Another game : )

My sisters sent me this one through email, but I think it's more fun to blog it. You guys do it too : ) I tag.... ALL of you! : )

Welcome to the 2007 Christmas Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends!
Don't be a Scrooge!!!

1. Jesus or Santa? Jesus

2. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? both

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? white

4.a. Do you hang mistletoe? nope
4.b. Do you have a wreath? Yes, a fake one with lights and a snowman. It's totally cute. : )
4.c. Do you hang garland? yes

5. When do you put up your decorations? John likes to start right after Thanksgiving, definitely by the first week of December. The thought of it makes me very tired...

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Stuffed fillet mignon, leg of lamb or cornish hens... any gourmet food suites me fine : )

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: Granny and Gramps. They were a crucial part of our Christmases.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? 2nd grade, Show-n-Tell.

9. Do you open gifts Christmas Eve? One

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? white lights, silver beads, hand-blown glass ornaments (Old World or Christopher Radko are my favorites.) Each ornament is sentimental.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it. (Like Pat says "whoopee!")

12. Can you ice skate? yes

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Two years ago, when John gave me a bracelet with all of the children's names on it, and one blank space for another child's name... He was ready for baby number five!


14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Being with my family

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert(s)? pie, any kind... except mince meat!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? opening a gift the night before...

17. What tops your tree? An angel that John bought probably 10 years ago.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving. But I cannot deny, I LOVE opening presents!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Drummer Boy

20.a. Candy Canes? sure, one or two
20.b. If so are they usually gone by Christmas Day? no

21. Do you feel Christmas is too commercialized? yup

I've Been Tagged This Time...

Rules: Once tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Then post the rules before your list, and list 8 random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to 8 other people, visit their sites, and leave a comment letting them know they’ve been tagged.
Jamie tagged me, and I copied this text directly off her blog, can you tell, J?
1) I went to kindergarten twice. (No, I didn't fail...(come on, People, aren't you my friends?!) In NJ (where I was born), they start K at age 4, then we moved to Charlotte when I was 5.. which is the age they start K here.)
2) I believed in Santa Claus until second grade (in fact, I brought a show-n-tell from my grandfather (aka "Gramps") and told my entire classroom they were Rudolph's REAL bells! Yep, my Gramps had told me so. That was the day I learned Santa was a lie. *sniff
3) When I was fifteen, I said I never wanted to have kids. I said a lot of things in those days....
4) I once wanted a hundred cats. *blech*
5) I once wanted to marry Michael Jackson. (ok, I'm trying to be humble here....)
6) I drew the tattoo for one of my bosses. A "Gold's Gym" guy. (I recently was thinking about how strange that is.)
7) I pierced my own ears... five times, and I pierced my brother's ear.
8) I had my first apartment when I was a senior in highschool. Bad move.
9) I once collected spiders. ew.
10) And ants, which ate through the baggie inside my desk at school and invaded the classroom. They were red ants.... I got called to the principal's office (and they called my parents!). Kinda harsh, eh?
Ok, I tag Becky, Jess, Jeanie, Lindsay, Lisa, Michelle, Reba, Meghann and Shawnda (again). Have fun, Ladies!

Tag, You're IT!

Let's have some fun : ) Most of my friends are relatively new bloggers, but how new are you? Too new to know what to do when you've been tagged?!
Here's how you play this one: List seven or more of your favorite children's books and their authors. Afterwards tag a few of your friends and let the game go on. (And how about a favorite book-reading picture to go along with the theme???) : )

My favorites are (not listed in any particular order):
1) It Could Always Be Worse by Margot Zemach (humorous tale about not complaining).
2)Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop
3)The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes (I love Eleanor Estes in general, but this is a particularly good one for little ones!)
4)The Biggest Bear by Lynd Ward (I love animal stories!)
5) Blueberries for Sal (Classic! Love reading it to each of my kids... Kurplink, kurplunk, kurplank)
6)Night Noises by Mem Fox (Reminds me of something my family would have done for our sweet granny and gramps.)
7) Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox (sweet story about an old woman remembering things from her childhood).
8)Dear Juno by Soyung Pak (another good one about a little boy's grandma and their relationship through writing letters).
9) Stelluna by Janell Cannon (about a little bat who gets befriended by a bird family after being separated from his mommy).
10) A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kasza (a heart-warming tale about adoption).
Um. I know I'm leaving some out. (Best-Loved Doll by Rebecca Caudill, and Curious George (the old ones) by HA Rey, and Mike Mulligan et al by Virginia Lee Burton... all so good!)
But now I have to list my favorites for older children:
1)Milly Molly Mandy by Joyce Lankester Brisley(all mommies with little girls need to read this! The second one is great too, More Milly Molly Mandy)
2) Betsy Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace (a favorite series, wonderfully sweet stories)
3)Kildee House by Rutherford Montgomery (another animal book, so fun to read with my Noah)
4)Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat (more animals)
5)Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan (very adventurous and historical WWII story)
6)All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor (so innocent and wholesome)
7)The Borrowers by Mary Norton (creative story about tiny people, loved the whole series!)
8)Secret of the Andes (totally cried at the end when the little boy figures out who his family is...)
9)A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck(another tear-jerker about two children and their hilarious grandmother and their wonderful summers together)
10)My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett (imaginative, one of Spencer's all-time faves!)
OK, I might have to do this once a year. I know I am leaving out tons, like all of the DeJong books (Along Came a Dog, Shadrack, Hurry Home Candy...) and of course Beverly Cleary's Henry Huggins series, and Ralph S. Mouse, (my boys LOVED them!), The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare (I cried on that one, too)....what about Charlotte's Web by EB White... so classic!) OK, so what books did you love reading to your kids?
I tag:
Becky at Madeira Madness
Lindsay at the gibson crew
Jamie at bringingbeautyfrommypain
Meghann at thehasty4
Reba at nickandrebeccaswan
Shawnda at spiritofadoption
Lisa at 3orange1blonde
and Jess at muchmooregrace
Have fun!