Tuesday, December 18, 2007

It's Christmas at our house!!!

Last year we had NOTHING for Christmas! We weren't sad though and we still enjoyed our time together, but I will admit having some decorations and a little $ to buy gifts has been nice. So enjoy the pictures and the fun little survey to get to know my Christmas likes and dislikes:)
The dining room table



The porch decorated!



The Christmas Tree:)




The mantel



The side table with my snowman bricks from last year's Super Saturday and the wreath



Entry way table welcoming our winter friends:)

Christmas Erks' Way

Wrapping paper or gift bags? A little of both. I like the variety.

Real Christmas tree or artificial (I like to say permanent)? Permanent. It seems cool to go pick out a tree, but even cooler to get your in-laws old permanent tree that's awesome! Plus I grew up on permanent so it's all good with me.

When do you put up the tree? In this year's case it was the second weekend in December so that my parents and in-laws could meet together and share in a little Christmas cheer:) In the future I would like to have it up the day after Thanksgiving.

When do you take the tree down? J and I sit with the tree every night and read our scriptures so we will probably keep it up as long as possible since this has become a sweet habit. So, basically sometime in January, but not exactly right after New Year's.

Do you like Eggnog? NOPE!!! Jeremy loves the stuff though so it will be on the shopping list this week.

Favorite gift received as a child? I loved everything I got as a child, but if I had to pick I would say the teddy bears that my mom and step dad would always give to me (unwrapped like it came from Santa) .

Do you have a nativity scene? No, but I would love to have the Willow Tree version.

Hardest person to buy for? My step dad because he's cool with anything. Should be easy right, but for me it's not because he can never tell me what he wants and I like giving people EXACTLY what they want so that I'm sure they like it.

Mail or email Christmas cards? I don't care how I get them because it shows that someone thought about me, but I like sending them to people too because like Jackie said, it's cool to get other things in the mail besides your bills.

Christmas movie favorite. Anything BUT the National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, but Jeremy's in the background telling how he likes it. So I guess I will check it out again this year. Seriously though I really like A Christmas Story and any of the cartoon Christmas movies or specials.

When do you shop for Christmas? November/December although I am going to try and buy all year in the new year so I don't stress out about what to get people.

Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't think so, but I would if I truly had something that I didn't particularly like, and it would truly make someone else happy.

Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My grandma's macaroni and cheese and her dressing (actual squares so it's more like a bread) and just recently added now that I'm married...my mother-in-law's sweet potato casserole.

Clear lights or colored on the Christmas tree? Clear all the way. I think it's classic and since I have a symmetry issue colored lights would drive me crazy!

Favorite Christmas song? Hallelujah Chorus. We used to sing this every year at our high school Christmas concert with any alumni chorus members that wanted to do it. I should have done it this year since my little sister is a senior and is in the chorus:) There's also this other song called Fruit Cake that my chorus teacher taught us that's really cool. Everyone had a different hand held instrument
to represent a Christmas sound and/or a sound like saying, "mmmmm" to represent a tasty treat . It was so much fun and we would sing it for the elderly in nursing homes and stuff like that. I need to try and find it recorded because it was soooooooooooooo fun!

Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home:) We like relaxing and keeping things as clam as possible, but we have it both ways because all of our family is here in Greensboro or High Point. We don't want to start the habit of traveling so that when we have kids we will be used to keeping the "magic at home" as Jeremy's mom would say:)

Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? If I tried I probably could, but I don't want to. My brain is off when I leave work and naming them would take too much energy:) However, I like Olive the other reindeer...ha! One of our nieces was telling somebody she liked Olive the other reindeer and they had no clue who she was talking about. But I guess if you're a little kid and you sing the song, "All of the other reindeer" sounds like "Olive, the other reindeer." I died laughing when I heard this story:)

Angel on tree topper or star? Neither. I love bows and I made my own from the lesson at our Relief Society party this year.

Open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Christmas morning this year since we only have a few gifts under the tree. In the future, when we have kids, we want to open the sentimental gift we give one another on Christmas Eve in our room so that we are alone.

Most annoying thing about this time of year? How EVERYBODY is asking you for your money. If I'm going to give (and I do give) I will give. I don't need everyone at work asking me to be a part of a kazillion different things that cost money. I have enough people that I actually know and care about that I am giving to.

Favorite ornament theme or color? I am all about gold and red ornaments with white lights. My tree will always have this color scheme.

Favorite Christmas dinner? Same thing as my favorite thing to eat above:) Mmmm good!!!

What do you want for Christmas this year? At first I felt silly for putting this on here, but you're my friends so I'll be honest...a baby:)

Merry Christmas everybody!!!

4 comments:

  1. I love your decorations - the house looks great! And I love that RS contributed to 2 of your decorations... makes me feel like our activities weren't for naught! I'll check back with you in 5 years to see if you are still giving each other sentimental gifts on Christmas Eve... Hopefully you do, though :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. You don't like Eggnog? I wonder why :)....And that Olive the reindeer thing cracked me up!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I hope you get what you want for Christmas this year. Then your Christmas present and my Christmas present can be really good friends. : ) I love the way your house looks. Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Erika--your house looks great! You have done an amazing job, especially since this is only your second year there. Major props.

    Loved your list. There's a children's book out called "Olive: the other reindeer" and I never got it until you explained it in your list. (I haven't actually read it, just seen it at book fairs and stores.) Yes, I'm slow.

    ReplyDelete