6 posts tagged “christmas”
I was just sent this by langlemummy by e-mail, but I thought I'd vox it instead!
You people know what to do - if you have a moment, let us know a little more about you. I'm going to tag Brittanymdp, cuz she was the last one to tag me, but plz, anyone else, feel free!
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? – gift bags are easier to use and reuse
2. Real tree or Artificial? – artificial, cuz I bought one while we lived in an apartment that didn't allow real trees, so I want to get as much use out of it as possible
3. When do you put up the tree? – only when we're home for Christmas day. This year we're traveling, so we don't have a tree up.
4. When do you take the tree down? – maybe a week after New Year's.
5. Do you like eggnog? - no, mostly because I'm lactose intolerant. But if I do buy it, say, for guests, my husband launches into this story about his first winter in Canada, and how he heard about eggnog, and tromped through two feet of snow to the 7-11 and bought a half litre, and tromped home again, got himself all ready for it, poured a glass, and nearly puked, it was so disgusting. He poured the rest down the drain, along with all his hopes for his new life in Canada. So no, we don't drink eggnog in our house.
6. Favourite gift received as a child? - if you can believe it, I can't remember a toy that I really wanted. It was mostly clothing, like desert boots, or granny boots, or some other funky item that could be ordered from the Sears catalogue. I think I was still a child when I got my first cappuccino machine, that was awesome. The following year I got a coffee grinder. Wicked. And then there was the time that greenhouse gave me her old hairdryer in an Eaton's clothing box. For Christmas.
7. Hardest person to buy for? – Getalife. He wants nothing.
8. Easiest person to buy for? – Getalife. I got him nothing.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? – I don't think so. I've bought a number overseas, but give them to my mom, she's the collector.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? – Mail!!!
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Vegetable shaped candles, same as langleymummy. So wrong.
12. Favourite Christmas Movie? – Bad Santa. And It’s a Wonderful Life.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? - as soon as I finish this post.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? - I've re-gifted wine and hard liquor that Getalife gets from clients. But he hasn't gotten anything this year, and his business partners have also noticed that there have been very few gifts from clients this year. Interesting.
15. Favourite thing to do? – Be with my family, and by that I mean the Christians, because they get it.
16. Do you turn on your outside Christmas lights? - we don't have any yet, maybe next year.
17. Favourite Christmas song? O Come All Ye Faithful has been a longtime favourite, but ReRe singing The Little Drummer Boy is rapidly moving up the charts.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? - yup.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel crocheted by my gramma.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? – Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? – The deadlines. Too much stuff to get done. Oh, and living with a non-Christian who just doesn't get it.
23. Favourite ornament theme or color? – I'm torn between homemade ornaments, and a theme tree. I love it when each ornament has some significance, but I LOVE the peacock-themed ornaments, all those beautiful blues and browns, so not Christmas, but so gorgeous......
24. Favourite for Christmas dinner? – I think I've narrowed it down to turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing and catherole. It's the same for Thanksgiving.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? – an extension on my consulting contract. Work gives me meaning.
26. Who is most likely to respond to this? – I'm not putting pressure on anyone - I want everyone to have as little stress right now as possible. Merry Christmas!!
What's on your holiday wishlist?
I've only asked for a couple things for Christmas, one that I know my husband would be happy to get me, and one that he is gnashing his teeth about:
I really want a BOSE Wave radio. I listen to CBC Radio perpetually, and the radio I have in the kitchen right now is a 20 year old clock radio from Canadian Tire. I'm not going to throw it out, I just need it back on my night stand. Plus I never listen to CDs or downloaded music anymore because this clock radio only has a tape player. That doesn't even play in both directions. Am I asking too much here? Anyway, I'm quite sure my husband will get this for me. Which leads us to the present I'm quite sure he won't get me:
I want to switch our electricity provider to Bullfrog Power. All the energy that Bullfrog Power purchases and releases to the grid is from wind and low-impact hydro power sources. No fossil fuels, no nuclear. Basically what happens is they put a meter on your house, and release to the grid the same amount of wattage as you use. It does cost more - 8.9 cents per kilowatt hour, which is significantly higher than the current average price of 5.06 cents/kWh listed on the Independent Energy Suppliers of Ontario website, which is why he would be doing this as a present to me. Once my home business is booming and I can pay the electrical bill myself, I'll have more say in the matter, but while he's footing the bill, we still haven't agreed on the switch as of yet. But Bullfrog Energy helps you do a home audit to bring down your electricity costs, so in the end, the bill could still be the same per month. Anyway, we'll see if this turns out to be a green Christmas.
Audio: What's your favorite carol or holiday song?
Well, it may not be my favourite yet, but I'm enjoying listening to Jars of Clay's version of O Little Town of Bethlehem:
No kidding, I first heard it on a free CD I got at Canadian Tire while buying new Christmas tree lights, and liked it so much (reminded me of early Lightning Seeds), I downloaded their full Christmas album. See, giving music away for free does make people buy more of it!
Now that Christmas has past, I can show you what I knit my sister for her present:
It's a scarf where the cable pattern creates x's and o's, so whoever wears it is wrapped in hugs and kisses. It's called the Besotted Scarf, a pattern I pulled from the Hello Yarn site. It's a great pattern if you have a yarn that you really want to use, since you basically just pick the right needles to match the yarn weight, and go for it. I used Manos del Uruguay Cotton Stria in colour number 203, a mossy green that is kettle dyed by hand, so it has a "marbleized, subtley striated effect", therefore, no dye lots, each skein is different. But I was able to buy three that were pretty close, and you can't tell where one starts and the other ends. I used #7 needles; I probably could have gone smaller, but I'm a rather tense knitter, and I like the depth of the cables from the looser knit.Here's my sister wearing her new scarf at Christmas:
She looks pretty pleased, eh? She really deserves to be showered with hugs and kisses, she flew out from Vancouver a couple days after I had my c-section, and really took great care of me. There were others who were also trying to take care of me, but I have a rather independent personality, and it took another Aries from the same gene pool to get me to stop trying to control things and admit I needed a lot of help. Love you, Beck!
The really funny thing is, she got me another knitting project for Christmas. Check out the Cap'puccino below. This is funny, cuz she used to be a frappuccino addict (once an addict, tho....). It's got the yarn, needles and pattern to make a cute little cap. When I finish my current project, I'll start on that, maybe I'll need a cap next winter, if we ever have winter again.....
Back to Christmas, I also got a cool little row counter from my other sister, Torie, which was very useful until I left it out by mistake when all the kids came over for Christmas dinner. Seems the little clicking noise it makes and the numbers rolling by are just too tempting for little hands. I found it at the end of the night reset to zero. Great.
I also bought myself a knitting desk calendar that has a new pattern every day of the year. So far, however, I haven't seen anything I would want to knit, but February looks promising.
Phew. That was an intense ten days. We flew out to BC to spend Christmas with my family, taking lil'ReRe on his first trip out west to meet the rest of his family. Thank goodness, the flights there and back were relatively uneventful, and ReRe humoured us most of the way, which is amazing, considering how long a trip it was. This was also quite remarkable since he got his first tooth on Christmas, and his second on Boxing Day. Thankfully, his doctor suggested a homeopathic treatment, Camilia, for teething, which worked very well. (Almost too well, he seemed a little too pleased to take it; that might be due to its main ingredient, belladonna/deadly nightshade). Anyway, my sister Becky did a great job of summarizing the highlights here, including the Stanley Park Christmas train and all the visits with family. It will take a few days to add in my little bits and pieces, but here are a few random moments:
lil'ReRe while we waited for the ferry to the Island:
Meeting my best friend's daughter, Abigail Margot, who was our flower girl:
I'll post some more tomorrow, I've gotta go to bed now......
Ya, we've been a little stressed lately, so I found time again this year to go to the One of a Kind Show. And this year, I scored a free pass from Lex's in-laws, the Thorpes, of Thorpe Toys. I love handmade stuff, and they make classic wooden toys. 
For lil'ReRe, for his first Christmas, I got a train with a train whistle built in (is that you, Ger?), and a 
cute little fork lift that really works.
I also got him a bag of little instruments for kids - a bell, a triangle, a shaker, and a couple other wooden noise makers - from Graham Walker.
Then I cruised the food aisles, being completely shameless with the samples. This year I found some chocolate-free truffles made by Confiserie Tessier dit Lavigne Confectionary (yup, I'm allergic to chocolate, if you didn't know), and some cardamon/orange shortbread from Coach House Shortbread. I managed to get away from their booth without also buying the stilton-rosemary or any of the other amazing varieties. Their label actually says "Shortbread may be purchased at the bakery by appointment only." They should also be available only by prescription. If I were Lex, you'd see pics of these food, but my photos just didn't do them justice.
My friend Melinda took me to see the clothes at Frances Felt, where I found a really cute skirt with a ball of yarn and knitting needles on it. Again, I'd show you a photo, but my pics aren't very good.
And for my huzband to give me for Christmas, I bought this Yummy Mummy apron from Domistyles. Really, how did he know?
