Christmas Tag

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate, always. Occasionally tasty with peppermint or raspberry flavoring, always better with whipped cream. The best I've ever had was the kind Grandma made in a saucepan on the stove with actual cocoa powder and whole milk. Mmmm.

2. Wrap presents or bag them? I do both. It depends on the shape of the gift.

3. Colored lights or white? We have white lights on our tree and colored lights outside. I like both, but I'm still on the fence about the new LED lights - their colors seem a little vibrant.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, but not for any real reason. Where would I get mistletoe, anyway?

5. When do you decorate? Usually right after Thanksgiving. The day after is best because Dan's home from work to drag everything upstairs.

6. Favorite holiday dish? This is tough...I like plum pudding, but miss Grandma's candies. I make pepperkakor cookies (which are a kind of Swedish ginger cookie), and they're a decent stand-in.

7. When and how did you learn about Santa? No idea. I'm sure that Andrea probably told me - or maybe it was Jen?

8. How do you decorate your tree? When we were first married, we used the "purple" theme leftover from our wedding reception. Now we have enough unique ornaments that it's a more eclectic, non-themed tree. It's more special this way.

9. Snow - love it or dread it? I love it in the abstract, and from underneath several blankets on the couch, but dread it the rest of the time. It is such a mess, it gets everything wet, and there is NOTHING worse than stepping in an unexpected cold puddle.

10. Can you ice skate? Yes. Not very well, which is too bad considering the lessons I took with my friend Renee. I even had professionally made skates, which (2 babies and a few pounds later) are now too small. Some of it has to do with my gimpy feet.

11. Do you remember your favorite gift? I think the most memorable gift I received was the Samantha doll I got when I was about 9 years old. (She's one of the American Girl dolls, and is being retired this year.)

12. What is the most important part of the holidays? Remembering - and acting like - the Savior.

13. Favorite holiday dessert? See above.

14. Favorite memory? I loved Christmas with Andrea when we were little. I liked that we always had a fire in the fireplace. It was also one of the few times during the year that I'd usually see Uncle Fuzz. Looking back, I remember Uncle Elwood calling me "Betsy" and giving me $5, and then he'd tell me to go to McDonald's with it.

15. Do you have a special ornament? Well, I have lots of them for my kids, and they mean a lot to me. There was one that Merilee Otto gave us when we were married with our names on it...that was sweet, too.

16. What do you do on Christmas Eve? As Andrea mentioned, we usually go to my Mom's house and do a big Mexican dinner. To celebrate our Northern European heritage. It is universally tasty.

17. If you could have anything for Christmas what would it be? All of my family and friends here at the same time.

18. What do you do for your friends/neighbors for Christmas? It's usually an assortment of cookies. Once in a while I will put in an extra - an ornament, towels, etc. I know, time to get off the Creativity Train!

I tag...umm...well, if you haven't done this yet, then post now!