~Poop On Jelly~

Our Family's Bitter/Sweet Life



Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Our Christmas Favorites: Part 1

So, we are both taking part in a little list of our favorite things about Christmas. That's right, we are BOTH writing today. No, don't leave. Stay with us and reminisce...

Fresh or Fake Tree?

Mrs.--I have NEVER had a fresh tree. NEVER. And, I don't feel like I am missing a thing. Maybe that is because I have never had a real tree. However, fake trees are pretty, don't need to be fed or watered, are simple to put up and tear down, and ours is even pre-lit. How is that for saving time, money, and my sanity? The family wins when mom has her sanity!

NB-- I grew up with a real tree every year. I remember loving the smell, but hating to water it. I was the youngest, so it was my job to tunnel through the presents and under the tree to water it. I can see the fun of the family trip to select the tree every year, but I am glad to not have my tree turn brown and lose all its needles either. I have deferred to the Mrs. on this one.

Favorite Ornament?

Mrs.--I love all of our ornaments that are personalized. My favorite is one that has 5 frogs on it. Each frog has one of our names on it. I bought it for Nurse Boy our first Christmas with Sweet Pea. Why frogs? Our wedding invitation had frogs on it. It was a fun wedding invitation and we decided we wanted to be unique. Honestly, I think most of the relatives hated it. We loved it. So, frogs always make us think of our silly wedding invitation.

NB--My family grew up as Treckies. I have seen every adventure that Captain Kirk and Spock have been on. The Mrs. thinks my affinity for Star Trek is illogical. The Mrs.'s Grandmother gave me a light up Star Trek ship one Christmas. It is not the original Enterprise, I think it is a ship from Deep Space Nine, but that woman got me. I miss her.

Mrs.--I hate that ornament.

Favorite Tradition?

Mrs.--Growing up, my Dad's side of the family spent the night at my grandparent's house on Christmas Eve. All of us kids got up before the light of day to see what Santa brought. We were like sardines with all 13 of us in the house, but I loved it. Now, I love taking the kids to look at Christmas lights while they are in their pj's.

NB--We don't do Santa because of three reasons. #1 The Mrs. felt lied to when she found out Santa was not real. #2 I feel no particular sentiment toward Santa. I remember finding out Santa was not real and asking if we still get presents on Christmas Day. When the answer was yes, I did not care. So, I don't feel like my kids are missing anything. #3 The Mrs. and I grew up knowing the Christmas Story, but it was not the main part of Christmas. We wanted to make that the main part of Christmas, so Santa got the boot. It was a big black one. With that said, we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus every Christmas Eve and eat chow mien. We then put the kids to bed and play with, I mean put together, all of their new toys. We end the night with me dominating all the family in some card game. They have started playing Uno all the time because, frankly, I am an obnoxious winner. I hate Uno because there is no skill involved. I think I am going to start cheating so it will be fun. For me. Not them. I'm getting excited thinking about it.

Mrs.-- Nurse Boy stinks at UNO ;0)

Favorite Gift Ever?

Mrs.--I never have a good answer for this one. I love gifts, so I am just usually thankful for receiving them. (Especially sparkly, clear rocks. Big ones. Hint, hint.) As a kid though, it had to be the year my grandparents gave me the Barbie Dream House. It was huge and spectacular! It also helped that all of my friends drooled over it...

NB--My favorite gift as a kid was Optomis Prime. I was in fifth grade and really excited about my gifts. We decided that we would open one gift on Christmas Eve. My mom was trying to get me to open OP and they accidentally had me open some wind up diver that was a bath toy. I didn't even take baths anymore. I don't know what they were thinking. I don't think my mom knew what they were thinking either when I opened it up, so she had me open another present. Long story short, my sister and I opened all of our presents on Christmas Eve that year. We loved it. I loved my OP so much I don't think I broke him for at least two days. From that year on, we got to open at least one gift on Christmas Eve.

Favorite Christmas Meal?

Mrs.--It has to be HAM. I love ham on Christmas. Growing up we always had turkey. Now that I host Christmas, I demand ham.

NB--Ham! Honey baked. The Mrs. gets a cheaper Aldi version that is only slightly less tasty than the HB kind and I love it.

So, come back tomorrow for the rest of our favorites. We know you are on the edge of your seat...

3 comments:

Sir Nottaguy-Imadad said...

I'm all for fake trees. The only time we had a real tree, we couldn't keep the cat out of it. We were constantly reaching in the tree and pulling the cat out. Then one night, CRASH, Christmas tree & ornaments all over the livingroom. We had to tie the tree to the bannister leading upstairs. No more real trees for us.

Anonymous said...

Our cat still gets in the fake tree. We typically nail it to the floor (We have carpet. I don't recommend doing that with hardwoods.)

I grew up with real trees until I was in high school. One year my parents let me pick the tree and I picked the saddest, most Charlie-Brown-Christmas-Tree tree on the lot. It was truly pitiful and that's exactly why I picked it. I felt very sorry for it. In fact, I saved needles from that tree for YEARS and actually cried when it was time to throw it out.

I'm a sentimental nutjob, for the record.

Boy Mom said...

You two are the cutest couple. I think I may have a little blogger crush on you ;)

I collect frogs, I hope to get a frog tattoo one day. Adorable Hubby and I were big Next Generation fans, I kinda had a thing for Warf.