Christmas Favorites Link Up!

Hi everyone!  I had been wanting to put together a Christmas Questionnaire for the blog sometime during the holiday season but never found one that I would have wanted to answer entirely.  SO, I compiled some of my favorite questions and created my own.  If you'd like to join the festivities, write your own post answering the questions sometime between now and Christmas and Link Up below!  I'd love to hear about your Christmas favorites and traditions!  

Wrapping paper or gift bags?  Both.  Aaron is really good at guessing his gifts so I’ve found that if I put some in bags, they are harder to guess.  

Real tree or artificial?  Real tree!  I can’t imagine us ever having a fake tree since the outing to get our Christmas tree is one of our biggest holiday traditions.  When I was growing up we had a fake tree in my parent’s home for years but eventually we somehow converted my parents to go with a real tree and it’s stuck ever since.

Do you have a Nativity scene? Yes.  I think it is one of my favorite Christmas decorations in our house.  However, Marley has tried to eat a Wise Man and Baby Jesus so we might be in need of  a newer one in the next few years.

Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail.  I absolutely LOVE receiving Christmas cards, especially ones with photos!  I’d like to think that other people feel the same so going through the effort to send out our cards each year never really seems like a chore.  Mind you, I’m still waiting on ours to arrive from the printer so we can send them out, nothing like last minute!

Favorite things to eat at Christmas?  My grandma’s Magic Cookie Bars.  The recipe comes from the back of a sweetened condensed milk can.  They are so stinking delicious and simple to make!  You can see the full recipe here.

Clear lights or colored on the tree? This is a funny one.  Aaron and I have always had colored lights on our tree.  I figured it was because that’s what he liked so I just let it be.  Well this year, it was time to replace the tree lights.  Aaron replaced them with colored lights because it’s what we have always done.  When we were decorating the tree I confessed that I actually like white lights better.  Well guess what, apparently he does too!  Looks like this year’s colored tree lights will move outside next year to make room for white ones!

Favorite Christmas song?  My all-time favorite is Josh Groban’s version of It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, BUT, I saw this video going around Facebook and I have to say I really love it too.

"A Hallelujah Christmas" by Cloverton from Ross Wooten on Vimeo.

Angel on the tree top or a star?  I’d love an angel but for now we have a star.  Maybe when the star expires we’ll replace it too.  

Easiest person to shop for?  My husband, hands down.  A) He’s always commenting on things he thinks are “cool” or “would like to have” and B) If it’s weird or out of the ordinary, he’ll probably love it.

What is your favorite Christmas memory? A few years ago my grandma, who is now 93, gave my siblings and I scrapbooks that she had made.  Each one had photos of us from childhood until now, cards we had given my grandparents over the years, and letters she had written to us on the day we were born.  It is something I will honestly treasure forever.

It’s a Wonderful Life or Miracle on Thirty Fourth Street? Miracle on Thirty Fourth Street.  I’ve actually never seen It’s a Wonderful Life (hangs head in shame).  I know, I know.

Gloves or mittens?  Glittens,  also known as hobo mittens in our house.  They’re fingerless gloves that have fold back mittens giving you full use of your hands when you need them and then the warmth of mittens when you don’t.  Ideal.  

J. Crew Factory

Shopping, at the mall or online?  I’m a big online shopper.  It seems like an oxymoron that people are the most rude during the “happiest time of the year” but it’s the truth.  The further away I can stay from the cranky shopping crowds the better!

Christmas Morning, Sleep in or up at crack of dawn?  Up at the crack of dawn.  We’re so crazy we even woke up one Christmas morning and drove 30 minutes to my sister-in-law's house to wake our nephew up on Christmas morning.  

When it comes to decorations, are you a Griswald or a Grinch?  We are Griswald’s at heart but currently limit our decorating because of the dogs.  As it is, our Houdini Marley escaped from the backyard into the front and gnawed through one strand of Christmas lights and an extension cord this year.  Everything was unplugged of course, but I’m sure any cute lawn ornaments wouldn’t stand a chance. Our poor apple tree knows all about that!

Link up and share your responses below!