When do you decorate? The day after Thanksgiving with lots of Christmas music and laughter. Lunch is always chili and we make fudge.

Real or artificial Christmas tree? Artificial. I would love to have a live one, but since we don't...at least the artificial one can be up for longer.  

Colored or white lights? This year the tree has white lights. I like white on the tree, colored everywhere else.

For Advent I really like this devotional series:

SnowAngel

What do you want for Christmas? Oddly, there's not a whole lot I really want. Kitchen stuff, mostly. (Am I an adult now? 😛 ) I think I'd almost prefer to be surprised.

Do you celebrate Advent? My family used to do an Advent Calendar every year - though I don't mean the chocolate kind. It was a book that had daily devotionals in it, one for each day December 1st-24th. My mom had a wall hanging with 24 little "sleeves" in it (for lack of a better word), and laminated cards we could put into each sleeve associated with each devotional. It was fun, but it was also designed for young children, and it got old after a decade. We haven't adopted a new tradition to replace it.

When do you decorate? I prefer not to decorate until December has actually started (in large part to avoid competing with Thanksgiving), though I usually lost that battle when I still lived at home. Now that I'm on my own... I'm bad about decorating at all.

I did have grand plans of actually getting my Christmas decorations up early this year, but sadly I got COVID at the end of November/beginning of December, and haven't made much progress. 🙁 Oh well - there's always this weekend! I still need to figure out where I'm going to put the tree, though - I've moved stuff around and the old space won't work anymore.

Favorite songs? When I was a kid, my favorite Christmas Carol was Joy to the World. When I got a bit older, it was Silent Night for quite some time. But then a few years ago, I realized that I really, really love O Come, O Come Emmanuel. There are a lot of other ones I love, but it's hard to beat that hauntingly beautiful melody.

Favorite music album? I don't know if it's a favorite, but I've been listening to Steve Green's Joy to the World Christmas album a lot this year. It does have a lot of nostalgia value for me (for whatever reason, I was obsessed with Adorar Al Nino when I was a kid), but I think it stands on its own merits too. I also heard his version of Patapan for the first time about three or four years ago (and it was the first time I'd heard it at all), and found I really liked it, so I've been listening to that track a lot.

Colored or white lights? I like both, but if my tree could only have one, I'd go for colored.

Real or artificial Christmas tree? Artificial. You have to store it, but it's worth it to not have to find a new tree every year and then water it for a month. Besides, I used to really enjoy assembling the tree. 😛

What do you want for Christmas?

Lots of books. I'm going to write about them in the Books thread when I get them,

Do you celebrate Advent?

Not particularly. Or not this year anyway. My mother does.

When do you decorate?

It varies from year to year.

Favorite songs?

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.

Favorite music album?

I don't really have one. My parents have this Garth Brooks Christmas CD I grew up listening to during December. I'm sentimental about that one.

Favorite movies?

Miracle on 34th Street (1947) and Arthur Christmas. If specials count, I love A Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) and Phineas and Ferb: Christmas Vacation.

Favorite books?

A Christmas Carol. How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Sue me; I like the classics.  

Favorite tradition?

I love looking at Christmas lights. And, of course, getting presents. What? It's true.

Favorite foods or recipes?

Has anyone ever heard of Swedish Snowballs? They're delicious.

Colored or white lights?

Colored all the way.

Real or artificial Christmas tree?

Real but sadly I might have to get an artificial one this year because the trees are so dry in my neck of the woods. And then I'll have to use it every Christmas.  

Gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

Big ones on Christmas Eve, stocking stuffers on Christmas Day.

I'm sorry my answers were so short. I didn't want to wear out my fingers because I have a Christmas announcement of sorts. On my blog, I'm doing a series on the 2009 motion-capture animated A Christmas Carol movie. It's of interestingly mixed quality. Here's my latest post. A Christmas Carol (2009) Stave II: Well-Done Moments and Random Weirdness | The Adaptation Station.com I'm about halfway through now. 

I'm feeling particularly nostalgic this year, so I thought I'd share a few Christmas memories. (I've mentioned some of these in previous years so I'll keep those brief).

-In the 1960s and early 1970s, Mom, Dad, and the kids would pile into the car and we'd drive around to see Christmas lights in our small town. Dad always seemed to know where the best lights were.

-The choir in my parents' church singing carols and hymns before the Christmas Eve service. It's where I first heard Night of Silence/Silent Night.

-Singing "Silent Night" a cappella with hundreds of other people in a candlelit suburban Seattle church. It still gives me goosebumps 5 years later.

-Enjoying Jerry's tree of lights on Interstate 35 marking the halfway point between here and my parents' old home.

-Walking up a small hill near my childhood home to enjoy "the stars are brightly shining" while snow crunched underfoot.  Often there were no other sounds, and I loved the sight of Orion and his entourage blazing overhead.

-A special Friday the 13th in December 1985 when I walked up that hill to get my first glimpse of long-awaited Comet Halley.

-Surprising my parents in a true "Hallmark moment" by bringing my brother home for Christmas in the mid-1980's (he'd recently taken a job halfway across the country and didn't expect to be home for Christmas). (There was a Folger's coffee commerical with a similar theme back then).

Well I'm a bit late to the party, I suppose... but it's only 16 days till Christmas! (Thanks for getting the thread started SnowAngel)!

What do you want for Christmas? - It's weird, as I get older I find myself wanting some of the clothes that everyone hates getting as a kid. Slippers, pajamas, jeans, etc. But also a wool cloak.  

When do you decorate? - THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING. That is unshakeable canon. 

Favorite songs? - I've been enjoying Tavener's The Lamb a bit recently. Eerily beautiful. 

Favorite movies? - The George C. Scott Christmas Carol, Muppet's Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life. Basic classics I guess. And if the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe counts as a Christmas movie, (as has been debated at length on the forum), then I guess that one too. 
Favorite books? - The Man who Invented Christmas. Awesome recounting of how Charles Dickens almost single-handedly made Christmas the huge deal that it is today. 
Favorite tradition? - Um, presents.  
Favorite foods or recipes? - Thumbprint cookies. Cornish hens. And Reese's Christmas Trees. 
Colored or white lights? - I've actually gone back and forth on this one. I like white on most trees and colored on houses, I guess. 
Real or artificial Christmas tree? - Real...istic.
Gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? - Christmas Day! 

- What's your favorite memory of a mishap that happened at Christmas?

Posted by: @col-klink

I don't really have one. My parents have this Garth Brooks Christmas CD I grew up listening to during December. I'm sentimental about that one.

Has anyone ever heard of Swedish Snowballs? They're delicious.

I drove one of my sisters crazy with Garth Brooks & the Magic of Christmas CD when we were growing up, she hated it and I loved it. I played it a lot from October through early January for years, mainly because I liked it so much, but maybe a little bit because she seemed to always complain about it.   

I have never had Swedish Snowballs. I'm looking for some new recipes to try for Christmas Eve this year, might have to put this one on the list.  

Posted by: @the-mad-poet

Well I'm a bit late to the party, I suppose... but it's only 16 days till Christmas! (Thanks for getting the thread started SnowAngel)!

It was driving me crazy that it was after Thanksgiving and the thread wasn't up yet, I think it is because we always decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving.   I love Thanksgiving, but when it's over...it's time to focus on Christmas.  

Gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? This year it looks like we will be doing both. Normally Christmas Day with the stockings first thing, break for breakfast, then the rest of the gifts. This year however we are currently planning to do stockings on Christmas Eve morning and the rest of the gifts after lunch on Christmas Day.

Favorite songs? I will try to keep this list shortish...What Child Is This?, O Come O Come Emmanuel, Hark The Herald Angels Sing, O Holy Night, and The Promise and Immanuel by Michael Card.

Favorite music album? This is so hard, if I listen to a Christmas album it's because I love it. But if I have to choose...The Promise by Michael Card, Christmas Songs by Fernando Ortega, Heaven Has Come by Sovereign Grace Music, and Ashes Remain's Christmas EP. For instrumental albums I love Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas 1984, Christmas Spirit by David Arkenstone, Sleddin' Hill by August Burns Red, and Christmas Tranquility by John Mandeville. I do not play the last two together.  

SnowAngel

A friend recently shared this new version of O Holy Night with me. I really enjoy it, so here it is for you all to enjoy as well.  

We decided we are going to have a bunch of different mini cookies on Christmas Eve. So Tuesday I bake four kinds of cookies and put most of them in the freezer for next week. With some help from my sisters, I made tiny mocha cookies (kinda like vanilla wafers, but not as crunchy), orange cookies with mini chocolate chips, flourless peanut butter cookies, and paleo almond flour thumbprint cookies. I still want to make spritz cookies and I have some peppernut dough in the freezer to bake on Friday.  

Lots of gifts have been wrapped this week. One of my sisters and my mom decorated the livingroom and dining room with the wrapped gifts, it looks so pretty. Normally we hide all of the wrapped gifts until Christmas Eve, but this year the gifts are everywhere and I love it.  

SnowAngel

Wishing the Narniawebbers a merry Christmas!

I forgot to bake the peppernut cookies...oh well, I can still do that tomorrow if we need them.   I did make lemon flavored spritz cookies today and they are so good. It was hard to save most of them for tomorrow. We did enjoy a few with decaf coffee during a Qwirkle game this evening.  

Going to start Christmas weekend off with French toast casserole in the morning followed by stockings. I'll be back on Monday. Have a very merry Christmas, all!

SnowAngel

Just popping in to say my family got a real Christmas tree after all this year.  

Merry Christmas!  It is 8.00 AM 25th December, 2022, precisely. 

Merry Christmas! It's 4 15 pm on Christmas Day in NZ. 

Merry Christmas to all! It's still Christmas Eve here in central North America, and the stars are brightly shining outside (along with bright Mars and Jupiter for added sparkles).

Merry Christmas, all! I hope you all had a blessed and joyous Christmas Day celebrating the Savior's birth.

So cool you got a real tree, @col-klink!  

The stars were amazing on Christmas Eve, @stargazer. Our Christmas Eve service was late in the evening and we all enjoyed the night sky on the way to and from church.  

Christmas Eve we had french toast casserole for breakfast, then we opened stockings. Lunch was chili followed by games (Colorku and many games of Sequence using red and green chips), coffee, and lots of cookies. We had cheese, carrots, bell pepper strips, cherry potatoes, and a couple kinds of pickles for supper. And we rounded out the day with the candlelight Christmas Eve service.

Yesterday was wonderful. We started Christmas day with coffeecake and coffee followed by church. Home to take family pictures before we had lunch which was swiss steak, rice, green beans, and applesauce. After lunch more presents, then we had a chocolate cheesecake for dessert with a discussion of the sermon. The rest of the afternoon was games (Canasta, Domination, and Scrabble) and a 1000 piece puzzle. We had toasted sandwiches for supper, and then some more cookies and apple cider which we made a couple months ago and had in the freezer for Christmas.  

For Christmas I received a black belt that's super cute (and the perfect replacement for one I have that is falling apart), a burgundy knit jacket, a purple and blue mouse pad (someone decided my coffee stain one needs to be replaced ), a scarf, and a dark chocolate bar among other things. We like to do group gifts which this year included two 1000 piece puzzles, two amazing locally crafted cutting boards, coffee beans, a Scripture memorization game, and the classic Perry Mason film collection.  

Our Christmas celebration continues as we move towards Epiphany (January 6th). Right now some of siblings are learning to bridge while the Christmas music plays in the background. I keep hearing lots of "you're the dummy", playing bridges is the only way they are getting away with that.   I am getting ready to make some hot chocolate and maybe orange scones.  

SnowAngel