Having Been Tagged...

...By a certain Wollf-type person, I feel the compulsion to comply with the outrageous instruction to pass this along.

So here is (are) my response(s) to the request to play along. I will be tagging a new dad and photographer over at The Photosmith to see if he has any time to go out on a limb. I just wonder if he has learned to type on his MacBook with a baby in his arms at 3:39 a.m. CST...

1. Wrapping or gift bags?
I can wrap. I can bag. I have no aversion/attraction to either. I am a manly man and I can do anything. Even if the box is too big for a whole roll of paper. As of Thursday, I know this for a fact.

2. Real Tree or artificial?
Artist-ficial tree. We had real trees forever, but found out that a full 60% of the household is allergic. This reminds me of the time I climbed a local cedar tree to "get my own tree from the wild". What I got was a sparse, allergen-filled monstrosity and a nasty case of poison sumac on my wrists...funny now, but not then!

3. When do you put up your Christmas tree?
We used to have to wait until the middle gal's birthday on Dec. 6 was over, THEN put it up. The last couple of years, we do it at various times, somewhere at the beginning of December. Whenever the temperature drops below 70°, hopefully, so the trek up the attic stairs does not strain a "bustle".

4. When do you take your tree down?
Take the tree down by New Year's Day. Going back to work on 2 January sorta kills the Christmas spirit, and I want to put it away.

5. Do you like eggnog?
I like eggnog, but not the kind with alcohol in it. Not a drinker. But the half-gallon of thick, sweet spicy cream is SO good. Only now, being a solidly established geezer, I find it hard to shell out $4 for such a small amount of anything. Dang me.

6. What was your favorite Christmas gift?
Favorite gift was likely the M-16 replica that blasted caps (if loaded properly). A fine replica; it had heft and working parts. Heck, I probably could have robbed a liquor store with it, the look was so authentic. Another favorite was the plaster bramah bull coin bank. I called it Wooly Bully.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
We had a nativity scene, but the rats ate it. It was an antique, and belonged to my wife's family for years. Stupit rats!

8. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
This category is still up for grabs. I have never recieved anthing that was horribly inappropriate or just so cheap I wanted to crush it to powder. There is always room for something really bad.

9. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards?
Uh, we're really bad about sending out cards or written correspondence of any form. When they DO get sent out, they're real, by golly.

10. Favorite Christmas movie?
"A Christmas Story". That is one funny movie, "You'll shoot your eye out, kid!"

11. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
After the December paycheck, after the middle daughter's birthday. And after the Chinese School pays up.

12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Tough one, at 250+, there is not much that I don't like to eat at any time. Top things at Christmastime are; fudge, gingerbread, my mother-in-law's chocolate pie, any kind of cheesecake my sister makes (hers can send me into a coma, and they're always big!)

13. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Colored. 6 strings on a 7 foot tree.

14. Favorite Christmas song?
Silent Night can give me chills when done right.