Oh, neat, fantasia. I'm sure he'll love them.

I'm waiting for the last of the Christmas gifts I ordered to arrive before I start wrapping them. Hopefully by the first of next week I will have them in hand, I really want to wrap them and get them under the tree.

Round two of Christmas cookies was chocolate sugar cookie bars with ganache and lots of sprinkles. Although I love lots of sprinkles, it was in fact my little brother that covered the cookies in sprinkles this time. I probably would have gone with fewer sprinkles, if only to make the sprinkles last longer.

SnowAngel

16 days until Christmas!
@ fantasia: Ho boy. I have three young nephews to buy for, so I often face that kind of problem. Can't wait until they're old enough for cool stuff like that though!

So, picking up with the list:
11. No.
12. Christmas cookies and Cornish hens (because they give one that "I ate a whole chicken!" feeling. )
13. Yes, colored and white.
14. Whenever I get new ornaments for the tree, I tend to get outdoors/hunting/fishing themed ones. Shotgun shells and deer heads and that sort of thing. I am a redneck.
15. Angel... holding a star!
16. Yes, my mom has one set up with 5 Wise Men and two shepherds adoring outside this cool little wooden stable with piles of fake straw and a warm-colored lightbulb inside. We've had it for years, and it's a fairly important part of making the house look like it's Christmas.
17. There's no place like home for the holidays!- I can't remember a single Christmas away from home, and I'd prefer if it stayed that way.
18. Oh yes, every year!
19. We actually open the stockings on Christmas Eve and the other presents on Christmas Morning!
20.Uh, cookies. And also cookies.
21. Never had it.
22. Probably O Come Emmanuel. And Good King Wenceslaus!
23. The Christmas Carol, starring George C. Scott. The absolute best version, best acting ever!
24. The Christmas Carol, I guess. I started reading it yesterday!
25. Peace on earth and goodwill to all mankind, I guess. And also Reese's.

1. Wrapping paper, unless it is a white elephant. Too easy to cheat with gift bags.
2. If we do one, real.
3. Usually sometime in December.
4. Hopefully in January. Latest ever was February 29th.
5. A giant soccer ball to use in lieu of a desk chair.
6. Probably earrings or something that didn't fit.
7. Split between my dad (who buys stuff when he wants it) and my mom (who never lets on that she wants ANYthing and you have to guess)
8. Usually the young'uns.
9. Mail, definitely, to the tune of some 400. Except this year I'm about two months behind in writing them....
10. Never stop, really. It's the same shopping bin as birthdays and other holidays, soooo....
11. Of course.
12. Rugelach
13. Sure, why not?
14. Um
15. Yes
16. Yes
17. Depends.
18. Yes
19. Yes
20. The...food? Doughnuts? Latkes? This is a confusing subject.
21. Not my jam.
22. Favorite Christmas song? Only one? I would probably put Emmanuel God With Us for peaceful/reflective, Christmas Angels for joy, Christmas to Me for nostalgia, and Nutcracker for laughs (for perspective, I spent many years dancing, and the Nutcracker, especially the second half, has some of the most strenuous choreography possible).
23. Bride and Prejudice. Don't judge, now, it's tradition.
24. Either The Best Christmas Pageant Ever or Walter the Christmas Dog.
25. Getting a loan paid off would be nice!

14 Days Until Christmas!

I was introduced to the song Noel at a Christmas service, and it's been my favorite 'new' Christmas song for the year. It seems it's off the same Chris Tomlin album as fantasia's recommendation, so I guess I'll have to listen to the whole thing now.

The other fun Christmas piece I've encountered this year is: A Musicological Twelve Days of Christmas which I heard done by the local community orchestra. Each verse is done in a different musical style, imitating other famous pieces, and it's a lot of fun.

I listened to The Nutcracker while at work today and watched George C. Scott’s version of A Christmas Carol over the weekend. Finally got my tree up on Monday, and rehearsed the Christmas skit at church yesterday. -Wow. My week has been more Christmassy than I thought.

The Christmas Carol, starring George C. Scott.

George C. Scott’s version of A Christmas Carol

I want to watch this soon (I have it on DVD) but I'm not sure when. I mean I have the time but I want to do it when I'm really in the mood.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Paper - often recycled from previous use (an old family tradition)
2. Real tree or Artificial?
Real - I love the smell of the pinus radiata ones we have here in New Zealand
3. When do you put up the tree?
As early in December as possible. I'm going to decorate mine today.
EDIT: All done!
4. When do you take the tree down?
After Twelfth Night - I usually have an informal party on January 6th, and sometimes I invite guests to help take decorations down, to show the end of the season.
5. Favorite gift received as a child?
Two that I recall especially - a tiny apron sent by my grandmother from England on probably her last Christmas, and a wonderful little doll's house that my dad built with tiny plastic furniture, tiny dolls, and different wallpaper in each room(from a sample book, I assume, carefully cut to match). The lid came off to play with it from above.
6. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Secret Santa gift of two quirky Christmas hats, one a huge cap and the other complete with Santa beard. I gave them away.
9. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Used to send lots overseas to family, but in last two years my cards were reduced while overseas myself. I'm very late now, but will still send something out. Email and FB will have to fill the gaps.
10. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Quite late, unless I have spotted something special earlier in the year.
11. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Probably.
12. Favorite thing to eat during the Christmas season?
Mince pies.
13. Lights on the tree?
Yes
14. Favorite ornament theme or color? Theme?
Decorations from the 1950s that were my parents', plus items collected from my travels in UK and North America. My tree always has a nativity with lots of angels, musical instruments, stars and birds.
15. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Angel
16. Do you have a nativity?
Yes, a nice little ceramic one.
17. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
It varies - it's our summer in NZ so people often go camping straight after Christmas. In UK it was 'stay home' wherever I was.
18. Gifts in the stockings?
As children, this was a special part of it.
19. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Morning or even after lunch.
20. Favorite part of Christmas dinner?
Christmas pudding.
21. Do you like eggnog?
Never had it.
22. Favorite Christmas song?
I love carols, and really enjoy all the singing we get to do.
23. Favorite Christmas movie?
Charlie Brown
24. Favorite Christmas book?
I have a collection of Peanuts cartoons from Christmas across the decades, bought in New York city on my one visit there in 2000.
Good health for those close to me.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Wrapping paper. Gift bags are less exciting.

2. Real tree or Artificial?
We used to have real ones when I was really little — always a pine tree, which I loved the smell of. Then we had an artificial one from when I was about 6 onwards. I still love real trees, but they're more trouble and arguably less environmentally friendly unless you have one planted in a pot and bring it in every year — or have one growing in your garden, if you've got enough space. There was a family in our town years ago who used to decorate the HUGE Norfolk Island pine on their front lawn every year!

3. When do you put up the tree?
Start of December.

4. When do you take the tree down?
After the 5th of January, i.e. Twelfth Night. That said, I don't have a tree of my own this year — I live on site at the care home where I work and we have a lovely tree downstairs (artificial, but very realistic looking).

5. Favorite gift received as a child?
Not quite sure there's one in particular that stands out. We used to often get Roald Dahl books (one of my favourite authors as a child) — and Lego. LOTS of Lego. I think Lego was always the most exciting.

6. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Can't think of one.

7. Hardest person to buy for?
8. Easiest person to buy for?
I'll combine these in one because I normally only buy major gifts for my immediate family and closest friends, and I know them all well enough that they're not too hard to buy for. Anyone other than that on the gift list usually just gets chocolate.

9. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail (or hand-delivered) for family, close friends and work colleagues. Email for anyone further away. Actually, my family always get both paper and email cards (I subscribe to Jacquie Lawson e-cards and everyone loves them).

10. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Any time during the year if I stumble upon something that I know someone special to me will like!

11. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Yep. Quite often. Normally just things like chocolates, biscuits, cakes, drinks etc. if I'm given more of them than I need or want for myself (or ones I don't like).

12. Favorite thing to eat during the Christmas season?
Hmmm. Back in Australia, Dad's barbecue lunch with Mum's salads. Over here in the UK, I enjoy turkey with cranberry sauce and pigs in blankets (little sausages wrapped in bacon, if you didn't know). For sweet things, I love Bramley apple pies (another British specialty) and Lebkuchen (German Christmas gingerbread). And hot mulled apple juice to drink!

13. Lights on the tree?
Ooh yes. Multi-coloured ones when we were little, but I think all gold or all silver look more sophisticated.

14. Favorite ornament theme or color?
I love ornaments in the shape of birds or animals, or anything with a Nativity theme especially. Colours — red and green and gold and silver in particular.

15. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Star, definitely. My sister and I, when we were decorating the tree as children, used to put the star on together, each holding a point on either side, so we would never squabble over who got to put it on each year!

16. Do you have a nativity?
Yes, one I bought a few years ago with Bible verses written on each of the figures. I've just found a picture of the same one here.

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
When we were little, nearly always at home for Christmas Day and then visit relatives in the weeks following (it's our summer holiday then). Where I am now, I always work over Christmas and take a break another time. (I'm on my pre-Christmas holiday now, actually!)

18. Gifts in the stockings?
Never had stockings.

19. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Morning. The rule in our house always was that we had to get dressed and eat breakfast BEFORE opening any presents, just to keep us from going into a wrapper-ripping frenzy too early!!

20. Favorite part of Christmas dinner?
Not sure! I like it all.

21. Do you like eggnog?
Never tried it.

22. Favorite Christmas song?
Almost anything sung by a really good choir — hard to choose an absolute favourite, but THE most breathtaking I can think of is O Magnum Mysterium as set by Morton Lauridsen. (And yes, I do like more light-hearted carols too. )

23. Favorite Christmas movie?
Don't really have one.

24. Favorite Christmas book?
A Christmas Carol, definitely.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
Peace on Earth (And for myself, just to enjoy a very special time of year and more deeply appreciate the holiness of it.)

Just 12 more days 'til Christmas!

1. Both! I try to wrap when I can, but usually if I go use a gift bag, I will wrap the present in paper anyways. It's usually when the shape of the gift is too obvious.

2. Artificial! The fragrance of real pines irritates my nose.

3. This year was Dec 1st, which is quite late for me. I usually like the tree up in time for Thanksgiving, then wait to decorate afterwards.

4. Not until the first or second week of January.

5. I'm not good at remembering the Christmas gifts I got. Nothing was super spectacular as I didn't grow up with much. I never got anything off my list. I loved Christmas for basically every other aspect besides the gift exchange!

6. My grandma would gift us the free soap and shower caps she got from staying at hotels.

7. My dad. 364 days of the year, he grumbles how he hates Christmas and he never wants any gifts, so he won't tell me what he wants. But you can bet on Christmas day that he's the one enjoying everything the most!

8. My mom because she basically wants the same stuff every year.

9. Mail!

10. Usually starting in July. This year was an off-year for me and I didn't start shopping until November. But I made a resolution to plan for Christmas year-round from now on, so I expect I'll start Christmas shopping in Spring.

11. Not to my recollection.

12. Marzipan Stollen with Glühwein is an absolute must on Christmas Day!

13. Yes! Grew up with colored lights but the tree I have now has white lights attached to it and I really like it. Seems a bit more Christmassy to me.

14. I have always liked going with a certain color scheme, but my boyfriend wanted to start a tradition where we exchange an ornament every year and use those instead. It's cute and more personal.

15. I've always loved an angel at the top but we have a star on ours because it was the cheapest topper we could find.

16. I used to put out a nativity snowglobe in my room during the holidays but it's stuck at my parents house for the time being.

17. Stay home.

18. Yes! Every year it's so much candy, but we're trying to be better and do more tiny gifts instead!

19. Growing up, we were allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve and then the rest on Christmas Day. Nowadays, some years I can convince my boyfriend to open one on the Eve. lol

20. Tamales at my parents' home!

21. I *love* it. I've been trying to consume less dairy and I've been trying the coconut milk "Holiday Nog" and it's actually really good! It's tastes just like eggnog, the only thing is the consistency is very thin instead of thick.

22. Do You Hear What I Hear? by Bing Crosby.

23. It used to be White Christmas that I'd have to watch every year, but I think I watched it a few too many times as now it doesn't excite me anymore. Then it was A Christmas Story which I still love but the same thing happened. Now it's A Muppet Family Christmas every year that puts me in the Christmassy mood.

24. Do the Narnia books count?!?!

25. Perfume oils, bath bombs, home organizers; and some oblaten lebkuchen in my stocking!

8 days til Christmas!

Today I'm wrapping presents and getting ready for our newest arrival who will be arriving Thursday. Was going to bake some gingerbread cookies too, but my left arm isn't happy today, so I'll just wait til Friday I guess.

How do I add a picture? Wanna share who the newest arrival is.

7 DAYS 'TILL CHRISTMAS!!
I finally finished Christmas shopping yesterday! I'm off work tomorrow so I should be able to get all my wrapping done... I hope.
@Kalta: I really don't know how to add a picture here. I've tried in the past but it seems not to work with my browser. (You have me really intrigued about the new arrival btw! )

I was ALMOST done shopping last weekend, but even though I have just one or two more things I need to get, I have not had a chance to get out and buy those one or two last things. Partially because I would have a child in tow that is the recipient of one of those items.

I'm going crazy on new-to-me Christmas movies this season.
Benedict Cumberbatch's Grinch, The Man Who Invented Christmas, and Netflix's Klaus. I feel so cultured this year.

I'm going crazy on new-to-me Christmas movies this season.
Benedict Cumberbatch's Grinch, The Man Who Invented Christmas, and Netflix's Klaus. I feel so cultured this year.

Awesome! I just got done re-reading the book version of The Man Who Invented Christmas! How was the movie? I haven't seen that yet, but I know it has a few people I like in it...

I *finally* finished my wrapping yesterday! Got out and got ingredients for the last batches of Christmas cookies, Christmas bread, and Christmas Day breakfast. Might make the cookies later tonight.