Incoherent Scribblings

Christmas Meme-ories

Today I am using the lazy way to qualify for my Holidailies entry. Yep, you guessed it, it’s a meme!

1. What is your favorite Christmas carol/song?

“Do You Hear What I Hear?”: I have always been partial to this Christmas carol, but my favorite version stems from an 8-Track (Yikes! I remember 8-Tracks! Does that say something about how old I am?) that my grandparents had with a bunch of Christmas carols being sung by some “classic” country music stars. I think Gene Autry sang it, but I can’t be sure. (Disclaimer: I am a heavy-metal-head rock-n-roller and as a general rule, I do NOT like country music!)

2. White lights or multicolored?

Multicolored ones that have a variety functions from an epileptic blink to a slow fade.

3. Do you have a cut tree, live tree, or an artificial one?

I personally haven’t had a tree of any kind for about ten years. The last tree I had was a little tiny cut Charlie Brown tree. Scooter was a kitten at the time and he had great fun climbing it. If I ever put up a Christmas tree again though, it will be artificial… real trees are so messy!

4. Eggnog, mulled cider, or hot chocolate?

Hot chocolate with a shot of Bailey’s Irish Cream or Amaretto and whipped cream on top.

5. Do you decorate your house with lights?

Nope.

6. Do you write a Christmas letter?

Nope.

7. Do you like receiving Christmas letters/photos?

I am not sure I have ever received such a thing.

8. What is your favorite Christmas story/movie?

Does The Nightmare Before Christmas count? However, if you are talking TV Christmas specials, I am quite fond of The Grinch, A Garfield Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

9. Have you ever made a gingerbread house?

No Way! I hate gingerbread!

10. Poinsettias or holly?

Neither.

11. Do you display a nativity scene?

Nope.

12. Do you bake Christmas cookies?

Sometimes, but not this year.

13. Ham or turkey?

I don’t like either and usually when we have Christmas Eve at my mom’s she makes chili and potato soup. (I don’t like either of those either.)

14. In what languages can you wish someone a Merry Christmas (without cheating)?

Merry/Happy Christmas (English)
Frohe Weihnachten (German)
Joyeux Noël (French)

15. Do you know all the words to “Jingle Bells?”

The first verse, definitely. The second verse, partially. Are there more verses? If so, no.

16. Do you put presents under the tree?

If I had a tree, I would.

17. How do you eat a candy cane?

If I wrote it down here, I would have to label this entry as “adult.”

18. What is your biggest holiday pet peeve?

Feeling pressured by American culture to buy gifts for everyone I know.

19. What is your favorite Christmas tradition?

Honestly, I don’t think I have one.

20. What was the best present you ever got for Christmas?

I would say my engagement ring, but I didn’t get it until about a week after Christmas, so I will have to say an emerald “promise” ring given to me by my ex. (So much for his promises!) I hinted for many months that I wanted it and amazingly, he got the hint! I still have the ring, but for obvious reasons, don’t wear it anymore.

RR HD and Other Musings

First, since I finished up my “Summer Arches” square for Nicki’s SBSRR today let’s start off with a happy dance, shall we? Her choice of patterns is Bent Creek’s “Seasonal Arches.” If you are not familiar with these patterns, each season consists of five different motifs and we were to choose three of the five to stitch.

I chose to stitch the “Summer Arches” because even though summer is not my favorite season, I liked these arches the best! The “Summer Arches” pattern offers two sunflower arches, a sailboat arch, a watermelon arch, and an American flag arch. All of these just scream summer to me but as you can see, I chose the sailboat, the watermelon, and the American flag. I chose to do them and not the sunflowers because I am not much of a sunflower fan.

There is no backstitching so all of the arches stitched up smoothly in a cool fourteen and a half hours. I am now done with my round robin commitments for the time being so I can stitch just for me during the rest of my holidays.

In a couple of days I will go over the stitching resolutions that I made for 2005, but today I have been thinking about what I want to do for 2006. I know that for 2005 my resolutions were very general, but I have been thinking that for 2006 I want to try to set goals that deal with specific pieces. For example, I would like to try and finish “Stitcher’s Sampler” before June.

I will probably have to tweak my rotation to better accommodate things as well, but I am still in the thinking stage at the moment. I do know that I will continue to participate in SBEBB exchanges and that I am not joining (or organizing) another robin until the two that I am currently in are finished (both in May). I am also planning on starting at least two new large pieces (”Catch the Wind” and “Celtic Spring”), but currently don’t have any specific goals for them in mind except to start them within the next couple of weeks. Once I get everything hammered out I will be sure to record the details here.

Like most of you, I probably won’t be posting here too much in the coming days, however rest assured that I will stitch, stitch, and stitch some more!