Christmas Tag

I found this over on the Pagan Mom Blog and again at Hello Better Than Ever!

~Copy and paste the questions to your blog

~Then Tag 5 or more of your favorite blogs and leave them a comment telling them they have been tagged. (this I will not do, I do invite you to cut and paste and post if you want to. Like Pagan Mom Blog, I find these are good filler and they do give a little of my personality too.)
~When you post your blog, please spread some Holiday Cheer, and leave a link back to Heather’s Blog as well as the one to the blog of the person who tagged you.
The Questions:

1.) Have you started your Christmas shopping? In process. I should be done this weekend but I always find little things to add on as the weeks go along especially for filling socks


2.) Tell me one of your special traditions. Xmas eve we open a special gift that contains a new set of PJ's and a new ornament for the tree.

3.) Are you a “Black Friday” shopper? ummm not if I can help it and I can help it:) , in Canada it hasn't been the same type of hoopla as in the US so other than mercenary shopaholics heading over the border to take part there isn't a huge rush to go shopping or to offer big sales to bring in the crowds.

4.) When do you put up your tree? We try to get it up a month before the big day and take it down in the first week of the new year. This year we were all a little sick so the tree went up a few days before the beginning of the month

5.) Do you travel for Christmas or just stay home? Up until last year we traveled to Alberta for the holidays, flying back and forth and renting cars and all the running around to make sure everyone gets a good visit is too expensive and too exhausting. This will be our second holiday season at our own home.


6.) What is your funniest Christmas memory? Up until last year it was the of one of my nephews about 4 years old opening present after present and getting more and more excited over each gift as he opened them. He's open a gift, gush excitedly and toss it to the nearest adult which happened to be grandpa, as he asked "can you open this?" and then turn to the next gift and do the same thing only with more excitement. Buy the end of the frenzy Grandpa was surrounded by a small mountain of toys and was still wrestling with the packaging of the first gift.

Last year it was the Peanut opening gifts at our friends house before dinner. She had brought with her a stuffy, one of her presents she'd opened in the morning and as she opened her first gift from her Caitlan, she held on pretty tightly to it. The first present was opened to reveal A treasure box decorated with a Chinese dragon that Caitlan had made for her, down went the stuffy and the box was examined minutely. This was the best present ever! Next came present number 2. Peanut was not interested in opening another gift, she had a treasure box what more could she want? So Auntie helped (while Peanut watched still holding her box)open the next present, a pair of Ladybug boots, the treasure box was thrown to the floor and the boots were in it's place being crushed to the Peanut's chest while she bounced up and down singing "ladybug, ladybug, ladybug!" The bug boots were the best present ever! Peanut was not interested in opening another gift, she had a treasure box and bug boots, what more could she want? Present number 3 was brought out, again Auntie helped while peanut tried on her new boots and rescued her treasure box from the couch. Gift number three opened to reveal a giant barn with farm animals... can you guess what happened? The box again was tossed aside as the barn became the focus of the peanut's attention, this was the best present ever!

This year looks to be even more fun now that the Peanut is a little older and a even more excited about the holidays.


7.) What is my most favorite Christmas show of all time?
I have two favourite shows that are must sees each year. It's a Wonderful Life and of course the Chuck Jones, Dr Seuss collaboration of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.


8.) Do you do your own baking? Absolutely with the help of the Peanut. If we are heading to Alberta the baking is still done by my Grandma, she used to do tons of baking, five kinds of cookies, tarts and squares. She's in her 90's now and has cut down on the baking, and now makes shortbread and tarts only.

9.) Fake or real tree? Because we used live in an apartment we have an artificial tree because real trees are a fire hazard.

10. What day (as a mom) does the actual panic set in to get it all done?
Anything that is really really important we get done first so I don't really panic. If some thing's not done by the big day why worry? I was the same with planning our handfasting, nothing will ever be as perfect as you imagine it will be, so it's best to be flexible and go with the flow.

11.) Are you still wrapping presents on Christmas eve? Sometimes yes sometimes no. See above.


12.) What is your favorite family fun time at Christmas? We try to get to the Stanley Park Bright Nights Train. It's put on by the fire department and they collect money for the burn fund. This year we plan on donating a little more than we usually do to offer our gratitude to the fire fighters who put out the fire in our building last February. We can't say thank you to these brave men enough.

13.) What is my favorite Christmas craft? All the crafts I do for the holidays are my favourite, we try to do something new each year. This year I made an Advent Calendar for the Peanut to open each day leading up to the 25th.

I make my own holiday cards, which I also sell online (although at this time there I have nothing in stock at the shop) and I've been collaborating with the husband to make tree ornaments.

This year for Yule the Peanut and I will be decorating the tree in the backyard with some edibles for the birds and squirrels in our neighborhood.

14.) Christmas music? Yes or No? If so, whats your favorite song? I could say NO NO NO but I have some favourites that I can listen to all year long:
The Raveonettes Christmas Song, and Aimee Mann's Your a Mean One Mr Grinch are at the top of the all year long list. Also on the Yes list is the Pouges Fairytale of New York and I've been listening to Leon RedBone and Zooey Deschanel's Baby Its Cold Outside. I try not to go into the malls or shops too much during the holiday season so that I can enjoy the holiday music better and not be super annoyed by it.

15.) When do you hope to finish all your Christmas shopping? As in the first question, I hope to be done this weekend. Hope is the key word, but no pressure :)