A Christmas survey

I saw this over at Carly's blog and I thought it would be fun to do it.  You should too!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper, but recently all of my gifts have been awkward sizes so I've had to do gift bags (they're still cute though!)

2. Real tree or Artificial? Definitely real.  I love the smell of them and the fun you have while hunting for the "perfect" tree.

  

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually around the first or second weekend of December.  I don't think my husband would let me do it any earlier.

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually after New Years.

5. Do you like eggnog? Sometimes.  I think it's great in latte form though!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? The doll house that I got when I was 5 or 6.  It was a plastic doll house for my little plastic dolls that I had.  Later it turned in to a great escape house for my Skipper & Kelly Barbie dolls to run away from home to (it was too big for Barbie).

7. Do you have a nativity scene? We don't have one at our house, but my parents have one and so do my grandparents. 

8. Hardest person to buy for? My dad and my in-laws.  It's so hard because we try to do homemade gifts and finding the right one can be a challenge! 

9. Easiest person to buy for? My brother and all of Nick's siblings.  I usually see things around waaayyy before Christmas time that remind me of them.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, of course!  I LOVE getting mail and sending them out is so much more meaningful.  I sometimes wish I could have another wedding just so that I can get all of those RSVPs in the mail!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Stuffed animal dogs.  They were cute, I'll admit it, but I was about 14 and I had "dog" on my Christmas list.  I really wanted a real dog (I'd never had one before) and my grandparents bought me some stuffed animals because I didn't specify whether or not it had to be real (even though they snickered afterwards).

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The ones that I really like are: Home Alone (1 & 2), Elf, The Christmas Story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and It's a Wonderful Life. 

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Whenever I think about it.  Sometimes this could be as early as summer time (if I see a good gift for a good price) or as late as December.

14. Ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't think I have, but I might have for a white elephant gift exchange.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Most things around Christmas time are delicious!  I especially love when we have the big Christmas gathering and everyone brings something different. We usually have an awesome cheese ball and my mom has been doing prime rib lately (YUM!).

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? It depends on the tree and the decorations I have around the house.  I usually like colored though.

17. Favorite Christmas song? My FAVORITE Christmas album is the Vince Guaraldi Trio's: A Charlie Brown Christmas.  It's so good and I love piano music/jazz.  I also really like White Christmas (the Bing Crosby and the Drifter's versions) and Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas album.  I'm not too big on new pop stuff.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? It would be nice to stay home (maybe when we have enough kids *wink*), but I also really love seeing all of my family.  The bummer part is that our families are on different sides of the mountain (in Washington).

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, but do you recall, the most famous reindeer of all?  And Rudolph! (I definitely cheated used that song to help me, haha!)

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? I like a star better.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Morning, but I do enjoy opening one on Christmas eve (especially if they're new PJs).

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Probably the stress and how busy everything gets.  

23. Favorite ornament, theme, or color? I like a lot of them, but I think my favorite is snow/silver with little hints of color here and there.

24. What do you want for Christmas this year?  I think.. new furniture!  But seriously, I would really like a bookcase because our library is growing! (YAY!)