deb's christmas meme

Bonus Monday blog , since I don't know when I will get a chance to post again in the next couple of days....Last weekend DebR did a meme and I said I'd have a go at it ..........

1. Apple cider, Eggnog, or Hot Chocolate? Definitely Hot Chocolate, don’t do alcohol any more!
2. Turkey or Ham? Ham, I love the way my mom used to make it, with the outside scored with criss-crosses, and cloves at each intersection, then pineapple rings added near the end, with a glaze of brown sugar, I’ve never managed to do it quite like she did!
Personally, I find turkey a bit dry, I prefer a big free range chicken, and because it is usually hot here at Christmas, we very often serve both the chicken and the ham as cold meats. I have a wicked recipe for cold chicken in a mild curry mayonnaise sauce, with mango pieces, which is a family favourite.
3. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? Well Santa is very good about wrapping them, and of course most people love unwrapping, but I am afraid, when Santa is not around and it is left to me, it is a bit of a hit and miss thing, I am so disorganized that I often forget such niceties as paper or sticky-tape, and the wrapping ranges from invisible, to newspaper (which takes FOREVER because I always end up reading all the pages and trying to find ones that will relate to what is inside!), or, as happened just this week, I used all that I had at home, which was a leftover scrap of fabric tied with ribbons on each end like a cracker. (As it was a very beautiful crushed bronze voile, the wrapping went down almost as well as the present!)
4. Colored lights or white on the tree? What tree? Seriously, not doing a real one this year, just a little wire thing with a few silver bells and presents on it, sorry, doing this meme is about as much Christmas spirit as I have managed to generate so far!
5. Do you get a fake or real-you-cut-it-yourself Christmas tree? Neither. When I do get one, it is growing in a tub in my garden and gets hauled in each year to sing for its supper, so to speak! I love real trees, but don’t like the waste of cutting one and then throwing away a poor wilted thing a few weeks later. (This is pretty hypocritical if you think about it, because I have no qualms about having cut flowers in the house on a regular basis, and they also have to get thrown out!) Who says a girl has to be consistent in her thinking?
6. Favorite Christmas song? The first Noel
7. How do you feel about Christmas movies? Neutral, if it’s not too cheesy or corny, I like it. (But they usually are!)
8. What is your favorite holiday dish? Although it is completely inappropriate for our climate, I love hot Christmas plum pudding with brandy butter sauce (did I say BRANDY? There goes that inconsistency again!)
9. When is it too early to start listening to Christmas music? Anything more than 2 weeks before, (the scrooge spirit strikes again!)
10. What is your favorite holiday smell? Pine of fir tree leaves, and cloves in the ham
11. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Are you kidding? I can hardly remember my own name some days, how am I supposed to remember that far back?
12. What kind of decorations are on your Christmas Tree? Refer to no 4.
13. Do you open a present or presents on Christmas Eve, or wait until Christmas Day? We eat ourselves into a coma on Christmas Eve, roll out of bed on Christmas day to resume eating (cold leftovers) and open presents!
14. Go to someone else’s house or they come to you? With family scattered all over the planet, we have to be flexible, go where the clans are gathering. But I do enjoy having it at home, if it is not a crazy busy year with no time to prepare in advance.
15. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Both