I forgot on Friday! Friday Five!

[elusivek]

I'll also have a Portuguese post coming...

1. What is a favorite Christmas/Hanukah tradition of yours?
Our family basically only has 1 thing that we do every year - when Grandma was alive, it was Christmas Gathering with EVERYONE at her place. Now that Grandma is not here anymore, it's Christmas Gathering at my home.

2. Do you listen to Christmas music while wrapping/bagging gifts?
Yeah, usually we do. The thing we used to do when CDs were still in use, we had an age old Richard Clayderman Christmas album and it's what we would put on... If we had a working CD player we would do that still. I've got a playlist of Christmas stuff on my iPod and I play it when I set up the speakers outside where we wrap the presents (big table).

3. How soon do you start playing holiday music?
Once we start feeling like Christmas. This year, I'm still not feeling like Christmas. So I'm playing something that feels Christmassy but is not Christmas music.

4. If you could change one thing about the holidays, what would it be?

I'm actually sick of hosting the gathering. There are kids now. Their ages range from 4 to 9. They are boisterous. We have dogs. 4 of them. It's really tiring to host, and make sure the kids are taught how to respect dogs, and make sure the dogs are not overwhelming the guests... then after the party, the cleaning up, the leftover-food-that-tastes-yuck-so-that's-why-there-are-leftovers, washing the dishes, finishing the rest of the food in the followeing 3 or 4 days, receiving crap not so useful presents but you can't give it to other people because there are no birthdays, or other Christmas Parties, etc....

5. Have you been naughty or nice? Remember, Santa is listening.

I haven't done anything outrightly evil, I have a clear conscience of the things I've done, so I believe I could be considered to having been nice. But then again, Santa is judgemental, so I'm not really expecting anything from him either :-P It's funny though, I don't think i've every been given the "Santa Talk" (that I could remember), I've always known he's just a figure. So I dunno. Not so magical to me.

Comments

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

Yikes, it doesn't sound as if this is the happiest time of the year for you. Have you suggested someone else hosting for a change or suddenly having to be out of town over the holidays(so let's make a vacation out of it)? Being away at Christmas is sort of a nice break from the madness.

Wow, you never had the Santa mystique growing up? That's very sad, but these are great answers.

[notte0.livejournal.com]

I asked my mom about it, she just says "your dad is chef anyway, and we have the largest apartment amongst everyone, so we'll host it"

oooooh, I dare not go away during Christmas, though next year 2016 if I manage to get the time off, I am planning to getaway to Japan for a cultural exchange thing for 2 weeks :-)

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

Good for you! We might not be home next year, but we will see. You can never tell what might happen during the year.