a meme and more weird stuff

Bug screamed for 8 minutes last night. I think it might be working. DH slept in the camper and felt refreshed, so we're getting there.
Oh, and I would like to thank whatever nut first thought of using cabbage leaves to alleviate engorgement pain. I highly doubt I would ever stop to think, "Hey, these leaves would make a stellar bra" so I wouldn't have come up with it, but it worked.
Dont forget to go to this post and comment to enter in the drawing for some free Red Scarf Project yarn!

I like this meme, so I stole it from Anna The Fashionable.

Egg nog or hot chocolate? Yes please. Eggnog straight or spiked, hot chocolate Mexican style, with real chocolate melted in a pan, and fresh grated cinnamon.

Does Father Christmas wrap presents or just set them under the tree? Wrapped and unwrapped. Usually, big or unwieldy things (like Bug's first bike or something) will be set out, twinkling in the lights, but the others are wrapped.

Coloured lights on tree/house or white? Colored LEDs, the more the better. But never, ever, running or blinking lights on my tree.

Do you hang mistletoe? When I can find it.

When do you put up your decorations? It's a process. Usually mid December. I like the idea of leaving them up until twelfth night, but DH believes "out with the old, in with the new" and tries to take everything down by 12/31 every year. (Except that one year when the lights stayed on the shrubs until August...)

What's your favourite Christmas dish? Hmmm. Swedish meatballs made by my aunt. As a kid I hated to make them (imagine rolling about 5 pounds of ground beef the day before Christmas) but they are SOOOO tasty. Also those weird Corn Flake wreaths that would be toxic at any other time of year.

Favourite Christmas memory as a child? When Mom and Dad got us a puppy. Dad was so worried she'd be cold (she was in a box in the car, still warm from having gone to get her) so he kept saying "Open that one, open that one". It was a box with a dog brush and a leash, and the ribbon led out to the car. We didn't follow it, though, we just tugged on it until it all came in the house, then stared at my parents wondering WTF that was all about. Dad finally had to tell us to GO LOOK IN THE CAR.

When and how did you learn the truth about Father Christmas? My nasty older cousin told me. I must have been about ten. (I wanted to believe, and still do, really.)

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? My aunts on my mom's side always throw a big bash, and all the cousins receive a similar gift. (Everyone gets a shirt, or a CD, or whatever.) We got to open those on Christmas Eve. Now that we're all grown, I still exchange with my two aunts, so I open their present when I'm with them.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Colored LED lights, glass bulbs, and all the ornaments my mother bought me over the years. Plus new ones for The Bug.

Snow! Love it or dread it? Wish for it.

Can you ice skate? Not even to save my life.

Do you remember your favourite gift? Nope, but I remember the gift I wrapped myself. All the cousins got little portable radios for Christmas, and my mother asked me to wrap them. It never occurred to me that I would get the same thing, or that there was one extra, so I was genuinely surprised when I opened it.

What's the most important thing about Christmas for you? That feeling that, just then, all is right with the world. I know it isn't true and that poverty waits for no secular/religious holiday, but when it comes together, the petty family squabbles and the late gas bill are forgotten, for me, just for a little while.

What's your favourite Christmas dessert? Chocolate Christmas bells. It's crappy chocolate, but I love them beyond reason.

What's your favourite Christmas tradition? Walking through the Winterhaven neighborhood in my town, where most of the residents do a major, over-the-top display. There are horse-drawn carriages, hot chocolate, karaoke and a dance contest at one house, and everything is beautiful, festive, and tacky in a way that I still love. This ain't no Thomas Kinkade neighborhood.

What tops your tree? A woven straw angel with a red vest and red bow. I have no idea where she came from, but I associate her with my mother, and I love that little angel.

Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Giving. I'm sometimes a little embarrassed about receiving extravagant things (and DH is nothing if not extravagant at Christmas) but I love getting that One Thing that the recipient will just LOVE.

What's your favourite Christmas song? O Holy Night, sung by a male trio on an old record my father has. I have searched the innernets for it on CD, and have so far been unsuccessful. Also, Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt.

Candy canes? Not so much.