Christmas Edition of "Getting to Know Your Friends"

I go this in my e-mail I thought I would post it here as a TAG (my first one ever). So If you are reading this (Ashley, Becky, Cami, Christina, Jennie, Jana, Kellie, Melanie, Mindy, Natalie, Tiffany, or whoever has the Christmas Spirit) you are IT.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I wrap all my presents and I love to make bows and use cute tie ons and tags too. Bags are fine for birthdays but you have to wrap for Christmas.

2. Real tree or Artificial? If we had an extra $75 bucks every year we would wander through a forest of majestic pines, Burke with a sparkling new Husqvarna chain saw pulling the girls on a little sleigh and me leading us in the singing of our favorite Christmas Carols, to find the perfect Christmas tree........Since it is the real world we have the artificial we got for $50 the day after Thanksgiving the first Christmas we were married. It still looks nice but every year we have to figure out how to put the silly lights on it again. Do you start at the top or the bottom? Someday we will have a real tree.....for now I just buy a $10 pine candle and dream.

3. When do you put up the tree? The day after Thanksgiving. Although I was tempted to put it up early this year. They started playing Christmas music on the radio the day after Halloween and I was in the Christmas mood the whole month of November

4. When do you take down the tree? When I finally feel I have too. Usually mid January

5. Do you like eggnog? Are you Kidding!!! After Liddy I can't handle dairy like I used to. I bought a whole box of lactaid digestive aid just so I could drink Eggnog. They are almost gone and we have probably spent $30 on Eggnog already. It is heaven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and extra nutmeg sprinkled on top. Try putting eggnog in your hot chocolate and pancake mix.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? A Wuzzle sleeping bag. It was not my Moms favorite since I slept with that silly thing until I was in Middle School.

7. Hardest person to buy for? I like a challenge so I make every person on my list hard to shop for. I love finding the perfect gift. (fine I confess it is my Mom hands down)

8. Easiest person to buy for? Jennah

9. Do you have a nativity scene? My Mom gave me my Willow Tree Nativity on my first Married Christmas and I still love it.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I love modern technology and I never buy stamps so most of you will get an e-mail card. If you get one in the mail you know your are "special" :)

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? There is no such thing. It is Christmas for Goodness sake!!!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? This question is so hard. I love so many ( you can refer to my list at the right) but if I could only watch one Christmas movie all season I would watch White Christmas on Christmas Eve. It is a Johnson Family tradition started by Burke's late father. He would smile to know we are keeping faith, although Burke falls asleep every year:)

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I bought some gifts the day after Christmas last year but the official start was August

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? In sheer desperation I have, but usually to a neighbor or a friend never to family

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Again you can refer to my favorite things list but I do splurge and get at least one Godiva Chocolate every Christmas. Last year Lindsey and I shared the tradition at Faneuil Hall in downtown Boston. This year I am going to try some from e-bay, wish me luck:)

16. Lights on the tree? Yes we light our tree every year and the mantle and the banister and the piano and the house and the bushes....

17. Favorite Christmas song? Silent Night is my favorite hymn and I love the Amy Grant Christmas CD it feels like home very time I listen to it.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We are spending our first Christmas without family here in MA(Burke's Mom spent Christmas with us last year). We wish we were going to UT but I know we will make some wonderful memories here at home.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? " You know Dasher and Dancer and Comet and Vixen. Prancer and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you Recall the most famous reindeer of all? Rudolph...." Is that cheating?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star but we are having a conflict this year. My tree is a very traditional classic tree so no light up or cutsie star for us. I bought a hand blown vintage red and gold glass star last year. The kind with the two balls and the tall spindle. It is beautiful on my tree. The only problem is our five year old who is very upset that we don't have a star on top of our tree. No matter how hard we try to explain that what we have is a type of star she knows better "But Mom it doesn't have any angles a star has to have ANGLES" Jennah is very literal. So I told Jennah if we could find an angled star that I liked we could get it. We went to Ebay and looked at all the stars. We found one we agreed for only $13 I fiured it was a samll sacrifice to make so her Christmas tree could be special. It comes in the mail soon so I hope I like it when it gets here. I really love my hand blown... so Jennah said we could try it next year so I wouldn't be so sad. We will see.....

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Christmas morning and again we will have a debate this year. Burke is a wake up at 6am opener and my family slept in, did our hair (so we would all be cute for pictures), opened stockings, ate breakfast and then we opened presents which Burke thinks is just a little long:) I guess we will have to find a compromise.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? People taking Christ out of Christmas.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? My colors are red and gold and I love vintage hand blown figural ornaments. Particularly Santa Claus themed.

24. What do you want for Christmas this year? I would like to re-upolster the chair for my living room for Christmas but I am settling for a long down coat. Oh and we got a digital camera a little early.

25. Who is most likely to respond to this? Santa is watching so all of you better be nice:)