I got tagged for this Christmas Meme by Diana and boy was she right that I needed to get my mind off things and what better to think about than Christmas and tradition and so many happy memories? Thanks Diana!! I’ll post more later, but the vet specialist thinks that he’ll be able to save Daphne’s leg and it will be great!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Oooh, yummy hot chocolate! When I was an exchange student in Spain they had the best – it was so thick that you could stand a spoon in it! Almost like molten pudding.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? Wrapped of course! My mother used to help Santa wrap and she would hand tie every single bow (and I mean the type you wrap the ribbon around your hand and cut it and tie it and pull it apart – very elaborate). Our tree was always beautiful. My stepmom’s family never wrapped and I just don’t get it; once glance and Christmas is over!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? At Mom’s house big colored lights, at Dad’s house small colored lights, and I think we’re going to go with small colored lights 🙂

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nah, too afraid I’ll poison a cat.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Mid-December. We tend to leave them up for a while so we put them up later. We’ve never been a day-after-Thanksgiving decorating kind.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Sweet potato casserole with marshmallows! But I love all Christmas food just like I love all food generally.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: So many memories! I’m the youngest of three girls and we all used to sleep in the same room on Christmas Eve. Until one of us got married we still spent every Christmas Eve together, giggling, sharing stories, and wanting to hear Santa.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? What do you mean, “truth?” All I know is that both my sisters saw Santa one night running across the yard.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yep, only one. One of my aunts gave each of us an ornament every year. They were all similar but different and had our names on them. The tradition goes that she’ll give an ornament until you get married. Since I’m the only one still not married that means I still get an ornament every year. We always opened our ornament on Christmas Eve and put it on the tree.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Um, with ornaments and lights? In addition to my aunt give each of us an ornament (usually went on my mom’s tree since that’s where we opened gifts) my dad gave us each an ornament every year so that we would have enough decorations to fill a tree when we went out on our own. So my tree is full of ornaments with my name on them. We call it the “Carrie Tree”! But I love it because each ornament has a memory.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I’m always up for a good snow, but living in the South means that it shuts down life for days. Which ain’t a bad thing if you’re prepared for it!

12. Can you ice skate? I learned to skate at birthday parties growing up. And of course one kid always ended up with a concussion (we’re not known for our ice skating in South Carolina!). When I went to college in Mass. and attended my first ice hockey game I was just amazed at how they could skate just like it was walking – I got made fun of a lot for that 🙂

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Not really. I know it seems corny but I think every gift is my favorite.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Family, memories, tradition. I love my family and my sisters and love hanging out with everyone. That’s the best part.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Rum cake. Of course, every year my mom forgets it she’s added the rum. I think I’ve gotten drunk off of rum cake!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? After going to church on Christmas Eve we’d all come home and hang stockings that my grandmother needle-pointed for us, of course trying them on and one of us would recite Twas the Night before Christmas (we had to memorize it for school – totally worth it!) and leave cookies and milk and a carrot for Santa and his reindeer. Then on Christmas morning my sisters would sneak a peek at the tree with all the presents but I was never allowed to cause I’m the youngest. When we opened presents we all would go one at a time, my mom handing them out as we all watched to see what everyone else got. Mom always made the canned cinnamon rolls too. So many traditions that I loved so much!! One thing I’d like to carry one is the needle-point stockings. My mom’s already made some for the next generation and they are just so special.

17. What tops your tree? Mom has an angel that tries to nose dive. For my dad’s first Christmas after the divorce he hung a plastic star above the tree. Sometime in March one of us looked up and noticed that it was still hanging from the ceiling! So now we hang that old star above the dining room table, from the chandalier because it makes us laugh. For The Boy’s and I first tree we topped it with a mess of ribbons and bows.

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Both 😉 I love giving a great gift – one I’m especially proud of. And I always love to receive 🙂

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? I love Christmas music and I always forget to pull it out! Growing up we had this collection of songs and I love those versions of the songs so much that I’ve tried for years to find the same collection. I also love George Winston’s Winter album – just beautiful music. I’m more of a traditional Christmas music chick – not that I don’t mind jazzing them up a bit, but I don’t generally listen to any new songs.

20. Candy Canes? Always tons left over after the season 🙂 We use them to make peppermint ice cream and now I use them to make peppermint bark (white chocolate and candy canes – what could be better?)

Hmmm… this has been a popular meme and I’ve loved reading everyone’s responses. I tag Bren and Nancy, although I don’t know if either do memes.