It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Or? What is this "or" business? Egg Nog AND hot chocolate.


2. Do you wrap presents or just put them under the tree on Christmas morning? We wrap, although I get worse and worse at it the more gifts I wrap. I read that the secret to beautiful wrapping is using lots of tape, so we'll see if this year's gifts look better than usual.



3. Colored lights on tree or white? My preference is for white lights, but last year Scott and the kids brought home a bunch of colored lights and the world didn't come to an end.


4. Do you hang mistletoe? no; there's plenty of kissing going on around here as it is. ;)



5. When do you put your decorations up? The first weekend of December. Never, never, never in November. I am militant on this. There shall be NO Christmas merriment prior to 1 December. I am even post-dating this entry, even though my poor, neglected blog is in desperate need of a post.


6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Sweet potatoes with coconut-pecan topping. "Red Jello" (that's family shorthand for strawberry jello with crushed pineapple, crushed bananas and crushed strawberries. Don't ask me why we don't call it crushed jello.) . Cornbread dressing with green chiles. What, you really thought I was going to pick ONE favorite?

(Even the best jello on the planet is not particularly photogenic.)

7. Favorite Christmas memory as a child? My dad would go downstairs and make a fire while we waited "patiently" at the top of the stairs. Then we would rush down the stairs, see what Santa had brought and open gifts.


8. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? My mom was usually the one losing her mind to open a gift on Christmas Eve, so we did growing up. Will and Katie don't, because--in case you missed the memo--I am the meanest mommy on the planet.


9. Do your Christmas tree decorations follow a theme? Yes. The theme is the same every year. I call it "A Very Aebi Christmas." Our tree has picture ornaments of the kids (with new ones added each year), ornaments from the places we've lived and ornaments that represent special events in our lives. When an ornament gets broken or goes missing, it's a big tragedy. (Michelle, if you're reading this, do you remember the time Katie told you that "Mommy's Cwistmas ownaments are vewy special to her and if I touch 'em, she'll kick my tail." She was, what, three?)


10. Do you remember your favorite gift? A favorite gift I received was an antique copy of a biography of Walt Disney, part of a series of books that I absolutely loved as a child. A favorite gift that I gave was a year long subscription to the Homemade Cookie of the Month Club. I put together a brochure listing each month's cookie with an oh-so-clever little description. Lemonade cookies to cool off in July, chocolate-covered cherry cookies in February...it was campy, but I was so proud of it.

(William at 2. My sous-chef and vice-president of quality-control)

11. What is your favorite holiday tradition? We make a gingerbread house together, although so far it has always been from a kit. A Good Mother would bake the gingerbread herself, but what can you do. We also decorate Christmas cookies, typically with as much icing and candy as you can load on. After Santa eats one, he pretty much goes into sugar shock.


12. What tops your tree? Will picked out a star from Target. He loves it. That's all I'm going to say about that.


13. What is your favorite Christmas song? I like just about all Christmas music. I got really sick of it last year though, because the Christian station we listen to was playing it 24/7, starting the day after Thanksgiving. (See #5 above.) Char had to talk me down and will probably have to do so again this year.


14.Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Story. I can't even think of it without starting to laugh. "Fragile! It must be Italian!"