Get to know you...Christmas Style!

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your blogger friends. I got this from Black Labs and Lilly and just had to do it...because if you haven't noticed, I love Christmas! Here's what you're supposed to do...copy this entire post and paste into a new post on your blog. Change all the answers so that they apply to you.This is not a Meme or a Tag. You simply play along if you wish to. Or just read the answers!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper for sure! Spending time wrapping presents and picking out bow and ribbons really puts me in the holiday spirit! I don't mind bags for birthday presents but I always wrap for Christmas!

2. Real tree or Artificial? This is the first year I got my own tree and it's fake. My parents have a fake tree as well but they have gotten real ones in the past. I like both but you can't beat the convenience of the fakes.

3. When do you put up the tree? No real specific time...this year we did it the weekend after Thanksgiving (my apartment tree and my parents were actually put up on the same day.) For many years our Jewish neighbors have helped us decorate my parents tree while we eat Chinese food. It's a lot of fun.

4. When do you take the tree down? It varies...since this is my first year with my own I'll probably take it down New Years weekend.

5. Do you like eggnog? I think I have made that clear! :)

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I got a lot of awesome gifts but one that I remember being really excited about was when I got the "look like you" American Girl doll, I already had Samantha so I was surprised to get another.

7. Hardest person to buy for?My dad

8. Easiest person to buy for?My Sister

9. Do you have a nativity scene? My parents have a couple but I don't have my own. I really like one of my mom's that is wooden and people look like puzzles...it sounds weird but it actually looks good.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? It's a tie...when I was about 12 my aunt (dad's sister who is totally nuts) gave me and my sister these poofy dresses. They looked like something a 2 year old would wear but they were our size. We had a lot of fun taking weird pictures in them so it wasn't all that bad! The other would have to be a shirt from Abercrombie that one of my friends in high school gave me. It wasn't a bad shirt but she told me how she shoplifted it and I felt so strange having it. I'm a goody goody.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story...I basically have it memorized.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Mid-December normally.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Nope...but I am pretty sure once I got a recycled gift card from a relative.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Sugar cookies with sprinkles.

16. Lights on the tree? Yes, white ones.

17. Favorite Christmas song? "Do They Know It's Christmas?" I know it's weird but I love it. As far as traditional songs I love "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and "Oh Holy Night."

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?I guess now I technically travel 20 minutes to my parents but I think of it as staying home. Our extended family is really spread out so normally it's just us and my grandparents (who are not coming this year.) When I was very young we used to go to my grandparents house but as we got older us kids liked staying home so my grandparents would come to us.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes, but I call one Donner and K says it's really Donder. I like Donner better. (UPDATED: last night we googled this (I wrote this post yesterday) and I am right!)

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? My parents have this really goofy angel who used to hold a star but the star part broke and now it's just the angel. She kind of looks like a cabbage patch doll. Weird, but tradition. For my tree I got a sparkly star.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Morning...but we do open our PJs and ornament Christmas Eve.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Traffic and crowds!

23. Favorite ornament, theme, or color? My parents give us an ornament every year so those are all really fun to look back and remember what event or activity prompted that ornament for that year. But my favorite ornaments are some of the ones my mom got when she lived in Germany...they all have little stories that go along with them.

24. Favorite for Christmas Dinner? We don't really have Christmas Dinner. My parents host a small a party on Christmas Eve with neighbors and friends, then we eat big breakfast Christmas morning. In past years my mom has made breakfast casserole and monkey bread but this year we are going to a diner and I think that will be fun too. For dinner we usually have something easy and that can be semi-made ahead so my mom can relax. We have had everything from crab cakes to lasagna to just eating leftovers from the night before!

25. What do you want to do for Christmas this year? The same thing I do every year!

26. Favorite Christmas tradition growing up? Christmas is the one holiday where my family has very set things we always do so I have a lot of favorite traditions...but one would be the Christmas pajamas. Every year my siblings and I get new Christmas pajamas on Christmas eve and basically wear them all day on Christmas while we hang around the house watching movies. Last year K got them too so my brother finally had someone to match with. This year I helped my mom pick them out and we got ones for my mom and dad too.

27. Favorite tradition now? Being the "elf." My mom always works very hard to "make Christmas happen" and last year everyone was asleep or going to sleep (including my dad) and I could hear her struggling to bring the presents up from their hiding spots and doing the stockings all alone so I went and helped her. I never thought I would want to do that (and ruin the surprise in the morning) but it's fun to make Christmas happen and now she calls me the elf!

28. Favorite Christmas Memory? This is hard because I have a lot, so I'll go with the completely non-traditional Christmas I had my senior year of college. My parents decided to take us on a cruise instead of giving us Christmas presents so we were at sea on Christmas Eve then in Honduras at the beach on Christmas. I wouldn't want to skip out on traditional Christmas every year but it was neat to do something different! The ship was all decorated for Christmas and they worked in a lot of holiday shows and activities.