A Very Merry Christmas Survey

Merry Christmas Eve from the MCM Mama household. I couldn’t resist a quick little survey I saw on Jill Conyer’s blog about how we celebrate the holidays.

Egg Nog or hot chocolate?
I love them both, but at Christmas, I prefer Egg Nog. Especially if it’s got a little something special in it.

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Santa only brings one present per person and it’s always wrapped. He even has his own paper.

Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Colored on the tree (it came “pre-lit”) and we’ve never strung lights on the house. (The top picture is my parents’ house. My dad loves to decorate.) For a lot of years, we had a moving, light up reindeer on our porch. It made it really easy for people to find our house in the winter…

Do you hang mistletoe?
No.

When do you hang your decorations up?
That totally depends. Usually at Thanksgiving. This year? Umm, I’m decorating today.

What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Pickled herring. Probably because I only get to eat it every 2-3 years when we are home for the holidays.

Favorite holiday memory as a child?
Coming home from church on Christmas Eve to a tree surrounded by presents.

What is on your Christmas wish-list?
A healthy family. This has been a rough fall/winter.

Do you open a gifts on Christmas Eve?
Growing up we did. Beer Geek prefers Christmas Day, so that’s what we do when we aren’t in Wisconsin. Funny story: I always thought the Christmas Eve thing was a German tradition. I finally asked my Grandmother about it a couple of years ago. Turns out, we open presents on Christmas eve because when my mom was growing up, the men all had to milk the cows on Christmas morning…

How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
All of our ornaments are either hand made or have some significance to us.

This year’s addition…

Snow? Love it or dread it?
I love it when we are in Wisconsin. They know how to handle it and it’s a good snow to play in most of the time. In Virginia, it’s either icy or sloppy and the roads suck.

Real tree or fake tree?
Fake. I’m allergic, so unless I want to scratch my eyes out or sound like someone you’d talk to on a 900 line, fake is where it’s at.

What’s the most important thing about Christmas for you?
Family and tradition.

What is your favorite holiday dessert?
My grandmother’s sour cream Christmas cookies, followed closely by date balls and rum balls.

What is your favorite tradition?
When we are with my family, opening presents when we get home from church on Christmas eve. We stay up too late and eat too much and it’s just wonderful. When we are at home, decorating the tree with the boys.

What tops your tree?
An angel that was given to us as a wedding present.

Which do you prefer, giving or receiving?
I love giving gifts to the boys. I try to find just the perfect things for them.

What is your favorite Christmas song?
I’m not a huge fan of Christmas music, but I love to hear Silent Night on Christmas Eve, especially if it’s sung in German.

Candy canes, yuck or yum?
Meh. I’m neutral on these.

Favorite Christmas Movie?
Toss up between A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation.

What do you leave for Santa?
Beer and cookies. (Is anyone really surprised?)

Do you have a Christmas morning tradition?
Not really.

Do you prefer to shop online or at the mall?
This year I did all of my shopping online. I used to love the mall, but I can’t remember the last time I went to one…

Christmas letter or Christmas card?
Card. I love to hear about all of our friends, but I’ve never really been motivated to write on.