A Christmas Meme (combined)

I've combined two meme's. One from All Because I Fell in Love and one from Farm Fresh.


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? If it's a "regular" shaped present, I'll wrap it...if not it goes in a gift bag.

2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial

3. When do you put up the tree? The weekend after Thanksgiving...except for this year I put it up the weekend before just to get it done.

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually the weekend after New Years.

5. Hot chocolate or apple cider? Apple Cider

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Nothing stands out in my mind...that's horrible!

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes

8. Hardest person to buy for? Mel

9. Easiest person to buy for? K

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? Once again, nothing stands out in my mind.

11. Mail or e-mail Christmas card? MAIL

12. Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Story

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I catch sales throughout the year.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Who hasn't?

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? The peanut butter cookies with the kisses in them.

16. Clear lights or colored? Clear

17. Favorite Christmas songs? O Holy Night

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Depends on the weather...

19. Can you name Santa's reindeer? Yes

20. Angel or star on top of the tree? Neither...it's a Santa.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Depends where we are Christmas Eve. If at home, we open one present and then the rest Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Crowds!!!

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I'm really into the light blue and red combo.

24. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Egg Nog...but the salted carmel hot chocolate from Starbucks is pretty tasty.

25.Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrap

26. Do you hang mistletoe? No

27. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? There is something other than desserts????

28.When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember

29. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? White lights, Hallmark Santa and Mischievous kitten ornaments, family ornaments and some colored balls. A santa on top because I have never found an angel or star that I really liked.

30. Snow. Love it or dread it? Had my share of it growing up in IL. Don't care if I ever see another snow shovel...

31. Can you ice skate? Yep

32. What is the most important thing about the holidays to you? Being with family/friends.

33. What is your favorite holiday tradition? The Advent calendar

34. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Both

35. Candy Canes. Yum or Yuck? Yuck...unless they're crushed on peppermint bark!

36. What do you want for Christmas? Amazon gift cards...I want to save up for a Dyson Animal and a new Nikon. Funky scarf, Definitely Maybe DVD and a K-cup holder/tower thing...

37. Do you attend an annual Christmas party? An annual party...no, but usually there's one or two that we are invited to (they just aren't an annual thing).

38. Do you dress up for Christmas Eve or wear PJ's? Depends where we are.

39. Do you own a Santa hat? Did...Added it to the donate bag this year...it never gets used.

40. Who do you normally spend Christmas with? S, K and whatever family we are with.


If you'd like to join in...you're tagged.

Clever Christmas gift idea...

At least I thought it was... A friend was telling me about a co-worker's Christmas tradition. The children get four gifts:

Something you Want
Something you Need
Something to Wear
Something to Read

In this world of crazy gift giving, I thought it was a great idea!

glam R baby

Noelle of glam R baby is giving away an awesome Halloween top. She's been designing some fierce products for a while, but she's a newbie to the blogging world. Go show her some love and sign up for a fabulous giveaway. Contest ends October 20th. Check her out on myspace....tons of pictures!

Ornament Exchange

PamperingBeki is hosting an ornament exchange. What fun this should be! Hurry, you must sign up by October 25th to participate.

What do y'all read?

Once K was old enough to pick out a book to read, the book of choice was Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel. Now I know how my mother felt! It didn't take too much of that to make us head to the library. Our library has a list of 30 titles every child should know. We own quite a few of them (listed in bold).

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
The Mitten by Jan Brett
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
Mr. Gumpy’s Outing by John Burningham
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Click, Clack, Moo, Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola
Olivia by Ian Falconer
Corduroy by Don Freeman
Owen by Kevin Henkes
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
Swimmy by Leo Lionni
Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin
Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss
Duck on a Bike by David Shannon
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
Lyle, Lyle Crocodile by Bernard Weber
Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
The Napping House by Audrey Wood
How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? By Jane Yolen
Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion

I'd of course like to add the previous mentioned Tikki, Tikki, Tembo along with:

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
The Cat In The Hat by Dr. Seuss
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
Frederick by Leo Lionni
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff

What do y'all read? Any MUST HAVE suggestions for a first grader?

Wordless Wednesday ~ A Dog's Life at Our House

We fry everything in Texas

I saw in the Dallas Morning News today that the winner of this year's State Fair fried food contest is chicken fried bacon....uck. That just sounds horribly disgusting to me. The fried grilled cheese or deep fried smores sound a little more appetizing. As for the fried Jelly Bellys, that just sounds like a waste of grease.