Christmas quiz.

Stolen from Gregaria:

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate, especially mint hot chocolate. Egg nog is ok, but it makes me think of drinking raw eggs.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? I would say that they're already wrapped by the time they reach the tree. He would need quite an operation to get it all done.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? We've typically done both with colored lights, but we've also put white lights outside and colored lights on the tree. I'm a big fan of those giant old-fashioned colored lights.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Well, since I'm not at home most of the year, some of it is already done when I get home for break, but we usually do some more in the few weeks before Christmas. This year, my brother and I brought down all the boxes of decorations from the attic on the day after Thanksgiving.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? I'm a big fan of good ham.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: I have two: 1. We left a video camera pointed at our fireplace to capture evidence of Santa. My parents did some video magic and not only had Santa show up, but had the presents "magically" appear out of nowhere. Later on in life I learned that if you press pause on the camera, you can pick up right where you stopped. 2. My brother and I had a lit up wreath in one of the windows of our room. We used it to "power" the "time machine" that we made out of my bed.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I think my parents told me.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Nope. We go to my aunt's house and celebrate the Polish tradition of wigilia. Before dinner we pass around this wafer called oplatek (kind of like a communion wafer but big and square) and everyone takes a piece. Then we pass around a crucifix and kiss Christ's feet. The dinner usally consists of fish, pierogis, and other Polish things.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Colored lights, gold/silver garland and tons of random ornaments.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? I love to play in it but I really can't stand cold weather for too long. Besides, it hardly ever really snows around here.

12. Can you ice skate? Yes, but not very well. My college roomate Gabe (played hockey in high school) and college friend Steph (was a figure skater) helped me a lot. I enjoy it.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? That's tough ... I remember I was highly excited when I got a BB gun (Ironically, it was the same one as in A Christmas Story).

14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Remembering what it is really about: celebrating Christ's incarnation (How incredible is that?) and making yourself ready for when he comes again.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Chocolate things.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? A relatively new tradition is for my brother, my sister and I to go play at various churches on Christmas Eve and Day. Last year, I went to mass like six times that weekend.

17. What tops your tree? An angel.

18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Ideally, both.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? "O Holy Night," "Silent Night," and "I Celebrate the Day" (the last one is by Relient K).

20. Candy canes: yuck or yum? Pretty good. I like the fruit-flavored Starburst ones a lot.

21. Favorite Christmas movie? Elf.

22. What do you leave for Santa? We used to leave cookies and milk for Santa and "magic reindeer food" for his reindeer. I never did find out what that stuff really was ...