Just a few questions to kind of get a grasp where people are for the coming holidays:
1. Are you cooking this year for Thanksgiving? If not, who will and where will you be?
Not cooking this year, Thanksgiving Day will be my dad's 70th birthday and ALL the whole HUGE family is going to be there. My mom is so excited she is cooking THREE turkeys!
2. On average, when you travel for Thanksgiving, how far do you go?
My parents live 535 miles from me, one way. So over the long week (we are going the whole week..in fact I should be on the road now...long story), we will probably drive 1500-1600 miles.
3. Or....if you have families at your home, are the gatherings large or small?
Usually around 15 people, this year will be my parents, 4 daughters and spouses (7), grandchildren and spouses (16) and great grandchildren (6), and lord knows who else!
4. Even eat out at a restaurant for Thanksgiving?
Never ever ever.
5. Omitted.
I concurr.
6. Do you decorate/get a tree for your home for the holidays?
We get a tree. For years and years we cut our own tree, but 4 years ago, Mr Sageofages talked me into an artificial tree because we would be traveling the day after Christmas and be gone for a week. The fire hazard was a bit too much, so we went the fake route. I hate it still.
7. What is your most favorite holiday song?
It isn't Christmas with out "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole and "White Christmas" Album by Bing Crosby. I grew up with those, and once I hear them, I am suddenly 10 again!
8. Do you join in with holiday festivites at work? Yuppers
9. Are you an early shopper (starting in November) or a last minute shopper (last week up til Christmas Eve?)
Some years it is early, other years it is late. Depends on our budget. The last three years have been really really hard with all that is going on in our lives. I think this will be the last really nasty lean year, and then I can breath again and relax about presents.
10. What other activites do you engage in to get you into the holiday spirit?
We *always* participate with Toys for Tots (they saved our bacon one year when Mr Sageofages was in graduate school), we pack food baskets with our local "helping hand" for operation Christmas, when the kids were younger we did the church christmas pagent (our youngest even played baby jesus when he was about 8 weeks old!), we go caroling.
11. Do you attend church on Christmas morning?
No. Our church does Christmas eve service. We have always gone to the 10:30 pm service for the candle light. Our church is rife with little kids, so the "council" decided years and years ago, it was better to remind everyone the reason for the season before the commerical-laden sugar high hit the following morning! Wise wise people!
12. Favorite television programs during the holidays?
All the usual suspects...Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty, Charlie Brown Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street (both versions), Scrooge (with Albert Finney), Scrooged (Bill Murry), Muppet Christmas, etc etc etc...
13. How much vacation time do you take during the holidays?
Hmmm....hard to say. Right now I am "retired" to being at home. We usually take "family time" between Christmas and New Year's Day, but this year with the long Thanksgiving break, I think Mr Sageofages will be working some during that week.
14. Do attend New Year's functions or spend quiet evenings at home?
Always at home with the children. After they are in bed, always celebrated privately as a "couple"
*wink*
15. Ever been to Times Square? Nope, looks a little to crazed for me.
16. Do you remember where you were for Y2K?
Huddled in the basement waiting for the end of the world as we know it??...no wait, that was my insane mother-in-law-type (seriously she stored 500 gal of water!!!!) We watched in on TV, then went to our town square for the party (a little to "religious" for me that year).
17. What do you do as far as charity / community service during this time of year?
We *always* participate with Toys for Tots (they saved our bacon one year when Mr Sageofages was in graduate school), we pack food baskets with our local "helping hand" for operation Christmas,
18. If there is one thing that you could outlaw during the holidays, what would it be?
Muzak. Fake attitudes, Christmas music BEFORE Halloween!, artificial snow spray on windows (because all it attracts is graffiti finger drawings).
19. If you care to share, who is that one relative that is the most embarrasing one to have around for the holidays?
Every year it is someone different, although the last few years, one of my younger sister's is pretty bad with her over indulgence and arrogant attitudes.
20. By the end of it all, how much do yout hink you will have spent?
sigh......I hate to think. Too much. Not this year, it just isn't there to spend.