It Came With Boxes, It Came With Tags...
(In case you're wondering, the title is a play on a line from "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss.)
Not long ago I managed to hurt Selba with my usual verbal carelessness (i.e. my big mouth). Now I've been reassured of our continuing web friendship by my being tagged yet again, this time for the following Christmas quiz:
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? I haven't even seen egg nog for years. Hot chocolate rocks!!!
2. Does Santa wrap the presents or just sit them under the tree? He most definitely wraps them. Or at least his elves do. I can't imaging his wrapping skills would be THAT bad!
3. Colored or white lights? Colored lights are an American invention. Need I say more?
4. Do you hang mistletoe? I haven't even seen mistletoe for years.
5. When do you put your decorations up? I usually dig the Christmas boxes out of the closet two weeks before Christmas.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? I always loved the seafood chowder my mother always made on Christmas Eve.
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Any Christmas I could spend with either set of grandparents.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? One of my friends showed me the "Santa" gifts (not very) cleverly hidden in his parents' bedroom closet. However, I still believe in Santa. The person may not be real, but the spirit most definitely is and always will be as long as Christmas (Yule, whatever) continues to have a special place in our hearts.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Absolutely. That has always been a family tradition.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? I have a collection of ornaments I have amassed since coming to Japan. Some of them are old ones from my childhood. Others are ones I've bought. The remainder have been given to me by various special people. Those are my favorites.
11. Snow: Love it or hate it? I love it until I have to drive in it. Then I loathe it.
12. Can you ice skate? I've only tried it once. I was able to do it, but...
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? My son was born only five days before Christmas, so I consider him a very special "early" Christmas present.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? That deep, hard-to-describe sense of warmth, the one that makes you remember all the people that are important in your life and fills you with the desire to share with them, either through your company or your gifts. In other words, all the things that DON'T exist in Japanese Christmas...
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Yes.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? The music. I used to love caroling back home, and I enjoy singing Christmas songs in my classes at the school.
17. What is on top of your tree? A silver star I bought at Honda Home Center for a few hundred yen.
18. Which do you like best giving or receiving? Definitely both, though giving leaves me feeling better afterward.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? “Stille Nacht” ("Silent Night"). When it comes to Christmas, I'm a traditionalist.
20. Do you like candy canes? Not as much as I used to. They're too much trouble to eat.
What the heck. I'll pass this tag on to:
Snabulus / Ladybug
Swinebread
Kami
Angele
Dewkid
This should make for some divergent views...if any of them do it...
Just for fun, I'll close this post with a view of the best home Christmas light display EVAR:
Not long ago I managed to hurt Selba with my usual verbal carelessness (i.e. my big mouth). Now I've been reassured of our continuing web friendship by my being tagged yet again, this time for the following Christmas quiz:
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? I haven't even seen egg nog for years. Hot chocolate rocks!!!
2. Does Santa wrap the presents or just sit them under the tree? He most definitely wraps them. Or at least his elves do. I can't imaging his wrapping skills would be THAT bad!
3. Colored or white lights? Colored lights are an American invention. Need I say more?
4. Do you hang mistletoe? I haven't even seen mistletoe for years.
5. When do you put your decorations up? I usually dig the Christmas boxes out of the closet two weeks before Christmas.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? I always loved the seafood chowder my mother always made on Christmas Eve.
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Any Christmas I could spend with either set of grandparents.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? One of my friends showed me the "Santa" gifts (not very) cleverly hidden in his parents' bedroom closet. However, I still believe in Santa. The person may not be real, but the spirit most definitely is and always will be as long as Christmas (Yule, whatever) continues to have a special place in our hearts.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Absolutely. That has always been a family tradition.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? I have a collection of ornaments I have amassed since coming to Japan. Some of them are old ones from my childhood. Others are ones I've bought. The remainder have been given to me by various special people. Those are my favorites.
11. Snow: Love it or hate it? I love it until I have to drive in it. Then I loathe it.
12. Can you ice skate? I've only tried it once. I was able to do it, but...
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? My son was born only five days before Christmas, so I consider him a very special "early" Christmas present.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? That deep, hard-to-describe sense of warmth, the one that makes you remember all the people that are important in your life and fills you with the desire to share with them, either through your company or your gifts. In other words, all the things that DON'T exist in Japanese Christmas...
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Yes.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? The music. I used to love caroling back home, and I enjoy singing Christmas songs in my classes at the school.
17. What is on top of your tree? A silver star I bought at Honda Home Center for a few hundred yen.
18. Which do you like best giving or receiving? Definitely both, though giving leaves me feeling better afterward.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? “Stille Nacht” ("Silent Night"). When it comes to Christmas, I'm a traditionalist.
20. Do you like candy canes? Not as much as I used to. They're too much trouble to eat.
What the heck. I'll pass this tag on to:
Snabulus / Ladybug
Swinebread
Kami
Angele
Dewkid
This should make for some divergent views...if any of them do it...
Just for fun, I'll close this post with a view of the best home Christmas light display EVAR:
posted by The Moody Minstrel at
8:54 PM
12 Comments:
I'll have to get right one this!
Music makes the world go round and X-mas too!
By
Swinebread, at 12:14 AM
Santa Claus or St. Nicholas in the English Translation was a real person. I don't remember precisely his country of origion so I find a linky
http://www.stnicholascenter.org/
Brix?pageID=38
Link should also work by clicking my name, I think.
By
Anonymous, at 7:38 AM
Hi.. thanks a lot for doing the tag! :)
Eh, #15, what is your favorite holiday dessert, your answer is "yes." now, I'm wondering what is "yes," hehehe...
Happy belated birthday to your son!
Have a wonderful christmas to you and your family.
By
Selba, at 10:07 AM
Cool video. Thanks for sharing it.
MM, best wishes to you and your family for A Merry Christmas and The Best of New Years!
By
HappySurfer, at 6:10 PM
Hi Moody Minstrel,
here's wishing you and your close ones much merry making and all the best for the festive season
By
QUASAR9, at 11:34 PM
I already completed your tag but when I pasted it on my wordpress, it showed me some error about god knows what and I can't publish it! So annoying! I'll try to fix the problem as soon as possible. Before christmas hopefully!
By
Anonymous, at 12:22 AM
I like the answers very much! And you know, the best way to eat candy cane is in chocolate bark or chocolate cookies. Yum!
By
Anonymous, at 7:18 AM
Definition: "mistletoe" - a disease of the feet common to astronauts.
By
Pandabonium, at 7:05 PM
Swinebread
Absolutely!!!!!!
Dave
Thanks for the link. I already knew where and when St. Nicholas originally lived (since I explained all that to my students last week), but I wasn't aware of all those other legends and things. Fascinating!
Selba
Yes, holiday desserts are my favorite. ;-)
Thanks!
Happysurfer
You're welcome, and thanks!
Quasar9
All the same to you and more!
Angele
That stinks!
Tonight my father-in-law tripped our (unfortunately still...despite my requests...) joint circuit breaker...AGAIN...this time while my virus scanner was auto-updating. The whole thing got screwed up and I had to reinstall it. Thank heaven for repair installation options! I just hope there isn't any other damage on this thing...
Nikkopolani
PLEASE...DON'T MAKE ME DROOL ON MY KEYBOARD!!!!
Pandabonium
*groan*
By
The Moody Minstrel, at 9:48 PM
Hot chocolate rocks, especially when it is so thick you can stand your spoon in it
Mind you egg nog rocks too, add a little vodka and lets call it avocat
I used to love xmas, and getting white wooly jumpers, white gloves, white scarves and white bubble hats, and going put to play in the snow. Alas snow is a rare commodity nowdays in Cambridge, we are lucky to get snowfall for a day if at all
By
QUASAR9, at 10:13 PM
Hi Moody Minstrel,
theories of time slowing down and/or the speed of light changing are still somehow hard to measure at short distances, since atomic clocks and computers work so well here on earth.
I thought the menage a trois would capture your imagination, I half expect a song & melody to evolve.
By
QUASAR9, at 10:14 PM
Merry Christmas to you and your family =)
By
Anonymous, at 5:18 AM
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