Countdown Clocks
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper on rolls so you can wrap any shape or size.
2. Real tree or Artificial? I would like to have a real one and we have on odd occasions, but mostly we stick to an artificial one. We got a new one a couple of years back with fibre optic lights. It's very pretty. Real ones can cause problems for the dogs because of the needles.
3. When do you put up the tree? We used to put it up on the first day of the school holidays which would be around the 20th of December. The last few years we have had it up about the beginning of December. It seems to make all the effort more worthwhile if you have it up for longer. I don't really like to see decorations up before the start of December. Just my personal feeling! I am hoping this year that my 2 grand babies will enjoy it.
4. When do you take the tree down? On 12th night. IE the 6th of January.
5. Do you like eggnog? I think that is what us British call Advocaat? I don't like it on its own but years ago my Mum would mix it with lemonade and call it a Snowball. As teenagers we were allowed this at Christmas and I really liked it. Bet it's fattening!!!
6. Favourite gift received as a child? A Raleigh bike when I was about 10 years old. It was a real grown up bike and I had it for years.
7. Hardest person to buy for? All the adult men! It's also very hard now to buy anything for my Mum. She doesn't need anything and has no use for anything. She doesn't understand that it is Christmas. Last year we donated money to the Patients Association.
8. Easiest person to buy for? My 2 Grand babies!!! I could buy them a million things but I am trying to be restrained!
9. Do you have a Nativity scene? Yes, just a small one.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I used to send out literally hundreds of cards but over the last few years I have cut right down. I am trying to be green and think of the trees! I do send real cards in the mail to relatives and close friends but I also email cards to some others in a bid to cut down further. I leave Simons relatives up to him and he usually just doesn't get round to it!
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A make up gift box from Simon years and years ago. I had asked for one but he got me a cheaper version and the colours were horrid. It was revolting!
12. Favourite Christmas Movie? Rudolph the red nosed reindeer!!! When I was a child this was always on every year on Christmas Eve and it seemed to signify the start of Christmas for me. Recently I have enjoyed the film “Love Actually”, which may not qualify as a Christmas movie but it is set at Christmas!
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I start properly after the October half term has finished which makes it around the beginning of November. I have occasionally got things throughout the year though, when I have seen something that I know someone will like. I try and spread the cost.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? If you mean have I given it to someone else as a gift then the answer is no. I have occasionally recycled things by giving them to our local charity shop!
15. Favourite thing to eat at Christmas? It has to be turkey! And all the trimmings, and all the sweets, and all the cakes and all the buffet stuff.... we have a big buffet for supper on Christmas day and Boxing Day.
16. Lights on the tree? We used to have the strings of lights but we now have a tree with fibre optic lights which I think are much safer. You still hear dreadful stories of house fires due to malfunctioning Christmas lights. I like the lights to be coloured.
17. Favourite Christmas song? I wish it could be Christmas everyday! By Wizard.
I wish it could be Christmas every day, by Roy Wood and Wizard.
Merry Christmas everybody, by Slade.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? As a child we spent nearly every Christmas at My Aunt June and Uncle Rons house with our cousins and other family. Most years we would sleep at home on Christmas Eve so that we woke up in our own beds. That was good.
However by mid morning we would have to leave behind all our presents and get in the car to drive to London. I hated it! I mean I loved it when I got there and I have great memories of those Christmases but I really didn't like having to leave all my new things behind.
When we were first married we lived in Devon, a long way from family and so we used to travel up to Stevenage each year. It was good but a hell of a trek especially with young children and all the stuff we had to take. We reached a point when we got up three children, that it was time for our own family to be together in our own home, so that our children would have happy Christmas memories.Since then, we stay at home and if you want to see us then you have to come to us.
I suspect over the next few years that this may change as our children are starting their own families. Maybe we will go to them or maybe we will just continue to stay at home and see them when they visit. I don't want to start having to arrange my Christmas around which Childs house I am supposed to visit. It's difficult with 5 children!
At the moment the married ones generally take it in turns to have either Christmas day or Boxing Day with us and the other day with the in-laws. It alternates each year. This year we get to have Coralie, John and baby Evan for his first Christmas.
I do remember very well the first year that our family were split up for Christmas. It was 2001. Coralie went, with her then fiance Rob, to spend Christmas with his parents in Spain. It was very strange with a child missing and we didn't like it.
I had to get used to it though as Saskia was missing for 2 years running in 2004 and 2005 while she was living in Paris. She couldn't come home as she was performing on Christmas day. We did talk to her on the phone and it was all very emotional. I flew out each year in November with all her Christmas presents though and that was really nice. Hard to leave her behind though! I think I'm used to it now and whoever is here is here.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Hmmm, yes I think so..... Rudolph, Donner, Blitzen, oh gosh, I'll have to look them up now!
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? It used to be a small angel now it's quite a big star.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Always Christmas day. When the children were younger and had stockings we would always let them bring them to our bedroom. The rule was not before 8am and they had to bring us coffee and biscuits! We could hear them going down stairs about 7am and then we would hear the sounds of giggling as they came up with our coffees.
There would be a very tentative little tap on the door and then they would leap into the room! All 5 of them would sit around on our bed or the floor to open their stockings, which were generally smaller things, but not necessarily cheaper things! This all took quite a while and our bedroom would be littered with paper. Simon would then go down to do breakfast while we all got washed and dressed.
The big presents would be opened over the course of the day. Some before dinner and some after. This will be the first year that we have not done stockings. As those of you who have been with me for a few years will know, Simon has been nagging me for years to stop as they are all now grown up.
I so like doing them though, so the last few years I have done one for those that have actually slept here Christmas Eve and have therefore been here first thing in the morning. I have realised, finally, that it really is time to stop now that they are all adults and we have grandchildren.
I am thinking of starting some new family traditions though. I have 2 ideas. The first is a Snowman who will contain a small gift for each person. This stems from my childhood as June and Ron always had a Snowman. The other idea is a small table present for each person who is here for dinner. We'll see.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? How it seems to start earlier and earlier in the shops. John Lewis has Christmas stuff out in September! The TV adverts get very annoying too.
23. Favourite ornament theme or colour? We don't have a theme or a colour; it's just a hodge podge of things collected over the years. Most of our stuff is old, although I do usually buy a few new bits each year. We have bits that the children have made over the years too.
Last year I got a bauble with Ellies first Christmas and the date printed on the back. I got one for my tree and one for theirs. I got the same thing for Evan this year. I want it to be a new tradition. I will get one for each new grandchild and then in years to come they can each hang their own bauble on Nanny and Granddads tree.
24. Favourite for Christmas dinner? Wasn’t this question in here earlier? I like turkey, I’m a traditional girl!
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A nice relaxing time with children, grandchildren, doggies and of course Simon! It would be good if the babies don’t cry and the doggies don’t bark or whine! We do need everyone to remember that the dogs are a large part of our Christmas and we like them to be included. Hopefully everyone will be pleased with their presents and we will get to play with the little ones.
Now with reference to question 19, the answer is: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and of course Rudolph!
The names originated from the popular children's story – “ Twas the Night Before Christmas” supposedly written by Clement Clarke Moore in 1823. However recently in 2000 an English professor has proved that the original Christmas rhyme was written by Major Henry Livingston, Jr. (1748-1828) in 1807 and called - Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas. Moore got credited with the nursery rhyme after an acquaintance published it in a newspaper. Over the years he made many alterations to it, which explains why there are various spellings of the reindeer names - Donner means thunder in German and Donder means thunder in Dutch. So now you know!
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