You're probably full up from Christmas Dinner, all your presents have been opened and now is the time to just 'veg out' on the sofa and check your Facebook, which is probably why you clicked on this blogpost!
Tracy and myself came up with 25 Christmas related questions, so you could get a feel for what our Christmas' are all about, so sit back, relax and enjoy getting to know more about my favourite subject!
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1. What was you favourite thing about Christmas as a child?
I feel like this was very much all down to the way my parents went about it all, everything was based on family tradition (question five explains more!) and that just made Christmas Eve and Christmas Day feel so special, so it's really hard to pick out one thing. My parents filmed everything from Nativities to the big day, so I don't think they're actual memories but more the fact I've watched those videos on countless occasions and therefore feel as though those 'memories' are etched in my head. I guess Christmas Eve and the excitement of waking up to a sack of presents was pretty up there!
2. What is your favourite Christmas memory?
I really struggled for this question at first, but thinking about it, it doesn't seem hard at all.
I'll start in November 2008, when I forced my mum to put on an Early Christmas Day, so that we didn't miss out in December, this was specifically so that my best friend and her parents could come to ours, as both families were going to America (separately) over Christmas. We had everything as Christmas Day should be; the tree (albeit fake), the dinner, the presents, the cheesy after dinner games and all fuelled with plenty of Baileys.
It was a day i'll never forget and something that Tori and I still talk about every year - by the way Torz, if you're reading this, please let's repeat this soon, 2018 maybe... ten years later!?!
And then December came which meant... America! I feel like all I need to say here is... Disney... At Christmas. MAGICAL!
But I will just also mention the fact, my parents and sister got in the Naples, Fl, local paper that year, for being the only people on the beach on Christmas Day in Santa Hats - am I gutted I didn't go on the beach with them... yes! Oh, and I'm still un-sure on steak replacing the traditional turkey but I'd do anything to be there this year, again!
3. What has been your most memorable present?
This is a really tricky one to answer because my birthday follows the next day, so I always tend cross the two over and usually if I've not received the present for Christmas, I will have for my Birthday, which is the only saving grace of a birthday the following day. But one present I remember quite vividly was when I was taken to the end of the garden, to find my very own Wendy House that had been decked out with curtains and miniature chinaware! Definitely something I hadn't expected, although i'd probably dropped a few hints because Sophie Foster had one! So that was a particularly special present.
4. When do you start to feel like Christmas is on its way?
I always start to sing Christmas songs in August/September but I would NEVER decorate until December, shops have ruined that part for me, I feel like it takes away so much of the excitement of December as my favourite month - although I'd never complain about Christmas coffees in November. Also, it doesn't mean I don't start planning gifts before then too. Oh I don't know. I'm mixed up when it comes to Christmas - I don't think it ever truly goes away in the year between.
5. Do you have any Christmas traditions, either family ones or your own?
So many! Here's how it is, in short(ish):
Christmas Eve:
Every year, we go for hot chocolate, somewhere cosy. This always used to be in a really sweet little restaurant in Rochester, until it was changed to an Italian, which was a heartbreaking time and obviously now we've moved, we're still on the hunt for the perfect location, but anywhere with a fire, usually does the trick! Not usually a church goer, but I admit that on Christmas Eve, some sort of carol service has always been welcomed, I've not been able to do this for a few years but this year, we're bringing back tradition.
I also HAVE to make Mince Pies on Christmas Eve... what else is Santa going to eat? Talking of which, right after watching Mickey's Christmas Carol (if you haven't seen this, you need to!), I still to this day, put a plate with a brandy, a mince pie, a carrot and some milk down for Saint Nick and his Reindeer. Something I will only stop doing, when I have children of my own and they can take over the role. And another maybe slightly childish tradition, I still make my mum read to me before bed... every year, for as long as I can remember, she reads The Night Before Christmas, to me. I don't ever want this tradition to end.
Christmas Day:
The one day of the year, I will willingly be up and awake before anyone and full of excitement! I still get a sack of goodies from Santa (we never had stockings, always a pillow sized sack and the same sack, since I was tiny!), I drag the sack to my mum and dad's bedroom, sit on their bed and open Santa's gifts. In more recent years, Santa has also put together a little stocking for Mum and Dad (just to re-pay the favour, you know!) No one is allowed downstairs into the lounge until properly dressed for the occasion and then, we make our way into a room where the underneath of the tree is exploding with gifts, the most magical feeling, even to this day. We have some bucks fizz and croissants and then it's time to open the family presents, one by one, in a clockwise order! Dinner is usually around 3 or 4pm and the remainder of gifts comes after that and then we all collapse, suitably full up and watch some naff tele, inclduing Eastenders, before a few games of Charades and a round of Turkey sandwiches. (God, this has got me excited!)
6. What would be the top three songs on your Christmas playlist?
Paul McCartney: Pipes of Peace - no one else really cares for this one but I love the words and the sentiment behind it all.
Shakin' Stevens: Merry Christmas Everyone - just because it's so jolly and festive!
The Pogues & Kirsty McColl: Fairy Tale of New York - I mean, why are you even questioning this choice?
7. What is your favourite Christmas film?
Love Actually - so much so that myself and Tracy created a tag all about it - be sure to look out for that on the 27th!
8. If Christmas were a scent, what would it be?
Gingerbread but the kind of gingerbread that's heavily Cinnamon and Spiced based, not so much the vanilla sort. (I think one day I might turn into a Gingerbread Lady, you know!)
9. Celebrations, Miniature Heroes, Quality Street or Roses?
I'm a really fussy girl when it comes to chocolate but tins at Christmas are the best because they are bitesize and that for me is the perfect size but Roses went and got rid of Bourneville and Heroes went and changed the shape of Dairy Milk, so I guess that leaves Celebrations but I only like two of those too. Quality Street is an absolute no though!
10. When do you put your Christmas tree up?
As a child, my parent were always pretty mean about this and made us wait until we split from School but actually now, it's made me realise that is was always more special to do that, as it meant we were all together as a family. In more recent years though, the first weekend closest to the 1st December means that a tree will more than likely be up. Never before then though, please!
11. Do you favour a real tree or a fake one?
The past few years, living alone, I was forced to have a fake one, for it being the easy option but at my parents, ALWAYS a real tree. (actually, this year we have both, so I had somewhere for my gingeys to go!). Oh and, every year they make a joke that we won't get a real one but it would be Christmas without going to pick one and THAT smell.
12. What are your feelings on tinsel?
Tack-fest for a house (soz not meant offensively). Great in an office. Although, the smell of it really does contribute to those nostalgic Christmas scents.
13. Do you prefer clear or coloured lights?
I think coloured lights are perfect, in the right setting but personally I love clear and a preference on that is, they have to be warm and not cool. It just makes it so much more cosy.
14. What do you put on top of your tree: an angel or a star?
A star (although don't think that angel ornaments don't feature!). As a child, it was always a big deal as to who would be the one to put the star on! Little did my brother or sister know, that, if it were their turn to do it, later on, when they weren't looking, my dad would lift me up to re-do it, so that technically - I put the star on the tree!
15. What is your favourite Christmas decoration aside from the tree?
I feel like all of my Gingerbread Men account for something but infact, one decoration that truly stands out in my mind is the most tackiest decoration ever created, a door knocker, which, as you press it, exclaims HUMBUG HUMBUG, MERRY CHRISTMAS! This plastic mass of tack has been in our house for as long as I can remember, the mere sound of it brings back so many memories from Christmas' gone by and I just love it.
16. On Christmas Eve do you stay up to hear the sleigh bells or go to bed early so that Christmas comes quicker?
Stay up! As a child, i'd move my sleeping position to wherever was closest to the window and look out for him!
17. What is your idea of the perfect Christmas Day?
As cliche as it sounds but a day where everyone can just get on and put all differences aside, to follow old traditions and feel incredibly cosy and smiley all day. Oh, and is a bit of snow too much to ask for?!
18. What do you wear on Christmas Day?
After our stocking presents, we weren't allowed downstairs until we made a bit of effort for the day, usually a nice dress or skirt, something sparkly and all topped off with a Santa hat!
19. What's the deal with presents in your house? How, when, from who?
Sacks from Santa, in the morning. Under the tree from Family before dinner, under the tree from Friends after dinner.
20. You've just pulled a Christmas cracker and it's the best you've ever had. What gift do you have and what is the joke?
Firstly, I always swap my hat to correspond with my outfit, because I am an OCD freak (or maybe I just want the better colour hat!) The present I got was actually something useful for once, like, you know, a ticket to America or something... and surely I can't be the only person who secretly loves the jokes you already get... they're all cracking... get it?! Crackers... Cracking... oh suit yourself.
21. What does a typical Christmas dinner mean for you?
I know everyone says this but really, my mum does THE best Christmas dinners. We have the traditional turkey (never dry!), sprouts with chesnuts and bacon bits (and yes, I pick out all the bacon and don't eat any of the rest!), pigs in blankets - (more bacon for me), all the normal veggies and potatoes, yorkshire puddings (because who said they were just for beef!), red cabbage (one of the best parts!) bread sauce, (there's more options but not for me thanks) anddddd all that again in a second helping!
22. What do you do on Boxing Day?
Celebrate the second best day of the year! The day a very special person was born!
More presents in the morning, turkey sandwiches for lunch, cake, turkey sandwiches for dinner, bed!
23. When is Christmas 'over' for you?
NEVER! When Christmas Day passes, I start to think about next Christmas! I'm not even joking! My heart breaks with every decoration I have to remove on the 5th!
24. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? No cheating!
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donna and Blitzen - oh, and Rudolph!
25. Do you believe in Santa?
No question about it! Of course I believe in Santa!
Okay, okay... in all honesty, if my brother hadn't have brutally told me 'he isn't real', I'd probably have preferred to still be in denial about it.
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So, there we have it - 25 Christmas Questions!
Be sure to check out Tracy's answers too on gloriouslyungraceful.blogspot.co.uk and also make sure you leave me a comment if you share or completely differ in your Christmas feelings!
In the meantime, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!
Lots of love, hugs, kisses & special wishes
From Katy ♡
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