Traditions

I stole this from Jill.  Sorry Jill.  I thought it was cute and I actually read all of her answers.  I don't necessarily expect anyone to read all of mine. I am mostly writing this down for "documentation."  Documentation for what I don't know.  I just like to write things down.
1. Does your family send out Christmas cards? I really try, but it is so hard to keep track of everyone's address.
2. How soon do you start shopping? As soon as I can.  I started after Thanksgiving.  I shop online!
3. Who do you shop for? My parents, Kyle's mom, brothers, sisters, niece.  My family just started drawing names.  That makes it nice.

Decorations
4. Do you put up a Christmas tree? yes
5. If so, is it fake or real? always real, but I have thought about getting a fake one
6. Do you like tinsel? Not really.  I think it is pretty but I think it looks ugly on my tree.  Tinsel belongs...well somewhere else.
7. Do you use homeade or storebought ornaments? We have mostly store bought ones. I have an ornament collection that I enjoy.  I love themed trees but I can't bring myself to buy all the stuff to make a themed tree.  I also like to change me decorations a lot so it seems like a waste.
8. Do you put Christmas lights outside your house? I put some lights outside this year.  I should take a picture.  It is CUTE!
9. Do you put lights on the tree? Who doesn't put lights on their tree.  I like lights.
10. How about popcorn and cranberries? We did that once when I lived in Logan. It was fun, but as Jill said it was time consuming. I have thought about doing it again because it was really pretty.
11. Is there a wreath hanging on your door? Yes and I made it myself!

Christmas Eve
12. Do you celebrate it? Yes.  This is the night we spend with Kyle's family.  As a kid we always would read Christmas stories, drive around in our jammies to look at everyone's lights and eat donuts.  I always loved Christmas Eve.
13. Do you hang up your stocking? Yes.  My parents have a real fireplace and one day I will too.  I had to get creative with the stockings this year.
14. Does your family read "Twas the night before Christmas?" Yes and lots of other Christmas stories.

Favorite
15. Christmas Movie: Elf hands down!
16. Character from any Christmas Movie: Elf
17. Christmas Song: Carol of the Bells (especially when it is sung with a beautiful choir and bells)
18. Christmas Memory: I don't have a real specific memory that sticks out as my favorite.

This or That
19. Give or Receive? I really love giving gifts.  I like to find people meaningful gifts that they will appreciate.  I also am a good fan of gift cards.  I hate receiving when I have to tell people what it is I want.  I like surprises!
20. Eggnog or Cider? Yuck!  I like cider sometimes and I do like hot chocolate.  I still prefer my drinks cold.
21. Red or Green? It depends on what it is.  I like gold and silver in the mix too.
22. Ham or Turkey? Turkey, yes turkey.  I don't like the way most people cook ham.   It is like chewing on a shoe.
23. Star or Angel? Star.  Until this year. We don't have anything on the top of our tree.
24. White Lights or Colored Lights? It changes.  I went through a love the color lights phase.  Then I went through a white light phase.  I am leaning back into the colored light phase again.  I like red and white lights together.
25. Blinking Lights or Still Lights: Still. The people down the street have blinking lights on this huge tree.  Our family calls it the seizure tree.  It is kind of creepy.
26. Were you Naughty or Nice this year? Nice! I am never naughty.

Presents
27. What do you want for Christmas this year? Mostly things no one can buy.
28. When do you open your gifts? Kyle's grandparent's Christmas Eve, our family Christmas day and Kyle's immediate family Christmas day.  My family Christmas second.  (the day after Christmas) It is three days of wrapping paper delight!
29. What's the best gift you've ever gotten? Gosh, I don't know.  Kyle is usually thoughtful about what he gets me.  Lately, he has been a little lazy.
30. What's the worst gift you've ever gotten? $20 from The Stingy's.  It is a long story but basically it didn't mean anything.  They gave me money because they had to not because they wanted to.
31. Who gives you the most gifts? It isn't about the number of gifts.
32. Have you ever had a secret Santa? No, but I have been a secret Santa.  My family did secret stuff more than once growing up.
33. Do you like wrapping gifts? Yes! I usually wrap all of my mother-in-law's gifts for her.  It makes it hard though because then I know what everyone is getting, well except myself.  I always wanted to be a wrapper at a department store.  I thought it would be fun.

Random
34. Do you put change in those red buckets? I have.
35. Do you burn a yule log? Nope
36. Can you name all the reindeer? dasher, dancer, prancer, vixen, comet, cupid, donner, blitzen, and rudolph. Why does everyone forget Rudolph he is the most important!
37. Do you bake cookies? On yes!  Wait until you see the pictures of our cookie baking experience this year.  It was fun!
38. Have you ever seen your mommy kissing Santa Clause? Nope.
39. Have you ever gotten a kiss under the mistletoe? Yes, but it is kind of silly.  Kissing under a weed.
40. Do you go caroling? No, but it sounds fun.
41. Do you drive around and look at the Christmas lights? Yes.  It was one of my favorite things to do with my family.
42. Have you ever left Santa cookies? We always left him donut because we thought he would be sick of cookies.  We also left Rudolph a carrot.
43. Have you ever sat on Santa's lap? Many times.
44. Who do you celebrate Christmas with? Family
45. Where do you celebrate Christmas? Everywhere!
46. Have you ever had a white Christmas? Uh..I live in Utah of course there have been many a white Christmases.  Last year we got snowed in.  That kind of stunk.
47. What part of Christmas do you look most forward to? Spending time together as an entire family.  That gets harder and harder every year.
48. Have you ever had your picture taken with Santa? Yes.  I don't know about professionally but I have many picture my mom has taken.
49. Does your family always take a picture at Christmas? Ha!  Yeah right!  The last official family picture we had done was when I was in 7th grade.  We had my cousin take a picture of all of us sitting in the back of my brother's truck before he left on his mission.  Oh, I guess our wedding pictures could count.  Except Trace was missing at my wedding.  Kyle was missing in some of Trace's wedding pictures.  They aren't my favorite family pictures any way.
50. anything else? Kyle and I started a family tradition of reading the story of the birth of Christ every Christmas morning from the scriptures.  We read it while we are still in bed.  It is our way of thinking of Christ first.  Seeing as he is the reason for the season!