The awesome & talented Melissa tagged me!

Hot Chocolate or Egg nog.

I’m not really a huge chocolate fan (weird huh) and Egg Nog gives me the HEEBIE JEEBIES!  Just the thought of it!  ICK!  I prefer a nice Latte from Starbucks instead!

Does Santa wrap the presents or just set them under the tree. 

He wraps them. When the kids were little, Santa didn’t wrap, but somehow that changed over the last few years!  Santa wraps everything now.  I love to wrap so it works out great for me!

Colored or white lights on the tree/house?

All white lights on the house outside, and on all of our trees and garland inside.  I have kind of a red/white Christmas theme in the house, so colored lights wouldn’t work too well.

Do you hang mistletoe?

I never have!  Weird!  Maybe I should this year!

When do you decorate?

The day after Thanksgiving!  Tradition!  Although this year I had to work, so I didn’t get started until Friday night!  I’m kind of anal about decorating too.  I like to do it all myself!  The kids do their tree, and Carl does the lights outside and puts up the HUGE tree in the living room, but the rest is all mine!  And I LOVE IT! 

What is your favorite holiday dish?

Hmmmmmm… hard decision!  I have a few!  My mom makes this yummy potato dish every year for Christmas dinner.  They are called lots of different things Company Potatoes, Funeral Potatoes, or if you are from Utah, Mormon Potatoes! LOL!  On Christmas Eve after Mass, and visiting with Carl’s family, we usually end up at our friends The Ringheimer’s house, and they always have this yummy roasted red pepper/mushroom/olive oil dish that is amazing!  AND of course I can’t forget the yummy breakfast casserole that we have on Christmas morning.  Random choices, I know!  I’m not a real dessert eater!

Favorite Holiday memory as a child?

So many!  Probably my favorite would be trying to stay up all night with my brothers!  My parents would let my brothers and I sleep in their bed when we werel little, while they stayed up and waited for santa.  They would sleep in my brother’s twin beds :)!  We would try and stay up as late as we could to see if we could hear Santa.  We used to laught and giggle all night!  Eventually, we would fall asleep only to wake up around 4:00 am to start bugging my parents to let us get up and see what Santa brought!

How and when did you learn the truth about Santa?

I can’t really remember!  I think I still believe!

Do you open gifts on Christmas Eve? 

We open one gift and it is always pajamas!

What kind of cookies do you set out for Santa on Christmas Eve?

We usually buy sugar cookies for Santa, which we did last night!  And we always leave a glass of milk, or a bottle of coke (when we can find bottles!)

Snow! Love it or hate it?

I LOVE it on Christmas!  My ideal would be to have snow from Thanksgiving through New Years!  And then on January 2nd… bring on the warm balmy weather!  I don’t think we’ll have a white Christmas this year.  The weather has been soooooo nice the last few days!  Must be what you Californians have at Christmas!  Temps in the mid to upper 50’s!

Can you ice skate?

Yes!  Not very well, but my friend’s Amy & Ilona and I took ice skating lessons a few years ago!  Fun times!

Do you remember your favorite gift? 

I ‘ve had some great gifts!  When I was younger…. the year I got skiis, or the year I got a phone for my room… or the year I got those awesome blue clogs that I just had to have! I even opened that package and peeked to make SURE I was getting them! LOL! As an adult, I don’t really care about getting gifts… the best gift is giving presents to my kids and watching their faces when I’ve picked out just the right thing!

What’s your favorite holiday dessert?

I’m not really a huge dessert eater!  I’m weird, I know!  BUT, my Mom makes these awesome chocolate cookies every year at Christmas!  They are my favorite and are a tradition for sure! Mom, if you are reading this, you better get baking those cookies! 🙂 And my late sister-in-law Anne, was known for her sugar cookies!  She made them every year for us for Christmas!  Chris, if you’re reading this, HAVE YOU BAKED THOSE COOKIES YET?  ;)!

What’s your favorite holiday tradition?

Carl and I give the kids (and my niece Erin) a new Hallmark ornament every year!  The kids have thier own tree that they put their ornaments on.  We had to upgrade to a bigger tree last year, because they have quite the collection now that they are 13 & 16!  Another favorite tradition is going to Mass on Christmas Eve as a family!  Reminds us of the reason for the season!

What is your favorite Christmas Carol?

So many favorites. I can’t name just one!  I love "Mary’s Boy Child Jesus" (not sure of the real title!) Winter Wonderland, really all of the classics!  And I LOVE, LOVE Feliz Navidad!  I know, I know, that is just weird!  BUT it ALWAYS makes happy to sing along with it! 

Are they fake or real? Er, I mean…What type of tree? 

Well that’s kind of personal!  LOL!  Our trees are all fake, BUT my ‘girls’ are REAL! 🙂

And now I am going to tag Angie and Katherine, two great girls!  Angie, you better update your blog woman!  And Katherine, LOVE the target UGGS!  CUTE!