Christmas Meme

Our Christmas tree, 2007Mark Safranski of Zenpundit has tagged me with something call “the Christmas mem”. For those of you who aren’t familiar with them (they seemed more popular a couple of years ago than they are now) these are games of a sort. In this case the rules are

  1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
  2. Share Christmas facts about yourself.
  3. Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
  4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here goes.

1. Wrapping or gift bags?

Both. Wrapping presents is very important to my wife. Indeed, one year I bought a book on Japanese present wrapping techniques and that year a good part of my present to her was the wrapping of the presents.

2. Real or artificial tree?

Real. Definitely.

3. When do you put up the tree?

Generally, about two weeks before Christmas. That’s our tree up there on the left. You can click on it for a larger image.

4. When do you take the tree down?

Epiphany.

5. Do you like egg nog?

Yes, very much, with or without nog. I’m careful enough about my waistline that I do my best to consume it in extreme moderation.

Someday I’ll perfect a good egg nog recipe. Until then I like Oberweis’s Egg Nog.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?

Hard to say. Probably a red Schwinn two-wheeled adult bicycle. I rode it for years until I got a bicycle with three gears. I think it’s still hanging in my mom’s garage.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?

Yes and it’s a very lovely one that we searched for for a long time before deciding on it. It’s made of majolica and I believe is American-made. Here it is:
Nativity scene

The tallest figure, Joseph, is just under 4 inches tall.

8. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?

I’ve never received a bad present. I think it may be a matter of attitude.

9. Mail or email Christmas cards?

Mail. We don’t send a lot out—mostly out-of-town family and friends. And we’ve been making our own Christmas cards for, well, decades. Maybe I’ll post the picture we used in a later post.

10. Favorite Christmas Movie?

Hard to pick as I’m something of an afficianado of Christmas movies. I’ve always had a soft spot for an odd little picture called Beyond Tomorrow although I couldn’t call it my favorite. Maybe the British version of A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim, Scrooge although I like the Hollywood Reginold Owen one, too.

11. When do you start shopping for Christmas?

I start looking a couple of months before Christmas. If I’m lucky I’ll have done my shopping by Thanksgiving. Otherwise I may drag it out to the very end.

I used to be a confirmed Christmas Eve shopper but eventually that just got too draining.

12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

I love really good fruit cake. The only really good fruit cake I seem to get these days is the cake I make myself.

13. Clear lights or colored on the tree?

Clear. Italian lights. Do you know why they call them “Italian lights”?

14. Travel at Christmas or stay home?

I really don’t care to travel at Christmas.

15. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning?

Morning.

16. Most annoying thing about this time of year?

a) That it starts at or before Thanksgiving
b) The horrible temper so many people seem to be in.

Do I really need to tag someone else? Oh, well. Maybe they’ll forgive me.

Callimachus at Done With Mirrors

Dean Esmay of Dean’s World

James Joyner of Outside the Beltway

John Burgess of Crossroads Arabia

Michael Van Der Galië of PoliGazette

Cernig of NewHoggers

TigerHawk

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