THE 2012 CHRISTMAS GENEAMEME
1.
Do you have any special Xmas traditions in your family? I wrap so each person gets their own color
wrapping paper. No labels, no bows. I
put one wrapped present in their stocking so they know which color is theirs
each year. Also, I think it’s unique that we all manage to get-together, normally on
Christmas Day – over 20 people make the effort.
2.
Is church attendance an important part of your Christmas
celebrations and do you go the evening before or on Xmas Day? Yes, went to church as children and
still do. This year we are attending our
daughter’s church, they have a live nativity scene.
3.
Did/do you or your children/grandchildren believe in Santa? We did and our kids
did. A 5th grade teacher told
my daughter, I was furious.
4.
Do you go carolling in your neighbourhood? My daughters were part of a father
daughter group and later a father son group.
They sang at nursing homes.
5.
What’s your favourite Christmas music? I’m happy with any songs.
6.
What’s your favourite Christmas carol? Does Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for
Christmas is You” count? It’s my current
favorite.
7.
Do you have a special Xmas movie/book you like to watch/read? I LOVE the movie, “Love Actually. “ (Yes
my favorite “carol” is in it!)
8.
Does your family do individual gifts, gifts for littlies
only, Secret Santa (aka Kris
Kringle)? At Thanksgiving we draw names, so each person buys for only one
other person. We also are given lists of things they want, but we can buy
something not on the list. Very organized. There are over 20 of us, so it takes
a very long time to open.
9.
Is your main Christmas meal indoors or outdoors, at home or
away? Always inside – it’s very cold here in Chicago.
10. What do you eat
as your main course for the Christmas meal? If at my house, it’s ham, at my
mom’s or sister’s it’s roast beef.
11. Do you have a
special recipe you use for Xmas? Cookies, cookies cookies.
12. Does Christmas
pudding feature on the Xmas menu? Is it your recipe or one you inherited? Nope
13. Do you have any
other special Christmas foods? What are they?
Lots of munchies while opening presents, a big dinner and my mom
makes a delicious rum pudding with raspberry sauce we eat with my Christmas
cookies.
14. Do you give
home-made food/craft for gifts at Christmas? Cookies
15. Do you return
to your family for Xmas or vice versa? Yes, over 20 of us. My mom and my
brother and sister and all our families.Now, I especially enjoy celebrating with grandkids. We make time for a second get-together for our 12.
16. Is your
Christmas celebrated differently from your childhood ones? If yes, how does it
differ? Still the same.
17. How do you
celebrate Xmas with your friends? Lunch? Pre-Xmas outings? Drop-ins? A variety of
get-togethers, dinners, lunches, parties.
18. Do you decorate
your house with lights? A little or a lot?
My husband decorates with thousands of lights outside. It’s the brightest house on the block.
19. Is your
neighbourhood a “Xmas lights” tour venue? No, but the associations rents a horse and wagon for rides around the subdivision one night to see the lights.
20. Does your
family attend Carols by Candlelight singalongs/concerts? Where? Our Christmas
church always ends with a candlelight carol.
21. Have any of
your Christmases been spent camping (unlikely for our northern-hemisphere
friends)? Nope – I’m in the northern hemisphere.
22. Is Christmas
spent at your home, with family or at a holiday venue? Until a couple of
years ago, it was always at my mom’s.
Now my sister and I split. This
year her place, next year ours.
23. Do you have
snow for Christmas where you live? Yes, lots. When we spent Christmas with my husband’s
family in Buffalo, we could get 3-5 feet!
24. Do you have a
Christmas tree every year? Yes
25. Is your
Christmas tree a live tree (potted/harvested) or an imitation? When the kids lived at home we always
chopped down a tree with friends, saw Mrs. Santa Claus and went out to dinner,
the day after Thanksgiving. Once they went to college, we got an imitation and
decorated it while they were home for Thanksgiving, which we do with the
grandkids. Our tree has many ornaments
on the bottom branches and pretty bare up above, because all of our decorators
are under 5. But I love it and wouldn’t
change a thing.
26. Do you have
special Xmas tree decorations? Yes, we have vintage
ornaments from my in-laws, and my husband and I have been buying each other
ornaments that represent something that happened that year. Many times it’s a vacation theme. We did the same for the kids, but gave them theirs the year they got married.
27. Which is more
important to your family, Christmas or Thanksgiving? Pretty even but
probably Christmas.
I love the idea that each person has their own color of wrapping paper. What a cute idea!
ReplyDeleteMy mom did in for her three kids. Red, green and blue. I expanded to everyone.
DeleteLove your answer: "Cookies, Cookies, Cookies." I remember making lots of different kinds of cookies, a tradition started by my grandmother.
ReplyDeleteMom used to make cookies, but started making the rum pudding instead. I already loved to make cookies during the year, so I took over. Yesterday I made 350! Mostly for gifts.
DeleteI thoroughly enjoyed your responses...wish I could taste that rum pudding with raspberry sauce. We do our Secret Santa a similar way but with fewer people it’s not too secret :)
ReplyDeleteI run against the tide with Love Actually...it’s a movie I REALLY dislike. I should think about why that is since I seem to be the anomaly.
Thanks for replying. I think people have extreme reactions on that movie. I tend to like the "5 degree of separation" themed movies like this and 4 weddings and a funeral etc. Where the waiter in one scene is the major character 4 scenes later, but the characters don't know what a "small world it is."
ReplyDelete