Tuesday Tell-all: Twelve Questions of Christmas

Real or artificial tree?

Artificial - If there's anything I dislike more than pulling out tangled lights (no matter how carefully wound the previous year) and stringing them on a tree, it's taking them off again at the end of the season. And I can never get them as evenly spread as the pre-lit trees, so we broke down and purchased one last year with Christmas money from Justin's parents. Before that we had an artificial tree I decided to try to string in pieces so I could unplug the lights and put the tree away with them on, but they eventually became so tangled anyway it just wasn't worth it anymore.

Do you like eggnog?

I LOVE eggnog, and we drink it all the time at our house for the holidays. I love to try every variety in the stores from year to year, because I can't ever remember which is my favorite. Sometimes we dilute it with diet sprite which makes me feel a little better about the calories. I figure by adding diet sprite it becomes diet eggnog! Erick and Izzie call it "Shnog", and it really earmarks the holiday season for us. My Grandma Johnson used to make homemade eggnog every year for the johnson family Christmas party, it was such a fun tradition maybe I'll take that on this year at our own family Christmas eve.

Favorite gift received as a child?

My favorite gift is easy - the year Sam and I got our fist set of skis was the best! They were little white rossignol skis and came in the complete skis, boots bindings and poles package. It was a total surprise because it wasn't necessarily something we asked for, but it was my favorite gift because it not only included the ski package, we got a full day skiing with my mom and dad at Alta to boot, even playing hookey from school! I should remember that more as a parent now - it wouldn't have been the same as a "whole family" activity, it was special because it was just Sam and I with my parents. I still look back on that memory as one of my favorites. Sam and I thought we were kings on skis whooshing down the green runs like we were really hot stuff. I think that might have been the first year we also got passes for the ski bus to good old "Park West", now known as The Canyons after doing a short stint as Wolf Mountain. That place apparently has changed hands a lot.

Anyway, that Christmas morning standing in the livingroom in our pajamas swinging our new skis around on our feet, then later that afternoon testing out the hill in the backyard marked the beginning of a lot of my favorite memories.

Do you have a nativity scene?

Yes, they're mostly detailed in the post below. We also have the "Little People" nativity usually strung from one end of our livingroom to the other, but I suppose that's what it's for. The kids love it, so it was a worthy purchase to keep inquisitive little hands away from the more fragile creches.

Hardest? Easiest person to buy for?

The hardest person for me to buy for is actually my husband. He typically just purchases the things he needs when he needs them, so I have to find things he doesn't actually need but wants, that's not terribly expensive. It's a tall order. This year we've just decided to bag presents between us, though, for reasons unrelated to this post I'll have to detail some other time, so I'm much less stressed.

My kids are the easiest for me to buy for, easily seen by the obscene number of toys and clothes they own. We did a cleanup on the playroom over the weekend and donated a number of toys and threw others away in preparation for Christmas chaos! I think we're ready... and my kids are so good about giving things away they don't use. I was really proud of them.

Favorite Christmas movie?

The Muppet Christmas Carol is a favorite of mine. In fact, I really like most of the variations on "A Christmas Carol". I have an old video with Patrick Stewart playing scrooge that's really good, too, as it stays so true to the text. I like the first two installments of "The Santa Claus" series with Tim Allen. The third one was painful, but I guess you can't win them all!

White lights or colored lights?

White lights on the tree, colored lights on the house. No blinking lights anywhere - I love the serenity provided by steady lighting. I chase enough moving things in a day already.

Favorite Christmas song?

I love the traditional carols, and have found those with additional lesser-known verses to be a peculiar treasure, in that they're familiar and new to me all at the same time. Some of those include "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (7 verses), "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" (4), and one of my new favorites "Good King Wenceslas"(5). I wasn't ever certain what that last song had to do with Christmas other than being the story of a party. I'd love to post the entire text here, but it would make a long-winded entry here even longer.

For more modern music I love C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S by Perry Como. It's such a wonderful classic. I also have held onto sheet music for years from an elementary school choir my little brothers were in for a song called "Mistletoe" and is really cute. We used to also listen to the Muppets Christmas with John Denver and the Beach Boys Christmas album every year as a child as long as I can remember - I'm pretty sure my mom still has the 8-tracks. Dr. Teeth's "Little Saint Nick" is really a must-have.

Travel for Christmas or stay home?

We usually travel to Utah for Christmas, but this year we're already here! It will be kind of different for us, but we're excited because we've enjoyed things about spending Christmas in Utah, and things about spending Christmas at home. This year we get the best of both worlds and are really excited!

Do you open presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?

We always open one present Christmas Eve - the christmas jammies. Everything else is opened Christmas morning.

Do you tell the Christmas story?

Of course! Tell it, read it, everything we can. Even after all that last year, when asked what Christmas was about at FHE last night, Isabel told us the story about how we go to bed on Christmas Eve, then wake up in the morning and open presents! Then, after talking about Jesus' birth, Justin asked Erick why Christ's birth is so important to us, to which Erick responded very matter-of-factly, "You know, I really have NO idea." Argh! Apparently we need all the help we can get.

Favorite Christmas tradition.

My family has a lot of fun traditions, they were important to my mother, and I think to my grandmother. It's been interesting as I've become a mother myself to see all the work that's gone into keeping many of those alive, but they're some of my favorite things about the season. Pajamas on Christmas eve is one of those. Another is the formal Christmas dinner we have as a family the same night. The menu has changed slightly through the years, but it's always more or less the same. I remember years the entire meal was videotaped, and we teased my mom about how boring and ridiculous that was. Now I think it would be kind of interesting to see them!

Some of the traditions I've started with my own family are creating a gingerbread house over Thanksgiving and reading "The Happy Prince" by Oscar Wilde on Christmas Eve. I cry every single year. One of my favorite traditions though takes place on the first monday night in December. We have a special Family Home Evening where we read and Elder Holland's "Maybe Christmas Doesn't Come From a Store". I love that talk and consider it one of the best ever. Since we've had kids participate in this tradition we've picked different parts of the talk to read, but I can't resist reading it in its entirety after the kids have gone to bed. Then we throw in the original "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and have a holiday snack. It's been such a perfect start to our holiday season every year, I hope we always do it.