Essay Questions!

Call me crazy, but I love essay questions. At the very bottom are some answers to a couple of collections floating around in cyberspace. In the meantime, here are some updates.

Dad's present was finished, and when I showed Toppa, she cruelly laughed. Probably because they looked huge off the foot. But then, when I put one on to show how nice, if a bit baggy it fit, she actually paid attention when I explained turning a heel to her. She DID ask, after all. She also didn't know I teach classes on how to do just that. Toppa also liked Chuck's bed, Chuck being our parent's cat. Toppa also liked her own Elizabeth bag I made her for Christmas. I'll have to get pictures of everything eventually and scan them in. I've been so focused on the making, wrapping, and sending, that I've not done the pictures. All the Christmas presents are done, Elisa's scarf, all that. Now, I'm scouting around for what's next.

First off is the red scarf for the red scarf project. That's already a third of the way through. Then, because Missouri's count is disgustingly low, I'm knitting up a few little caps for overseas babies in the Caps to the Capitol thing. Since the entire box set of Monty Python's arrived in the mail on Friday, Fry and I've not done much else besides watch that. The house is showing our sloth, too. Once she's home from the half day of school, we're kicking butt on the house so we can totally goof off for the rest of the day. She cleans her stuff, I clean mine, and we meet in the middle.

To my shame, our tree isn't up yet. There is a little snow village on the coffee table, plus a wreath on the front door and lights out front. Otherwise, nada. Christmas cards aren't out or even written up, yet, BUT, all the fruitcakes, presents, and cookies have left the building.

Now for some personal essays, a bit of a shower, then crisis housecleaning.

The Christmas Meme first:
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Totally Hot Chocolate. Hubs drinks egg nog by the gallon this time of year and I won't kiss him with his nog breath. Ewwwwww.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
Santa is in a hurry and throws those suckers and goes. Besides, the kid(s) need something to play with while the parents drink the life-giving elixir aka coffee.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Yes to both. We do colors currently, but I like the OCD-ness of all white.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Heavens no! We don't have time for any more kissing. Seriously, Fry would get cheek burns from me smooching on her all the time. Hubs, too. It's kinda like Valentine's Day, rather redundant.

5. When do you put up your decorations?
In a normal year, right after the Thanksgiving nap. This year, with all the other stuff, we've not got there, yet.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
Asparagus. It's not a holiday unless that's there. Happily, I'm the only one who loves it here, so I could eat the whole thing and no one would mind.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?
As a child? Waiting for my parents to wake up as they drank their coffee. Poor kids, they tried to be all 'Wow!' when we showed them the presents 'Santa' brought. Now that it's my turn to deny being comatose, I feel their pain.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I can't pinpoint a time, it was a gradual awakening. :)

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
I don't like to, but can be nagged into submission.

10. What kind of decorations are on your Christmas Tree?
Sometimes, we go with red and gold, then purple and silver, depending on my mood for the year. There are Fry-made ornaments in the mix, which disrupts the magazine effect, but are pretty darn sweet. Then, other years, I do the old fashioned look with tiny wood toys, small trumpets, and other Victorian things.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread?
Love it! Especially since Hubs has a Jeep.

12. Can you ice skate?
I don't think so. I know I can't roller skate since my center of gravity has settled in my torso in a bad way. I'm sure the ice skating is the same.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
I probably did 20 years ago. LOL! Favorite gift of all time? Hmmm, I love them all, really.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Getting everything done before Thanksgiving. Why? So that I don't have to deal with everyone else's unholiday spirit in the rush and crush. It's really nice knowing I never really HAVE to be in a store. Makes the crying babies and bitchy people a lot easier to tolerate. :) It also makes me a lot easier to tolerate, and really, that's the most important for my family.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Yes. Oh, pumpkin pie or pumpkin cheesecake. Pumpkin ice cream is good, too. I overdid the pecan pie at Thanksgiving, but usually, that's on the list, too.

16 What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Gift giving! I'm not as good as Toppa on the gift selection, but I still love buying gifts for people. Toppa has a talent for the gift thing. I try, but worry a lot over if they'll even like what I've given.

17. What tops your tree?
A star when I was a kid, an angel on our own.

18. What is your favorite holiday book?
The Night Before Christmas.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Jingle Bells because Fry can play it on the viola when I play it on the piano. :D

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yummy?
Ok. Not my favorite, but good when I need a breath freshener.

Five things you don't know about me.
Like, what on EARTH could you not know? Yeah, there are things that are TMI and that no one should know, but still...

How about we do childhood memories? That'll be fun. ;)

1. I could hold onto monkey bars at shoulder high, then lift my feet up and do a reverse flip onto them. The last time I tried that, one of my bones popped. Not in a bad way, just in a loud, "Don't even THINK about it," way.

2. No tree was safe from being climbed when I was a kid. If it could be, I was up there, the higher the better. Toppa and I also climbed counters and large appliances. I still climb up on things to reach the higher shelves, which alarms Fry, a non-climber.

3. This is true for both Hubs and I, and I think it's from where we grew up. We both love grey, rainy days. Cool, foggy, drizzly days are great. It's probably from living in the sunny arid climate of the great plains. Those days are good excuses for eating soup and hibernating indoors. After a couple of days, though, we get a little stir crazy. A day or two is fine, but a whole week is not good.

4. My sister and I could run on caleche roads while growing up. We had tough feet and walked on rocks like they were nothing. I'm sure she's the same as me, now, in that if there's a tiny bit of anything on the floor, we feel it. No more tough toes.

5. What you don't know is that it's nearly 1pm and I'm still in my flannel jammies. Lunch is heating up, Fry is almost due home, and when she's here, I'm showering and kicking a dirty house's butt.


Is anyone else in the knitting world contemplating Wendy's Knit from the Stash for 2007? I'm kicking it around, and certainly have enough to keep me busy. What do you all think?