I can hardly believe it's Christmas already! Just a few days ago I was stressing over final exams and hardly remembering to eat...much less remembering what time of year it was. Then I go home and BLAM! It's Christmas on Friday.

Haha, I never believed in Santa Claus. When I was about 5 my parents simply told me all about St. Nicholas and that some families like to have fun by believing in Santa Claus...I proceeded to enlighten all the neighborhood kids, and my mom got some angry phone calls from parents whose children were upset because I told them the ugly truth.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper all the way! I'd actually love to try hiring myself out as a gift-wrapper sometime^^

2. Real tree or Artificial? My family has used an artificial tree since we lived in Virginia where real ones are shipped in and therefore don't look so good...it's probably a travesty that even though we now live in the Pacific Northwest, we still use our artificial tree...but he (ahem) it is almost 20 years old and so we're kind of attached to it.^^

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the weekend after Thanksgiving, though nowadays that's turned into "the weekend after the college kids come home"

4. When do you take the tree down? Just after New Year's, usually.

5. Do you like eggnog? YES!! I wish I could guzzle it down all year around, but then it wouldn't be so special.

6. Favorite gifts received as a child? A bareback pad for my horse.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Hm, most people seem to say "my parents"...I've never actually given my parents a Christmas gift. 0.o

8. Easiest person to buy for? My best friend. I just have to find something that also appeals to me and she'll love it^^

9. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A piece of polished driftwood with a tiny gold clockface set in it. I remember thinking it was a good present for a 50-year-old man, not the 10-year-old girl I was.^^

10. When do you start shopping for Christmas? When I see something that reminds me of someone and Christmas is closer than their birthday.

11. Do you have a nativity? Yes, a cute little set I found at a dollar store. I like putting the 3 Magi in height order^^

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Muppet Christmas Carol...which I haven't watched yet this year! O the horror of Christmas without it, this must be remedied...

13. Favorite Christmas book? Isaiah^^

14. Favorite Christmasy dessert? Oh my goodness there's too many to choose from...

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My mom's French Toast Strata with apple cider syrup. Mmmmm....*gains a pound just thinking about it*

16. Lights on the tree? Yes! Colored ones.

17. Favorite Christmas songs? "O Come Emmanuel" and "God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen". New favorites this year: "Masters of this Hall", "Marshmallow World" and Nat King Cole's "O Tannenbaum"

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home! The relatives come to us^^

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Cupid, Comet, Donner, Blitzen, Dasher, Dancer...Schnitzen? fail.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? An angel. When I was a little I thought a star meant you were pagan.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas afternoon, usually.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The way people buy soooo much stuff...it's kind of awful sometimes. :/

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I always loved those retro glass bird clip ornaments with the feathery tails...

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Swedish hot fruit soup!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? The "Red Cast" (Japanese) recording of Les Miserables...but I haven't told anyone about it because it's too expensive.

I never believed in Santa either, of Father Frost as we know him so sadly (or perhaps not) I don't have any stories about him. In fact I sort of went to the other extreme . Rooming with my two younger sisters I, wanting them not to be fooled and save them from being brainwashed (ok I was six, and a bit overly concerned, six year olds tend to be like that. Then again maybe it was just me ) told them that Santa was evil and nothing good ever came from him. Later my mom mentioned something in a conversation with my dad that had to do with Santa. My youngest sister who was in the room looked up at her with horror and said "mommy you don't actually believe in Santa do you? He is so wicked." Of course this took my mother by surprise, "wicked," she said, "he not wicked, he doesn't really exist but there is nothing wicked about him. Whoever put that into your head?" Of course the truth came out and my mother had a talk with me about filling my sisters heads with false and silly stories I had a habit of making mountains out of mole hills when I was young Oh well we're not all perfect

Shadowlander: sorry, no stories about Santa! my parents raised me way that I always knew that he was a myth! Merry Christmas, by the way!

Muppet Christmas Carol...which I haven't watched yet this year! O the horror of Christmas without it, this must be remedied...

I have you beat. I’ve already watched it.
Shadowlander – Like many others here, my family didn’t do Santa as the tradition normally is. I had no idea so many people didn’t do Santa. Although I don't agree telling kids that Santa is real when he isn't, the way your family explained is the best I've heard. Nice way to keep the focus on Christ. My parents had to explain to me when I was younger what people meant when they asked me what I wanted Santa to bring me / what Santa had brought me. However, we have always pretended about Santa. We knew that Santa wasn’t really (we were under strict orders not ruin it for anyone ), but every year we got presents from “Santa.” As the years have passed, this has evolved to included gifts from other members of Santa’s family and staff. In our stockings (my parents' included), we might find gifts from Santa’s cats, Santa’s elves, Santa’s bakers, Santa’s cartoonist, etc. (Bet you didn’t know Santa had all of those ). We try to match who the present is from with the present. For example, a Peanuts calendar is likely to be from Santa’s cartoonist and a pair of Christmas socks with cats on it would be from Santa’s cats. It is really a lot of fun. Each year we get some kind of socks in our stockings. For the females in the family it is always Christmas socks, but we can’t always find Christmas socks for my dad so some years we have to get him some other kind of socks. All of us (including our three cats ) have stockings. In case you are wonder why our cats have stockings, my dad jokingly suggested to my grandmother that she make our cats some stockings and she did. We don’t actually put presents in their stockings though. They would likely get confused and play with the stocking. One year Blitzen did get her stocking down and played with it.
Here is my best attempt at a Santa story. When I was a child, I had scraped my nose falling on my neighbor’s concrete steps. My parents told me that my nose glowed in the dark like Rudolph’s. Although I knew that Rudolph didn’t really exist, I really believed that my nose glowed in the dark.

Well, I said I'd try to get back on and post a couple Christmas traditions from my family. Well, after some thought, I have only thought of one truly unique family Christmas tradition.

You see, all us kids sleep downstairs. The living room (where we set up the tree) is upstairs. So every year on Christmas morning our mom sets out signs on the stairs warning us what will happen if we come upstairs before we are allowed. (Because Papa and Mama need a little extra time to finish setting out the gifts, etc.) Each year, there is a theme to the signs, and appropriate props.
One year, she set all our teddy bears on the staircase and put signs such as "Danger code RED Area Numerous BEARS SIGHTED,""Turn Back Heavy BEAR Population!"
Another year it was "STOP Deadly Amazonian Rain Forest Animals AHEAD (Flown in by Great Expense) Go No Further." It was accompanied by plastic snakes, frogs, bugs, etc.
Once there was a "Log jam" of empty wrapping paper tubes.

We always look forward to seeing what she will come up with.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial. Real trees were cool for a while, but then they got to be a mess, and the cat would drink the water and get sick.
3. When do you put up the tree? the first weekend in December
4. When do you take the tree down? About the first or second week of January
5. Do you like eggnog? Yes.
6. Favorite gifts received as a child? GI Joes and Hot Wheels. I'm older than most of you.
7. Hardest person to buy for? My Dad
8. Easiest person to buy for? My wife. She hands me a stack of catalogs with the page numbers marked, and I zip right through it on-line.
9. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A grab-bag present I got in 3rd grade that was meant for a toddler.
10. When do you start shopping for Christmas? After I get my bonus check, the first week of December.
11. Do you have a nativity? Just a musical snow globe with Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott
13. Favorite Christmas book? A Christmas Carol
14. Favorite Christmasy dessert? any kind of berry pie
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? turkey and stuffing
16. Lights on the tree? Colored or white? White. I would like colored, but my wife likes white.
17. Favorite Christmas songs? O Holy Night; O Little Town of Bethlehem; Christmas Canon by Trans-Siberian Orchestra; Wexford Carol with Allison Krauss and Yo-Yo Ma
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? travel to my parents', or my wife's parents
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yep
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star, but it's crooked.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning. I like to keep up the suspense.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? "Santa Baby"
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Theme? Old Father Christmas' and Santa Clauses
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? turkey and stuffing
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? another mp3 player--I filled up my other ones

Wrapping paper or gift bag? We have more wrapping paper, than gift bags. I wrapped my sister's present in a J. C. Pennys magazine or catalog or something like that.

Real tree or Artificial? Artificial.

When do you put up the tree? This year, mom put it up right before Thanksgiving.

When do you take down the tree? Sometimes, after New Years.

Do you like eggnog? If I've ever tasted it, I don't think I remember it.

Worst Christmas gift you ever recieved? I don't know if it's the worst, but I got it when was playing Dirty Santa, at church. It was a little, plastic reindeer and called a reindeer pooper scooper. You put jelly beans in it.

When do you start shopping for Christmas? I don't like to shop early.
Do you have a nativity? We have a small one on top of our TV.

Favorite Christmas movie? I like, "It's A Wonderful Life," "Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas," and "The Nativity Story."
Favorite Christmas book? "A Christmas Carol"
Favorite Christmasy dessert? I don't know.
Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I like my uncle's baked beans. He spices them up, yum.

Lights on the tree? colored or white? colored.

Favorite Christmas songs? I like "The Little Drummer Boy," "I'll be Home For Christmas," "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing," and "A Kings Is Born." The latter is sung beautifully in "The Miracles of Love" music video." It was for "The Animated Stories From The New Testament." I still have the video tape of it. I also like Josh Goban's cd, "Noel."

Travel at Christmas or stay home? Staying home.
Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blixin, Dasher, Prancer, Rudolph, did I get it right?
Angel on the tree top or a star? star
Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We use to open them on Christmas Day, but now on Christmas Eve.

Favorite ornament theme or color? I like the ball shaped ornaments and I like the colors: green, red, and gold.

I like making a birthday cake at Christmas, for Jesus. Does anybody else like to do that. This year it's strawberry cake and strawberry frosting. Well, this is my second Christmas on Narniaweb, I'm enjoying it. Like Tiny Tim said, "God bless us, every one!"

I wish you all a very merry christmas! I hope you'll have a great time with family, friends and everybody else. It's 11.30 pm here so I'm going to sleep now, because I have to get up at 8 o'clock to go to church, but I just wanted to wish you all a very merry christmas!
Joy to the world! The lord has come!

Here are pictures of some of my decorations. I'll probably post more another time.

That is one of the first ones I put up. I have a Narnia tree skirt but my sister won't let me use it under the tree.

My mom made this advent calendar for us. My sister just made one for her friend (although we all ended up helping her finish it).

These are all of our stockings, including the three for our cats. They are ready for us to take turns sneaking downstairs to fill them.

Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blixin, Dasher, Prancer, Rudolph, did I get it right?

You missed Dancer, Vixen, and it is Blitzen not Blixin. You were close though.

My cats have been wild today. I guess they are excited that tomorrow is Christmas. If the occasional rain we are getting doesn't wash away all the snow we will have a white Christmas. We should be getting snow and not rain this time of year. As usual today was a mad rush to finish decorating the house, wrapping presents, and making presents for our cats.
Merry Christmas everyone!

Oh my gosh, a Narnia stocking?!?!?! Where on earth did you get that? It's genius!! Sorry for the outburst, but i've never seen a Narnian stocking before! Very nice. Here are some decorations around my house. My mom made this stocking for me when I was one. It's HUGE!! She also made an identical one for my sister, an owl stocking for herself, and 3 stockings for the dogs too. She did a needlepoint stocking for my dad. I love my stocking sooo much!! This is our little Nutcracker/Nutcracker ballet display where we also happen to keep our way too heavy AG ornaments on display too! Here's the advent calendar my mom also made for me and my sister when we were babies. I love this very much too!! I'm always the one every year to pull this out and take it upstairs.

Well, that's it on the pictures for now. I'll probably post some more tomorrow since I still have a few more to share. I don't know if you all will want to see our tree though...... it's packed to the limit with every type of ornament imaginable! Merry Christmas to all of you!

today is Christams day! yay!

Merry Christmas to all!

Oh my gosh, a Narnia stocking?!?!?! Where on earth did you get that? It's genius!! Sorry for the outburst, but i've never seen a Narnian stocking before! Very nice.

I think it came with my Narnia fleece throw or maybe with the tree skirt. Anyway, I got it from CBD (Christianbook.com) a few years ago. They also had smaller ones with one character on them but I didn't get a chance to get them before they sold out.

I hope everyone had a better Christmas than I did. Not that my Christmas was horrid, but I have a cold and it rained instead of snowing. We had to slosh through slush on the way to and from the car when we went to church and our snow is waterlogged.
Here are some more pictures.
My sister and I embroidered the table runner, napkins, and place mats. Our Advent wreath (we added the "branches" to a frame to make it) is in the center.
My sister's friend painted the picture on the piano. The snowman on the end is one of the "tacky" presents we have gotten from my aunt. My sister and I think it is tacky (mostly the legs, especially when they are lit) but my mom likes it. My sister wasn't very happy when it appeared on her piano.

My sister and I think it is tacky (mostly the legs, especially when they are lit) but my mom likes it.

You mean the legs actually light up?! Awesome! The only thing that would make it cooler would be if the legs were animatronic and moved and kicked around at the same time!

*seriously ponders getting an inflatable version of this thing for his front lawn*

Actually the snowman is at least seasonal. The pink flamingos really kill the theme there.

well, I had a very good Christmas! I hope ya'll did!

I visited both of my grandparents.....and this week, I am going down to Florida to visit my older brother and his wife and son! yay!

You mean the legs actually light up?! Awesome! The only thing that would make it cooler would be if the legs were animatronic and moved and kicked around at the same time!

Sorry they don't move around at the same time. However, we do have this decoration which does quite a bit when it is turned on (something we never do ). The snowmen bounce around, lights in the greenery turn on and it plays music.

*seriously ponders getting an inflatable version of this thing for his front lawn*

Perish the thought! I suppose you would rig it so that the legs would kick.

Actually the snowman is at least seasonal. The pink flamingos really kill the theme there.

*realizes should have removed the pink flamingos from the piano before taking the picture and wonders if should explain why there are two pink flamingos on the piano. Decides to hold off for now to see if anyone asks and to go and get brownie points with the grandparents by sending them picture evidence that all three cats played with the gift their cats sent.* Clarifying note: My grandparents sent my cats a gift from their cats, and my grandparents are hyperactive about whether or not our cats like the presents they get.