JUST FOR FUN

I'm playing along with Nicole over at He Gives Me Grace.

1. Do you do a real or fake Christmas tree?

We've been doing a real tree since 2002. I love it. We find a tree farm near-by...sometimes not so near-by, bundle up the kids, grab leashes for the dogs, find the sled for Faith and head out for our Christmas Tree shopping adventure. There's something special about finding just the right tree and watching Scott cut it down. It's certainly not as "convenient" as an artificial tree, but the tradition of picking it out as a family...priceless.

2. What is your favorite Christmas tradition with your family?

I would have to say picking out the tree. Or maybe it's the kids each having a tree in their bedroom? Or is it watching Polar Express? Could be the count-down to Christmas box with a daily treat for the kids starting on December 1? I just can't decide...they're all favorites!

3. Do you celebrate Thanksgiving in your neck of the woods? And, if so....how many calories do you think you consumed yesterday?

We have started to alternate the Thanksgiving holiday with our families. One year it's a Theis holiday (which is in the town we live)...the next a Johnson holiday (30 miles east of us). The rest of the weekend is usually spent with Scott's family since this is the one time of year his brother comes home for a holiday. However, this year we made a decision that Saturday belongs to us...just the four of us...so we could get a good portion of our Christmas decorating done. Our goal...well...MY goal...is to someday be able to afford "escaping" every year during this holiday. Just the four of us...leaving on Wednesday evening and returning Sunday...and making our own traditions and celebrating our way.

Calories...too darn many to count.

4. Have you started decorating for Christmas yet?

Our house...inside and out...is decorated for Christmas...except for the tree. Since Parker's birthday is December 5, we decided early in his life that we would wait until after his birthday to put up the tree. We will go on our tree-shopping adventure on Saturday, December 12. Scott and I will grab a glass of wine...maybe two...and put the lights on the tree after the kids go to bed. On Sunday, December 13, after church, the kids will help put on the ornaments.

It's funny how I love to decorate the tree now that I am an adult because as a kid I used to hate this job. HATE IT! My mom...to this day...hates decorating the tree. I tell her it was the one time of year she would swear. My job was to follow behind her holding the string of lights while she me.tic.u.lous.ly place the lights on the tree. The lights had to be per.fect. and there needed to be lots.of.them...many times no less than five hundred. The wires could.not.show. If the wires did show...that string of lights would be unstrung from the tree and we.had.to.start.over! Then there was the garland...which I never.ever.liked. I thought it made the tree look cheap. This job was like the lights...mom stringing...me tagging along behind holding the end of the garland...thinking how I was never going to use garland on my tree. When the lights and garland jobs were finally complete...and none of it was ever considered per.fect., then it was time for the ornaments. They had to be placed symmetrically around the tree...making sure that if one was placed at a certain point then it must be "centered" between the ornaments in the row above it and below it. All the while there was grumbling and complaining...and I wasn't having much fun either!

This year on the day before Thanksgiving, my mom was decorating their tree and we saw my parents that evening at a church service at our church. As soon as she mentioned to me what she did that day, her facial expressions turned immediately to the one she has every year when she decorates the tree. I just laugh at her now. She's missing out really FUN experience! Every year I tell her how much I hated decorating the tree when I was younger. This year she disgustingly asked me, "So why in the world do you like doing it now?" I said, "Because I do it my way now!" She just shook her head and that was the end of the tree-decorating conversation. It's funny to me now. Then...not so much...but now...hilarious!

5. What is your favorite Christmas cookie?

The little peanut butter ones with the chocolate Kiss in the center. Ooooo...there are also some super thin ginger cookies in various Christmas cookie shapes that come in a tin from Williams-Sonoma. They are melt-in-your-mouth-delicious!

6. What is your favorite child-hood Christmas memory?

Certainly not decorating the Christmas tree!