It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I stole this meme from Random Mommy (and added a 24th question to make it more Advent-calendary). Please feel free to use it, and let me know if you do so I can see your answers!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper

2. Real tree or artificial? artificial

3. When do you put up the tree? the weekend after Thanksgiving

4. When do you take the tree down? I try to drag it out as long as possible without being absurd, but it's usually down by the first weekend after New Year's Day.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, but only in moderation.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? When I was about 7, one of my aunts made me a Barbie house for my Heart family. She took four boxes and cut the flaps off, then turned them sideways and made them into rooms. She papered the walls with wrapping paper, cut tiny pictures of clocks and art out of craft catalogs for decoration, and put Contact paper that looked like wood on the floors. She made furniture for all the rooms out of small boxes. She made a couch, an armchair, a TV, and a coffee table for the living room, and stitched cushions for the couch and armchair. She made twin beds and dressers for the kids' room, and a bed with three working drawers for the parents' room. She made pillows and blankets for the beds. She bought a Barbie kitchen set, complete with a fridge full of food, which I loved to organize. It was really and truly amazing. I finally had to get rid of the rooms a few years ago. I wanted to put them in storage, but as my Barbie family had expanded, the tops of the boxes had become "upstairs" rooms, and they sagged and wore out. I saved all the furniture, though, in case I ever have a little girl.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? I have the set that my mom used to put up when I was a kid, which she got from one of her great aunts. I didn't put it out this year, because there wasn't a clear safe surface available.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Maybe my sister...though this year it wasn't too bad.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Usually MB, though this year I felt somewhat challenged.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? It's always somewhat of a bummer to receive something that is totally not me / not my style, especially when it's something like perfume or a bath item that I'll never use. I always try to remind myself that it really is the thought that counts, and that just being included in someone's Christmas celebration is a kindness. I do have a rather large collection of unused bath stuff, though.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail

12. Favorite Christmas movie? the version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with Yukon Cornelius and the Bumble

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I always promise myself I'll start in the summer, but I usually don't get anything until November, and I'm almost always still finishing up a few days before.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't recall ever giving a Christmas gift to someone else as a Christmas gift, but I have given away quite a few Christmas gifts, either to friends or just to Goodwill.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? A tie between the tuna noodle casserole my mom used to make and the homemade candy and cookies at my family's Christmas Eve get-together.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear all the way! They remind me of stars.

17. Favorite Christmas song? I don't really have just one favorite, though I'm partial to "The Little Drummer Boy."

18. Travel for Christmas or stay home? Since MB's family has generously moved their celebration to the Saturday before Christmas, we now travel to visit them and then come back here to see my family on Christmas Eve.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Of course! Can't everyone?

20. Angel or star on top of the tree? Star! I actually have the star that used to be on top of my parents' tree. When my mom decided to retire it, I saved it. I've been keeping it safe since I was in high school. Two years ago, it somehow didn't make it into the box with the rest of my ornaments, so last year I thought it was lost and was extremely sad. But I found it again, and it's back on top of the tree where it belongs this year.

21. Open presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? My mom's side of the family does a name exchange, and we open those gifts after dinner at my aunt's house on Christmas Eve. We usually head back to my parents' house around 9:30 to exchange gifts with them and my sister. MB and I save our gifts to each other for Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? People who let materialism and stress get in the way of the true spirit of the season

23. What do you love most about Christmas? I love the atmosphere and the togetherness. The older I get, the more it's just about spending time with the people I care about.

24. What's one gift you're really hoping for this year? the Dark Materials trilogy