It is Angie's fault, she posted about this first. I was going to let it go but then her husband, Jim had to chime in with his two cents worth in his post. So here are my answers to 25 questions having to do with the holiday season...Thanks to both Angie and Jim for helping to get me in the right frame of mind for this exercise.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Whatever I can get the store clerks to do for me. I have the wrapping skills of a gnat.
2. Real tree or artificial?
Real...I prefer real trees and I have this cool gimbeled tree stand that makes setting the tree up straight and watering it real easy. Can you say "engineer" boys and girls??
3. When do you put up the tree?
In my view, the tree goes up sometime Thanksgiving weekend and should come down right around New Years...any longer and a real tree becomes just a huge fire hazard.
5. Do you like eggnog?
Not on your life...I'd rather drink lighter fluid.
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
My first 35mm camera...it was a hand-me-down from my father and it just totally ignited my love of photography.
7. Hardest person to buy for?
My Mom
8. Easiest person to buy for?
My brother, Jeff
9. Do you have a nativity scene?
Not anymore.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Card? Do you really expect me to send out a card? Are you insane? Your lucky to get a phone call from me...okay, seriously, I'm working on getting better with the whole sending out actual, hand written, put a postage stamp on it, drive to Post Office and drop it in a mailbox (especially now that I'm an ID). This year the plan is to send out a real card to everyone.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
On the advice of council, I'm taking the Fifth on this one.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
I've got two...first, "A Christmas Story" (you might know it as the "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" Movie). Next, "Love Actually"...maybe a bit unusual selection for a Christmas movie, but that it what I'm going with.
13. When do you start shopping?
Each year I swear I'll do better and this year I have, I actually found a couple of gifts for folks during the year that were perfect for them, so I already got them. My personal record happened the year the airline lost all my luggage on the way to Maine and I found myself in LL Bean at 2:30 am on Christmas morning buying toiletries, clothes, and presents. Yup, that year, I did nearly all my Christmas shopping in LL Bean (at the time, the store in Freeport was open 24/7, 365 days a year...thank goodness), besides nothing screams "Merry Christmas" (and I'm a loser that was too cheap to pay for UPS before hand) like a pair of Duck Boots.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Yes, but in my defense, it was from one of those White Elephant gift exchanges at one of the many Toastmasters holiday parties I attended in a given season. I took the gift I got at one of them and gave it at the next exchange. (Angie...your response "nailed it"...no, it isn't wrong).
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
When I worked at TruTrus, Gordon's (a team member that used to telecommute from his home in Belfast, ME) wife always made the most amazing Lobster Pinwheels and send them down for the team here in Phoenix. Nobody else liked them, but being the good Maine native that I am, I just gobbled them right up. Another favorite is my made from scratch cranberry sauce...I shared the recipe in a November 2007 post.
16. Lights on the tree?
Lights...white only please.
17. Favorite Christmas song?
Anymore, I can't stand holiday songs...they hit the air way too early for my taste. If I have to pick then I'm going to go with “Carol of the Bells”.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
This year, it will be a stay at home holiday. Previous years have been a whirlwind tour of the United States, so either way will work for me.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's?
Thanks to the childhood brainwashing...Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
One present for each one of us on Christmas Eve, then all the rest on Christmas morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Those incessant fake commercials that bombard us from all angles. Totally not what Christmas is about...
23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
My favorite is the lighthouse that plugs into the light string and lights up.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
Ham...nothing beat my Grandmother's ham...
25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
Gee, since you asked...you can never go wrong with Red Sox gear, cigars, or camera equipment, or anything that would get me one step closer to one of my dream jobs.
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