The Wanlorn (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_wanlorn) wrote2005-12-11 04:26 am
the_wanlorn) wrote2005-12-11 04:26 am
Entry tags:
Christmas Meme
I have to say, that's a three-way tie between What Child Is This?, God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, and Good King Wenceslas. When my mum would put my sister and I to bed as wee little things, she'd sing us each a lullaby, and I always chose What Child Is This?. When I can't sleep, I still put it on because it relaxes me. The other two are just plain fun to sing; that's the only reason I can come up with for liking them so much. I'm pretty much a sucker for any traditional carol. Silent Night, Here We Come A-Wassailing, In the Bleak Midwinter, the like. They sound good as vocal solos, it's easy to improvise harmonies, and instrumentation is generally simple and sweet. And I know the lyrics to all the verses. ;-) Forgive me, but I think that white lights are hideous. We put out multi-colored lights, both on the bushes outside and the tree inside. Mum has candle lights that go in the windows, and each one of those has (I believe) a blue bulb. Even the one string of icicle lights we have is blue, so far as I recall. Anyone who knows me, knows that I despise artificial trees. So far as I'm concerned, if it's going to be a tree for "my" house and it's fake? You might as well not get one at all. We always get cut trees. Always. I've never had eggnog and I'm not the biggest fan of cider. But holy gee do I love hot chocolate! Especially when you let a candy cane melt in it. Or add some rum. Or both. Delicious! A little bit. We mostly put a candle light in each window, some lights on the bushes in front of the porch, the tree between the driveway and house, and the blue spruce on the edge of the woods. And, of course, the tree inside. ;-) My sister decks her bedroom out in Christmas lights and we occasionally wrap lights around the porch railings. Nope. No one in my family is big on letter-writing. I can honestly say that I have never received either. Actually, no, I lied. One of my cousins does a Christmas photo and sends it to everyone. I don't have much feeling about them, though. Take 'em or leave 'em. I love The Polar Express. The book, that is, not the movie. I hate the movie with a passion. There was a story with a little girl and her grandpa and a magic palace, maybe? It might have been The Snow Queen, I'm not sure anymore. Pretty much anything from the book of Christmas stories that gets put out around Christmastime brings back good memories. As for movies, I love The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. The animation is horrid and clunky, but I love it to pieces. Beyond that, I love the classics: The Year Without a Santa Claus, Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, the like. Once, I believe. I was young, I got frustrated, I wrote "Fuck this" in icing on the tinfoil that covered my portion of the table, Mum never bought more. I don't think she was too pleased at my way of expressing myself. We always get a poinsettia, but I would like to have holly for one year, just so I can decide which I like better instead of going with "This is what we've always had." Aye. My gramma made one out of ceramic, so it's (only kind of, unfortunately) important to the family. As non-Christian as I am, it's part of Christmas to me, even though I don't assign a religious meaning to it. While I've always known that it was a religious thing, I never really realized that it was until a couple years ago. I just like the way it looks and setting up the figurines, and trying to make sure the cats of the time don't get the baby Jesus out of the manger and hide him somewhere. It's Christmas, too me. Good gods do I! From Black Friday to mid-January, I am constantly baking Christmas cookies. My favorite remains Swedish spritz. The are unbelievably delicious and incredibly fun (and frustrating!) to make. I still use the cookie press that is (possible) older than I am. Again, it's one of those things that I've grown up doing and will always do. Ham. Well, sort of. Christmas Eve, we go to my aunt's house, where she spreads out a buffet consisting of a frillion different meats and vegetables and chips and dips and desserts. Then we go home and eat Christmas cookies and drink Coke and set out stuff for "Santa". Christmas morning, my mum gets up early and makes cinnamon rolls and pecan rolls and hard-boiled eggs and kielbasa and bacon. We feast upon that all morning long as we open presents. Around the middle of the afternoon, when breakfast is finally gone and we're hungry again, she puts a spiral ham in the oven and cooks that until it's savory and dripping with juices. Then we eat that, and spend the rest of the day picking at the remains, eating cookies, drinking our various drinks, and playing without presents. English, of course. Then Spanish (Feliz Navidad) and Irish Gaelic (Nollaig Shona Duit). Is it a traditional Christmas carol? I think you have your answer. ;-) Some. We have stockings that get filled. My brother's, parent's, and random family friends' presents go under the tree. But presents for my sister and me go in either of the two chairs in the living room, since we're still young and still get a lot of things for Christmas. I suck it and lick it into a point, then break off some (so I don't stab a whole through my tongue) (which I've done before) and chew it. When it's down to a horseshoe shape, I shove the entire thing in my mouth and tongue it until it's gone. Or I stir it into my hot chocolate. This is utterly horrible of me, because I know that people have their own tastes in music and whatnot, but when people need to make it a point to tell me in no uncertain terms how much they despise Christmas carols, I generally feel the need to punch them in the face. I could love you with all my heart, but once I'm mention something about carols/hum (or sing) a bit of a tune, and you feel the need to break in and tell me how much you hate carols? It takes one hell of a lot of self-restraint not to tell you to fuck off and/or punch you. Like I said, horrible, but strong. There's a couple of other things, but none of them are nearly as bad as that. As much as I despise it, I utterly love the Christmas Eve party at my aunt's house. It's my da's side of the family, and we're all quite musical. So everyone brings their instruments and we stand out on the porch, playing Christmas carols for a while. Then, when we're inside, there's usually a group of people somewhere in the house that's singing carols. The best part is getting together with my sister, cousin, and aunt, and going through most of the carols we know. It just always sounds awesome. I'm trying to come up with a present that I know was a Christmas present, but drawing a blank. My birthday is so close to Christmas, that I get the gifts confused a lot. Assuming that my iPod was a Christmas present, that was my favorite, but I'm pretty sure I got it for my birthday. But I've inherited my inability to get presents for people from my parents. That is, I suck at getting people presents they love, just as my parents suck at it. There's nothing I've gotten that stands out in my mind as being awesome, or even all that good. I know that there must have been something, and that I'll remember it once I post this, but at the moment, I have nothing. |
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