The West Virginia Blogger tagged me with a meme that simply requires that I answer some questions about Christmas and me. I can do that.

1. Wrapping or gift bags? We don’t buy many gifts anymore, as a sort of a protest against commercialization. But those that we do buy, we wrap. I love to wrap!
2. Real or artificial Tree? My wife is a granola. Having an artificial tree allows us to help save the Earth. Or so the hope goes. We have a pink one. ;o)
3. When do you put up the tree? Sometime shortly after Thanksgiving.
4. When do you take down the tree? December 26^th.
5. Do you like egg nog? Just about as much as I like broken legs.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? At the risk of being stereotypical, a small electric train set when I was six. But I became quickly bored with going in a circle. Did you know that straightening track with a hammer damages it?
7. Do you have a nativity scene? No.
8. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? One of innumerable ties, sweaters, and socks. It’s hard to pick the worst out of that morass of bad gifts.
9. Mail or email cards? We make cards out of linen blanks by gluing festive photos that we have taken to the fronts. They are mailed, since stuffing them in any orifice of the computer just tends to ruin them.
10. Favorite Christmas Movie? Something involving Muppets, I suppose.
11. When do you start shopping for Christmas? We pick up things throughout the year as we find them. Very few things. My wife and I no longer exchange gifts; instead we buy things we decide we want, when we want them, when we have the money. Personally, I no longer accept gifts at Christmas.
12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Pickled herring and hard-boiled eggs with paprika and anchovies at Oma and Opa’s (my German in-laws).
13. Clear or colored lights on the tree? Colored, and not all that many. When you have a pink shiny tree, you don’t need many lights.
14. Favorite Christmas song(s)? Take Five by Dave Brubeck, Rock and Roll Girls by John Fogerty, Room to Move by John Mayall, and Pancho and Lefty by Willie Nelson.
15. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home. I can get in enough trouble here without going out.
16. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Why bother? Santa already did it.
17. Angel on the top of the tree? More or less.
18. Open Christmas presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Yes. We manage to spread all four gifts over about 36 hours.
19. Most annoying thing about this time of year? The word “Hallelujah.”
20. Do you decorate your tree in any specific theme? Is pink a theme?
21. What do you leave for Santa? Damned little.
22. Least favorites holiday song? Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, which plays endlessly between Thanksgiving and New Years.
23. Favorite ornament? I only really arrived in this portion of my life with one ornament. It has Kermit on it. I used to put a small cedar bough in a wine bottle and then put my Kermit ornament on it. Worked fine for seventeen years. No more. Please see above re: “Tree, pink, one each.”
24. Family tradition? Not getting weird about Christmas. That’s mine. It clashes fairly badly with the world around me. ;o)
25. Ever been to midnight mass or late-night Christmas services? Yes. They sang hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, etc, so I didn’t go back.
    

I will tag Yvonne, FruitFemme, Dana, and a cast of thousands. ;o)