton of food. I think I liked it so much as a kid because we were able to run around all over the dance hall that it was held at and eat whatever we wanted. They always used to have those little boxes of chocolate milk at my dad’s work parties which were like treasures to me. I also remember all the romantic hopes and dreams of the holidays when I was a teenager. It always seemed like a really electric time of year, full of possibility. Christmas still feels that way to me.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
My brother told me. My younger brother. I think I was probably old enough that I should have known but hey, I’m a believer.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Mary, Tori and I have always have our Christmas a few days before the 25th because we are usually traveling to Nebraska for Christmas. We choose a day ahead of time when we will have our Christmas, that way the anticipation builds as the weeks go by. The night before we usually open our stockings.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
Put it up, string the lights, and then we lay out all the ornaments. Each of us has our particular favorites that we like to put up every year. Our ornaments are a mix of old and new, some things I’ve had since childhood, and ones we bought as recent as last year. We finish off by sweeping up any loose needles (old, well-loved artificial trees can shed too) and put the skirt under the tree.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Love it, love it!!! And since it just snowed that makes answering this question even more wonderful. The song “Snow” from White Christmas? That’s the way I feel about it. I want it and cannot get enough…once March roles around I’m ready for warm weather though and I prefer to have most of my snow in Dec and January.
12. Can you ice skate?
The first time I tried was when I was living in Tulsa and was in college. I had never tried it and I didn’t fall down at all. I think I’ve ice skated three times in my entire adult life with no falls. I would most likely tumble and break multiple bones if I tried it again. We do have an outdoor ice skating rink here in Kansas City though and the romantic ideal of it makes me want to try again.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
That is a hard one. I remember that I loved getting Hot Wheels as a kid. I am sure that my mother and father could tell you better what things I went crazy over as a kid. It is also hard as an adult. I love my One Ring that Mary got me a couple of years ago. The truth is that I cherish everything and get really emotionally attached to stuff so getting me things is easy and I really like gifts, period. If someone thought about it for me and had a reason to get it then I like it quite alot.
14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
That quote by Francis C. Farley: Instead of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish. Christmas, in short, is about the only chance a man has to be himself. really emphasizes what I like about Christmas. I love the built in excuse to buy gifts for people. I like wrapping gifts and trying to think of little extras to go with them. I love the togetherness, the songs, the lights, the spirit of the holiday…it all goes together to make loving our fellow man just a little bit easier. I love the combination of Santa and all those traditions coupled with the celebration of the birth of Jesus. There is such a spirit of hope and new beginnings at Christmas time.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
My mom makes this really good dessert with Snickers bars that I love to have at Christmas. I also love those Archway Christmas Tree cookies but they are never easy to find. I can easily devour a whole box in one setting. If Mary finds them at the grocery store she usually buys several boxes and hides them so she can make them last for me. I really like that.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
I love sitting in the living room of my house, Christmas lights on inside and out, and watching Christmas movies with my family. I enjoy watching A Christmas Story with my parents, my sister and brother and their families, and my family which is one of our yearly traditions.
17. What tops your tree?
18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving?
I think everyone likes receiving and I sure enjoy getting things I really want, but I much prefer having the money, and taking the time and effort, to give and give well.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
O Holy Night as song by Josh Groban is probably #1, followed very closely by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong singing Baby, Its Cold Outside. I also love Bing Crosby singing White Christmas and Count Your Blessings (and pretty much anything else).
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
They are okay. I enjoy having them around more for tradition. I usually buy sweet flavored ones to put on gifts…I just bought some Everlasting Gobstopper candy canes from Target.
I hope everyone’s weekend is going well! Would love to read your answers to any or all of the following questions. The first comment in this post contains all the questions by themselves for you to easily cut and paste should you want to participate.
Here are the questions for you if you want to participate:
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
5. When do you put your decorations up?
6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
12. Can you ice skate?
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
17. What tops your tree?
18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving?
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
The snowflakes in the picture at the top of the post come from this site. You may or may not know that some of these pictures are featured on this year’s US Postal Christmas stamps and I really like them:
too funny.. those are some that i used to put on my header last night.
I like the snowflake addition to your header Angela!
I’ve been tagged to do that list of questions too, so I should have them up sometime in the next few days.
Your Snow Day sounded great! (especially the shopping for the ill wife part!)
And, you even did this with pictures! 🙂 I loved reading these.
you did more then most on a “snowday”!
I love the old Andy Hardy movies!! If it was on the Turner Channel I missed it ! Darn!
Sure enjoyed reading about your holiday memories and traditions. Isn’t Christmas the best?
When you were little,Carl, every gift you ever received,you slept with at night. From the footed pajamas your Godparents gave you each year, to big tractors etc. We always dreaded to give or have you receive big gifts because you had a bunk bed and it would be piled full of anything that was new for you. Some of your favorite toys were blocks and army men that kept you entertained for hours. You always kept everything nice and hid your best toys when kids would come to play. I am sure the way you cherish your books and other treasures in adulthood is a carry over from childhood .
No Deslily, we were watching it on DVD. There was an introduction on the disk and it was the first time Mary and I heard that there were 16 or 15 Hardy movies. Only 7 have ever been available on video, I believe, so we always assumed those were the only ones. I wish they would release all of them on a DVD set.
I figured the ‘me sleeping with toys’ thing was bound to make its way here. 🙂 Wonder what Mary would think if I started doing that this Christmas. I’m sure the way that I take care of my stuff and the fact that whenever I get anything new I like to have it laying out somewhere close by for awhile is definitely a carry-over from that type of behavior. I do remember hiding toys from other kids…I hated people messing with my stuff. Still do on some levels although I think (hope) I’m a little more normal about this now.
What great answers. I loved reading this meme and I can’t wait to do it. Your mom’s comment was so cute, too. 🙂
“I also remember all the romantic hopes and dreams of the holidays when I was a teenager. It always seemed like a really electric time of year, full of possibility. Christmas still feels that way to me.” I can definitely relate to this part of your answer from #7. I remember walking my dog as a teenager around the block every Christmas Eve and looking at everyone’s Christmas lights and just feeling hope and excitement and a kind of giddiness.
I love your Mom’s comment, too. Great meme and great answers…so much fun to read.
Another synchronicity, I was just about to post about what I did last night…watch the first Disc of Firefly!
super idea to have all the andy hardy movies sold as a complete collection!
I loved Lewis Stone as the dad.. guess i always wished he were my dad lol.. and Mickey and Judy and the others were all so great.. TCM still shows them now and then. TCMs website always gives a calander that shows what movies are on for a whole month.. so you can check that each month and know if one of them is coming on..(and record it!!).. but i’d love to see them all on dvd as a set myself.
Camille, Christmas lights on houses still make me feel giddy, even after all these years.
Thanks JenClair…so psyched that you’re watching Firefly! It is such an amazing series and the movie is fantastic.
I like Judge Hardy myself Deslily. And Mickey Rooney as Andy Hardy is so great…I love how openly girl crazy he is…it is so innocent and yet so easy to relate to. I remember being just that way at that age. I need to get the bigger dish package so that we get TCM!
I love your answers, Carl, and your mom’s comments too. Remember that picture we have of Tori sleeping with her gifts (she’s around 3 or 4 in the picture). Just like her dad!
Thanks for shopping for me. My sinus headache could not take the cold! You are so chivalrous!
Sounds like a busy day. I spent most of the weekend looking out the window at the wind and rain, I did manage to make it out a few times, but still no presents bought yet.
Great post! I miss snow days. Having moved to Florida I even know people now who have never seen snow! Now all I get are hurricane days =/
Carl, I have two old 7 up bottles just like the ones in your banner picture. You can have one if you want it. My mom lived by a lake that used to be a popular spot. The dam broke and the lake drained. She dug lots of really old pop bottles out of the mud. Some were very old and unusual. They cleaned up very nicely.
Actually I just looked and I think mine are older. They have the girl in the swimsuit with bubbles. Anyway, just a little nostalgia for ya.
That was a fun meme. And I’m right there with you on O Holy Night. Amazing song, and Josh Groban does it up right!
Brainiac…I can’t imagine what it would be like to have never seen snow.
Thanks Jules!
Yes Andi, JG’s version of that song tops them all.
Yes, Josh Groban does it the best. I make my family be real quiet and listen closely when his rendition of that song comes on. I don’t think they ‘get’ mommy sometimes!
I absolutely love to watch our old home videos on VHS tape of our Christmas’ together as a family. They are so hilarious! The one Christmas that sticks out in my mind the most is the one where we had to wake up way before dawn to open gifts. My mom had to work that morning and my brother, Jason, had to have a minor operation. My dad took my brother to the doctor and Carl stayed home to watch me. I believe Carl was already in college at the time so that would have made me around 8 or 9 years old. I remember sitting in Carl & Jason’s bedroom, playing with my new set of legos as Carl messed around his Christmas presents!
Hey, I bought those stamps over my lunch hour today! When I went to the post office to mail a package I decided I should buy some stamps too. The post office worker asked me what kind of stamps I wanted. I just said I wanted something to do with Christmas. Before getting the stamps out of her drawer, she told me they had snowflakes & Madonna. I was going to say snowflakes so that she wouldn’t have to show me all her samples, but, I thought, I want to see the Madonna stamps as I wonder what they look like – and who would want Madonna on their Christmas stamps???? Well, I felt a little stupid when the Madonna stamps turned out to be THE MADONNA (I didn’t know that this particular scene was referred to as The Madonna).
That’s hilarious Abby…although Madonna Christmas stamps might be interesting.
1. Hot chocolate
2. growing up he left them unwrapped at my house now that I’m married they come wrapped. go figure.
3. mainly white with a little red/blue mixed in.
4. No misiltoe. I never see it for sale anywhere either myself.
5. the weekend after thanksgiving
6. fudge with NO nuts
7. opening presents with snow outside just like a classic postcard
8. I honestly can’t remember
9. we always open one gift each on christmas eve
10. I let Keri and the kids do all that. I just sit back and observe the fun.
11. I LOVE the snow but dread the ice that usually accompanies it.
12. nope
13. nope but I remember what my parents gave me for high school graduation – luggage. I still hate that.
14. sharing the magic of the holidays with my kids. christmas is a hundred times better as a parent than it ever was as a child.
15. ginger cookies
16. reading a good book or the newspaper as I listen to my kids play with all there cool new toys with christmas music playing in the background.
17. a gold star
18. giving
19. silent night, holy night
20. yum all the way