An Ivey Christmas Meme

I swiped this little list from my girl Minority Report. I usually don't do memes but I am totally in the Christmas spirit!

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Why choose?! I'll put hot chocolate in eggnog, and eggnog in hot chocolate. However, that will increase the size of my ass faster than Santa slidin' down a chimney. Therefore, I usually only drink eggnog once or twice the entire Christmas season and I spice it up with a little rum. Hot chocolate is an all winter treat so I don't go out of my way to have it during the Holidays.

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? I assume this is actually a question for people with kids but since I don't have any, I'll use my own childhood. Santa pretty much wrapped any present that was wrappable. He didn't wrap the saddle or the pony. That would've been cruel.

Colored lights on tree/house or white? Once again, I'm a both kinda gal. In the formal areas of my house I'm all about the white lights with silver and gold decorations. (My guess is y'all will get a glimpse of that this coming HNT.) But I also do a tree in our den where we put all the ornaments we collect on our travels as well as the goofier ones (I've got the coolest red guitar ornament that reminds me of Vince!) and that tree gets colored lights.

Do you hang mistletoe? Good lord, no. I remember pretty much the most obnoxious Christmas behaviors always seem to involve booze and mistletoe so I try to manage risk by cutting the greenery (since the booze ain't goin' nowhere.)

When do you put your decorations up? As soon after Thanksgiving as I can, but usually the first or second weekend in December. I used to wait until mid-December. See, I was one of those sad little kids who didn't get to have birthday parties or birthday gifts because "we'll get ya somethin' extra nice for Christmas" so I insisted on waiting until after my birthday before moving on to celebrating the birth of the baby Jesus. Anywhoo, I finally realized this is a stupid thing to do. I love decorating, I love Christmas, I love trees and baking and lights and music and all of that. Putting it off just denied me the extra wonderfulness!

What is your favorite holiday dish? I don't think I have a favorite holiday dish because we don't have any special holiday foods.

Favorite Holiday memory as a child? It's really kind of a group memory. I grew up with a huge extended family of aunts, uncles, grandparents, great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cousins, etc. etc. Every year we had our family Christmas party at someone's house (it changed every year) and we'd all get together for a huge dinner and to exchange presents. We didn't have any sense either. We didn't draw names or anything, you gave presents to everyone. Of course, no one had any money so we often made our presents. I romanticize it now, there were actually lots of things happening that weren't so magical or special, but as a child I didn't know about any of the not-so-good, so the memories are pure gold.

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? On year my mother turned to me and said, you're too old to believe in Santa, right? I just nodded my head even though I found this a bit hard to believe. I know I was either 6 or 7 because we still lived in the trailer.

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Again, going back to childhood, yes, the family presents but they wasn't necessarily on Christmas eve. Sometimes the party was a few days earlier. We always opened "regular" presents on Christmas day. Now, Vince and I exchange our own presents on Christmas morning and everyone else whenever we see them.

Snow! Love it or Dread it? You're talking to a Florida native here, folks. I didn't even SEE snow for the first time until I was 18. Personally, I'm torn. I love the look of fresh snow BUT I HATE to be cold and I'm not a fan of the trouble that snow brings like shoveling sidewalks and scraping ice off the windshield.

Can you ice skate? Again, see above. Not a lot of ice skating opportunities growing up here.

Do you remember your favorite gift? Boy do I ever! And yes, this is a walking talking cliche, but I got a pony when I was ten years old. I will never, ever forget waking up that morning, seeing the saddle under the tree and suddenly putting two and two together as I ran outside screaming. I had the most beautiful black pony with a white star any little girl could ever imagine. She and I went on to win a few dressage tournaments.

What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? The spirit of love, joy, and compassion. Ah, you're going to get me all misty here. Sadly, we don't get much of that around here.

What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? It's not really a dessert but I could seriously drink eggnog until I exploded. I just love the thick, sweet, creamy goodness of it, and it's really only available this time of year.

What is your favorite holiday tradition? Sigh. Vince and I don't have any. We both have pretty territorial families and most every year he and I spend it trying to keep every one else happy by running all over God's green acre trying to make sure they get to have all of THEIR traditions met. Maybe that is our tradition?

Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving, giving, giving! But I have to admit I like giving things to either people who don't know I'm giving them something (I always find a family, preferably one with kids, that I buy gifts for) or people who appreciate gifts. See, I think you should give someone a gift that means something coming from you, that says something about the person or your relationship with them. If someone hands me a "gimme list" that just sucks the fuckin' joy out of it. If you just want money, fuckin' say so. I'll give you that pretty much any time of the year. But let me enjoy searching for the right thing, seeing that little item and having that "aha! so-and-so would love this" moment. Otherwise I'm just your money mule. As for receiving, same thing. I love getting something that really shows the person knows me. If they don't know me well enough to be willing or able to know what I'd like, the seriously, I don't want anything from that person.

What is your favorite Christmas Song? I have two: Little Drummer Boy and Oh Holy Night. Little Drummer Boy is probably the favorite Christmas song of every musician, actor, and artist I know. (I'm getting weepy just typing this.) It's about giving all that you have, your talents, gifts, and abilities, to honor someone. Oh Holy Night is just the prettiest song I've ever heard.

Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Yummy. Though I don't eat them very often.

Favorite Christmas Show? If you mean a movie, sorry MR, but "It's a Wonderful Life." I love Jimmy Stewart. And the hapless Clarence still makes me giggle. If you mean something else then it's the Christmas show at Epcot. Every year at Epcot, they have a symphony, a bunch of choirs, and a celebrity guest who reads the Christmas story. The show takes place on the lake, across from the American Pavilion. It is magical. Nobody does Christmas like Disney. Nobody.

Saddest Christmas Song? "I'll be home for Christmas." Most folks don't realize it, but it's a war song that's delivered from the point of view of a soldier who ISN'T going to be home for Christmas; the very last line of the song is "I'll be home for Christmas.... if only in my dreams." But it also makes me think of what I wish our Christmas experience was like -- filled with warmth and humor and joy and generosity -- as opposed to what it is really like -- an ongoing tug of war and battle of wills in which Vince and I are the constant losers. It's true, I love Christmas, but there really isn't a damn good reason to.