DiscussMormonism.com

Stress! Tension! Crowds! Money and time trickling away!

Okay, the holidays sometimes cause lots of angst in my house. Bickering. Sniping. Even downright anger.

So, I was thinking on my way home from the doctor today... what list could I put together of things that might help me circumvent those negative emotions?

So, here goes. To play, copy and paste, then delete my answers and insert your own:

What was your favorite present as a child? My Barbie, when I was about 10.

What was your least favorite present as a teenager? books

What present did you give that you wish you hadn't? When I was 13, I gave my mom Jan and Dean's Greatest Hits album. Still to this day, she remembers

What is your least favorite Christmas story? Gift of the Magi. Lame, lame, lame!

How old were you when you first sat on Santa's lap? 6 months. My mom still has the picture

Have you ever worn the red suit? Nope. When and where?

What is your favorite holiday tradition? Breakfast at Momma's. She makes fried cornmeal mush, sourdough buckwheat pancakes, bacon my way, scrambled eggs... so good!

If you could change one thing about Christmas, what would you change? Christmas decorations in the stores in October

What irritates you the most this time of year? celebrating Joseph Smith's birthday in my ward

What are your plans for Christmas Eve? eat, play games, make noise, eat, bed down all my grandchildren

What is your favorite memory of New Year's Eve from childhood? playing Sorry with my mom, dad, and brother and toasting each other with cups of hot cocoa at midnight

What was your worst Christmas ever? when I was 6, I inhaled a bit of sawdust and spent the week prior coughing, eventually developing pneumonia.

Please play!

What was your favorite present as a child? A He-Man chest piece, shield and sword. My little bro got the Skeletor set.

What was your least favorite present as a teenager? Socks/underwear

What present did you give that you wish you hadn't? A Speed Stick to the "stinky" kid in school.

What is your least favorite Christmas story? The 3 trees.

How old were you when you first sat on Santa's lap? Not sure. 3 maybe?

Have you ever worn the red suit? Nope

What is your favorite holiday tradition? Getting Baskin Robbins ice cream and looking at Christmas lights.

If you could change one thing about Christmas, what would you change? Make it less commercial.

What irritates you the most this time of year? The traffic and crowds.

What are your plans for Christmas Eve? Make cookies for Santa, read the Christmas Story.

What is your favorite memory of New Year's Eve from childhood? When my Dad smuggled home illegal fireworks from Wyoming and we lit them all off at midnight.

What was your worst Christmas ever? When my Dad died on Christmas Eve. --Why would you end with THIS question?? Now I'm all depressed!!

What was your favorite present as a child? A magic set from Santa. I hadn't asked anyone for it, so I knew Santa must be real.

What was your least favorite present as a teenager? Hmm...I was spoiled. I always got good stuff as a teen. I'll have to pass.

What present did you give that you wish you hadn't? I got my daughter a dog. He ruined our carpets, and we eventually had to give him away.

What is your least favorite Christmas story? Hmmm...I'm kind of a sap when it comes to Christmas stories. I don't really have a least favorite. My favorite is "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". I usually read it to my kids and all of the nieces and nephews on Christmas Eve.

How old were you when you first sat on Santa's lap? Not sure. 3 maybe?

Have you ever worn the red suit? Nope

What is your favorite holiday tradition? All of the children and grandchildren on my husband's side of the family get together and we put on a Christmas play. I play the piano and do all of the background music. The kids always ask me to play "Linus and Lucy" from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" after the play so they can dance to it. It drives the adults crazy. LOL

If you could change one thing about Christmas, what would you change? My parents and brother live in California. I wished they lived closer so it was easier to see them over the holidays.

What irritates you the most this time of year? The traffic and crowds.

What are your plans for Christmas Eve? See answer to question about holiday tradition.

What is your favorite memory of New Year's Eve from childhood? My Dad would always make orange fizzes. It's kind of a fancy Orange Julius type of drink with vanilla ice cream, orange juice, and 7-Up. We would always watch the ball drop and listen to Dad's old Guy Lombardo records. Then, we would sleep in, and watch football and the parades the next day.

What was your worst Christmas ever? My niece died on New Year's Eve of 2001. Although her death occurred after that Christmas, it has made this time of year bittersweet since then. She was like another daughter to my husband and me. When she passed away unexpectedly, my daughters felt more like they had lost a sister than a cousin.

Scottie wrote:What is your favorite memory of New Year's Eve from childhood? When my Dad smuggled home illegal fireworks from Wyoming and we lit them all off at midnight.

This made me laugh!

What was your worst Christmas ever? When my Dad died on Christmas Eve. --Why would you end with THIS question?? Now I'm all depressed!!

Ah, Scottie. I'm sorry!

How about another question:

What is your favorite memory about Christmas that is connected to the church?

For me, it's when my ward did Christmas in Bethlehem. Everyone dressed up in their bathrobes with towels on their heads, and visited the booths set up around the gym. Everyone in the ward, even the oldest and youngest, was in costume, and wearing the cardboard sandals from my booth. We had stew for dinner (served out of crockpots from the stew booth), a banker, all sorts of stuff going on. And then the ward choir sang Christmas hymns, all dressed up like angels on the stage.

I wish we'd do it again.

What was your favorite present as a child?
From 4-7, it was all Star Wars toys :)

What was your least favorite present as a teenager?
The present that had the most lasting impact on me was a Laserdisc player when I was 15.

What present did you give that you wish you hadn't? Nothing comes to mind. I'm either awesome at giving gifts, or totally delusional to the recipients' reactions and desires ;)

What is your least favorite Christmas story? Anything that tries to hard to be a classic Christmas story. Which would be anything by Richard Paul Evans with "Christmas" in the title.

How old were you when you first sat on Santa's lap? Don't remember. There's a picture of me on Santa's lap when I'm 5 or 6, so I know it happened at least once.

Have you ever worn the red suit? No

What is your favorite holiday tradition? I like the tradition where every year, I somehow do something to unintentionally royally piss off my wife.

If you could change one thing about Christmas, what would you change? I hate writing the Christmas card. I'd much rather be hanging out on Mormon Discussions. Which is what I'm doing instead. (See above).

What irritates you the most this time of year? When the stress to make the season into "something" becomes greater than the joy of the season itself.

What are your plans for Christmas Eve? We go to a friends house every year for a big party, karaoke, bingo, gift exchange, and good food.

What is your favorite memory of New Year's Eve from childhood? Parents would go to a party, so we'd stay up and watch TV. One year, it was Knight Rider for like 5 straight hours. Good times.

What was your worst Christmas ever? The year we moved to LA. No money. New baby (so we couldn't really go anywhere). No friends yet. Family far away. That was not a good year.