Sorry Twigs! Tell your Christmas Bats story, it's a Yuletide favorite for me!

Here it is. I dug it up out of the old thread just for you.
I had an interesting experience playing Santa. Occasionally we hear bats. They are usually in our walls, but we have had them flying around the house. My mom, my sister, and I had been finishing watching a movie after the Christmas Eve Service at church. My dad had a bad cold so he had stayed home from church and finished the movie. (Since we started going to the late service at church, we always watch a movie between dinner and church). We heard a bat and spent a while trying to locate the sound. We decided it was in the ceiling and /or between the rafter and the ceiling. My mom and my sister had gone upstairs, and I wanted to go throw something away after depositing presents in the stocking. I was convinced that it was next to me. I let out a little shriek (so much for being quiet ) and retreated upstairs. My mom went to check on the bat and said that it was still in the ceiling. I slept with my tennis racket next to my bed anyway. My sister and my dad didn’t hear me shriek. My dad was asleep.

1. Christmas lights: Do you like white, colored, or some other arrangement of twinkle lights?

Colored. White is too boring.

2. Do you like for your lights to blink? Marquee? Stay on continuously?

Blink. I also like the different types of on off some strings have (twinkle, fade in and out, etc.) Oh, and I really like chaser lights.

3. Do you decorate the outside of your home? If so, with what?

Yes, we have lights out on our balcony. Although they aren't on because we broke a bulb and aren't sure if it is safe to plug them in like that.

4. Your Christmas tree: Real or plastic?

Artificial. It's an old one of our grandparents. It is behind a drum set shield to protect it from the cat.

5. Do you put electric (or real) candles in each of your windows?

No, but our parents have lighted decorations in their windows. We don't have very many windows in the apartment.

6. Wreath: Real, plastic, or "No way, Jose!"

My sister and I don't have any but my parents have two fake ones. We only have real ones if my uncle sends them as a gift.

7. Ornaments: Glass, plastic, a healthy mix, or "Let's stay with the inflatable lawn ornaments, SL"

We have a mixture: glass, plastic, wood, cross stitched, homemade, metal, cloth, etc. We have a lot of Hallmark ornaments.

Pictures of our Christmas decorations....

This is one of my favorites.

Our fireplace mantle....

Our Christmas tree....

Black & white pictures of the Christmas tree

There are some more pictures here.

SnowAngel

Very nice SnowAngel! I like your mantle!

Truly my favorite day of the year, and I'm certain I'm not alone.

I couldn't agree more!

So, let's start things off with a little question and answer session for all our members to ponder on and share.

Little? LoL, just teasing.

1. Christmas lights: Do you like white, colored, or some other arrangement of twinkle lights?
I prefer white, but a mix of colored and white looks nice too.

2. Do you like for your lights to blink? Marquee? Stay on continuously?
Stay on, blinking would drive my poor brain bonkers.

3. Do you decorate the outside of your home? If so, with what?
Uh, not every year, so, so. Whenever we feel like it we'll put out a wreath, and a few lights. But it isn't mandatory.

4. Your Christmas tree: Real or plastic?
Fake all the way!

5. Do you put electric (or real) candles in each of your windows?
Again: when we feel like it. I have one up now...but it's not really out there on display.

6. Wreath: Real, plastic, or "No way, Jose!"
Yes, two fake ones. Wreaths are always nice.

7. Ornaments: Glass, plastic, a healthy mix, or "Let's stay with the inflatable lawn ornaments, SL"
Healthy mix, along with a few homemade ones.

8. Someone gives you a deluxe, 10 foot high inflatable Santa in a Snowglobe lawn ornament, complete with snow blowing inside. Do you set it up on Pattertwig's lawn or not?
Oh yes, most defiantly! When's our mission commander? *salutes*

9. When is an acceptable time to begin decorating for Christmas? Halloween, Pre-Thanksgiving/Post Thanksgiving, Sometime in December, Christmas Eve, etc.
Trees are okay before Turkey day, but the decorations afterwards.Like, midnight, then go crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AGH!!!!!!!!!! CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10. Manger scenes: Wood or plastic?
Wood with porcelain people.

11. Christmas Village setups - pro or con?
Con. Too crowded. Well, maybe one or two, but not tons.

12. Christmas trains around the base of the Christmas tree. Yes or no?
We've tried, and tried, and tried again. Then we threw a broken train set out the window. LoL. No, they never seem to work! At least our never do.

13. Do you decorate your pets? (ie; fake antlers on your hamster, bright red noses for your dogs, green elf suits for your goldfish)
Not when we had pets. But I'd like to see someone wrestle an elf suit on a goldfish...
14. Elf on the Shelf: A good idea? No real opinion? Or just plain creepy?
No real opinion, never heard of them until now.
15. Pointsettas? Yes, very nice.
16. You know they're not really poisonous, right? Was there ever a rumor that they were?
17. Ahem....mistletoe? Yes/No?
No. Just...............no.
18. Candy canes hanging on the tree? Popcorn garlands? Other edible tree decorations? (if any)
Candy Canes, sometimes. But why put a perfectly good cane on a tree when you can eat one!
19. Do you hang stockings? If so, what kind of loot do you generally get in it on Christmas morning/Eve?
Yes,we do, on Christmas morn. And we get a variety: Hats, gloves, toilitereies, candy. Stuff like that.
20. Do you put up candles?
Candles are year round! But yes, we have a Christmas-like candle we put up.
21. Favorite candle scents for Christmas?
Food scents. LoL. And peppermint, and pine scents, spicy scents, gingerbread.
22. Moravian Stars: Like or dislike?
They're okay, but we don't have one. I think my grandmother had one though.
23. Santa Claus decorations: Yes or no?
Yup.
24. You know Santa Claus is real, right?
Of course...we chat quite often.
25. You know if you say no, you'll get coal in your stocking, right?
Naturally...

_________________________________________________________________

Uh, commander? May I add two more?

26.) Do you wait for limited time Christmas food on stores?
Ex: Candy Cane Ice Cream!
&
27.) Do you have multiple trees in your home? Big, small, large, or thin, short or tall?

1. Christmas lights: Do you like white, colored, or some other arrangement of twinkle lights?

In my house we put up two Christmas trees. one is big and the other is small. The big one in the family room has white lights on a green tree that my mom and I bought and the other one which is fake and small. It's been in the family for a long time. (tomorrow I'll edit and post a picture of them. It's beautiful.)

2. Do you like for your lights to blink? Marquee? Stay on continuously?

I love blinking, non blinking and even the Victorian style with candle lights are all gorgeous in my opinion.

3. Do you decorate the outside of your home? If so, with what?

It's been a long time since my family decorated the outside of our home. When we did it was only a few lights on the roof and a wreath on the front door.

This year we only did a wreath on the front door.

4. Your Christmas tree: Real or plastic?

Plastic (both)

5. Do you put electric (or real) candles in each of your windows?

Real candles.

6. Wreath: Real, plastic, or "No way, Jose!"

Real

7. Ornaments: Glass, plastic, a healthy mix, or "Let's stay with the inflatable lawn ornaments, SL"

Really just a healthy mix of everything. We also have candy canes on it.

8. Someone gives you a deluxe, 10 foot high inflatable Santa in a Snowglobe lawn ornament, complete with snow blowing inside. Do you set it up on Pattertwig's lawn or not?

Yes he'll go absolutely nuts!

9. When is an acceptable time to begin decorating for Christmas? Halloween, Pre-Thanksgiving/Post Thanksgiving, Sometime in December, Christmas Eve, etc.

My family and I decorated for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. It was loads of fun.

10. Manger scenes: Wood or plastic?

Wood, I love it.

11. Christmas Village setups - pro or con?

I don't have a village yet however the idea sounds fun and I want to do that again.

12. Christmas trains around the base of the Christmas tree. Yes or no?

No I never had one of those sadly

13. Do you decorate your pets? (ie; fake antlers on your hamster, bright red noses for your dogs, green elf suits for your goldfish)

I love putting jingle bells on my dogs collar and this year I got him a little Santa hat. i will post pictures and possibly a video.

14. Elf on the Shelf: A good idea? No real opinion? Or just plain creepy?

My cousin actually placed some of the character toys from the original animated Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reindeer, he had almost all of them except that cute elf Hermey so I asked him if he had Hermey and said no and I thought that that was outrageous.

15. Pointsettas?

Yeah we have about two, one in the kitchen and one in the family room.

16. You know they're not really poisonous, right?

yeah

17. Ahem....mistletoe? Yes/No?

Nope

18. Candy canes hanging on the tree? Popcorn garlands? Other edible tree decorations? (if any)

Yes there's candy canes on the tree

19. Do you hang stockings? If so, what kind of loot do you generally get in it on Christmas morning/Eve?

Stockings are the best part usually I get things that I really wanted in the stockings. I'm still laughing about last year because instead of candy I got a lot of dental stuff, however I greatly enjoyed it because I have great and healty teeth this year because of it.

20. Do you put up candles?

Oh yes

21. Favorite candle scents for Christmas?

Pine tree and mint

22. Moravian Stars: Like or dislike?

I love. The designs are so beautiful, plus I just love stars.

23. Santa Claus decorations: Yes or no?

No. Except one of the stockings has Santa on it but that's because my cousin still believes in him.

24. You know Santa Claus is real, right?

Nope. Only when I watch The Santa Clause he is.

25. You know if you say no, you'll get coal in your stocking, right?

Yeah whatever

This is the mod moot manor makeshift manufactured midwinter TREEEEEEE! We made it out of a decorative ladder, 12 feet of garland (which was mistaken as parsley) and 100 lights. We put a non-inflatable Aslan puppet on the top to watch down on us.

We thought you guys would like to see this

@Digs that is awesome! (*is curious about the garland/parsley thing )

Our decorations still aren't up yet... I have a feeling my mom is going to ask me to do them this weekend... oh boy *loves decorating, but it's a very difficult task for one person... I shall eventually get them helping though... I always manage to

Double posting because it's been well over 48 hours But if the mods protest I'll be more than happy to merge

So looking at everyone's decorations last night I was suddenly reminded how much I love blue Christmas lights, especially the icicle lights... Can't decide between the deep dark blue or the icy light blue however... but when I get my own house I'm investing in blue icicle lights I think

Have you guys ever seen these around, or any other colors besides white and multicolored for that matter? What do you think of them?

I really am a fan of those icicle light... and for me, the choice is easy: icy light blue .

Really haven't seen that many lights around here... it's slightly depressing because I used to have the same tradition. But I have seen some other colors... green and red strings seem to be popular, And most of the houses look really nice . We have one solitary string of "clean" white solar-powered lights up outside .