Christmas meme
Shamelessly stolen from the lovely Jax.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Definitely wrapping paper. I’m hilariously bad at it, but that’s the fun of it. I seriously used like half a roll of sticky tape wrapping just a few presents this year, it was awesome. And then there’s the unwrapping, with the mahoosive piles of paper that appear in the 4.3 seconds between presents being under the tree and all of them being opened.
2. Real tree or Artificial?
Artificial. We’ve not bothered with real trees for a number of years now. They make such a mess with all the needles, and to be honest the smell of a real tree just gets on my nerves. And then there’s going out to somewhere that sells them, paying a stupid price for one and transporting it home. What’s the point? Now we just have an artificial one that lives in the loft and comes down once a year. There’s probably a joke in there about domestic imprisonment, fill it in for yourselves.
3. When do you put up the tree?
Around a week before the day itself, though this year it was a little earlier, as evidenced by the fact that it was already up when I arrived home from university last week.
4. When do you take the tree down?
I believe we usually take it down on New Year’s Day, maybe a couple of days before. Certainly, it comes down before the start of the school term in the first full week of January.
5. Do you like egg nog?
I’ve never had it. It seems to be a uniquely American obsession, with the tipple of choice in our house being sherry and brandy. I do have a couple of bottles of Swedish cider, though, so they’ll be what I’ll have with my turkey dinner.
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Oooooh, a difficult one. I can’t remember most of my Christmas gifts before, well, a couple of years ago really. I guess I’d have to say my iPod Touch from two years ago, which is probably the only thing that I have ever received for Christmas apart from clothing that I still use today.
7. Hardest person to buy for?
I don’t usually have problems with buying presents, actually. I certainly didn’t this year, I pretty much got everything in one go off of Amazon.
8. Easiest person to buy for?
My dad. Pretty much every year I just buy him a music DVD from an old rock band.
9. Do you have a nativity scene?
We’re a completely secular family, so go figure. It’s not something that’s done over here, much like egg nog. Primary school children will put on a nativity play once a year, but I don’t know if that’s a purely British tradition.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Always mail. For me, e-mail is used almost exclusively for really unexciting things, so any cards I send are through the good old postal system.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Any of the novelty gifts that one inevitably gets. It’s fun for a few seconds when you’re younger, but now they’re just pointless. This year’s selection consisted of novelty Christmas socks, 100 cards with money-making tips and, I quote, a ‘chainsaw pizza cutter’ (to be honest the latter is pretty cool and I could potentially use it, but the others…?)
12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
Probably The Nightmare Before Christmas. I only saw it for the first time this week (I literally have no idea how I never saw it until now), but it’s pretty much the only film primarily about Christmas that I like. Incidentally, I’ve also never seen Die Hard. Again, no idea how that happened.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
December. I almost exclusively buy online nowadays, so I have to get everything with plenty of time to spare. Even more so, this year, because of the snow and ice that the UK has been struggling through.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Oh, never. I always buy new presents for people.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
So many things. xD Roast turkey is the traditional Christmas meal over here, not goose, and I love it. Christmas also seems to be the only time where it’s acceptable to eat huge amounts of stuffing, which I also love. Mince pies, too, especially as my mother usually makes some herself (not this year – instead she made shortbread biscuits which are equally delicious). And also the obscene amounts of chocolate you receive. <3
16. Lights on the tree?
Every year. This year they’re the only Christmas lights we have anywhere on our house. We’ve never gone all out with a gaudy Christmas display, and thank god, because they look awful.
17. Favorite Christmas song?
There is only one possible choice – Fairtytale of New York by The Pogues and the late Kirsty MacColl. All other choices are invalidated and your opinion is irrelevant.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
We’ve always stayed at home, because my mother cooks for us, my grandmother and my aunt and uncle. I can’t stand the idea of going away on holiday for Christmas.
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
In short, no.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
An angel. It compliments all the frilly decorations we have on the tree. I should take a photo really.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Always on Christmas morning. That’s how it’s done by nearly everyone over here in Britainland, and that’s how we do it. You haven’t lived if you haven’t got up at four AM, tried to wake your parents up, been told to go back to bed and then repeated that every half hour.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Usually I’d say the manic shopping centres, full of people buying presents, but this year it was the weather. I’ve fallen on ice twice since returning from university, and it’s bloody hurt each time.
23. Favorite ornament, theme, or color?
Iunno, green? xD;
24. Favorite for Christmas Dinner?
Turkey is always our preferred meat, but as for my favourite part of the whole dinner? Probably parsnips. I AM NOT POSH, I SWEAR.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
A camcorder and/or a woollen long coat. The camcorder would be for recording video reviews, the coat for looking like Gene Hunt in Ashes to Ashes. Fanboy? What?
