YAY! My first tag! In the holiday spirit, its a Candy Cane tag, courtesy of Lulu (double yay!)
The instructions are to Copy, Paste, Answer, Add a Question, Tag the 3 bloggers with the most recent updates on your blog feed/roll, let them know they've been tagged in a comment, and learn about your fellow bloggers.
So...here are the questions and my answers:
1. What is your favorite Christmas Movie? It's a tossup between White Christmas and Love Actually. Daddy Bea and I always watch White Christmas together, so it always makes me think of him. When I first watched Love Actually I wasn't crazy about it, but I watched it again and absolutely fell in love. Poor Brother Bea has to put up with me begging to borrow his copy (yes, HIS copy. I don't own either movie!) every single night when I'm home for Christmas (so I'll start begging him on the 22nd of this month.) The other sleepless night I was actually Googling Vera-Ellen, one of the female leads in White Christmas because she was such a beauty and was so under appreciated in her time. Very, very sad.
2. Favorite Christmas Song? Ummm, is it wrong that it's again a tie...this time between Santa Baby and
Do you Hear What I Hear? I also love David Bowie & Bing Crosby's version of
Little Drummer Boy. Tee hee :)
3. Favorite Holiday Memory? Hmmm, this one is tough. It would have to be the last Christmas where my whole, tiny family was together, before Grandma Bea went into the care facility and my cousin Jean passed...Christmas 2006. There was nothing particularly memorable about it per se, but we were together and it was just very, very nice.
4. What is your favorite cookie/treat to make? If I made them, it would be gingerbread men. I just love them!!! But we try not to have too many cookies and treat in the Bea household (NOT your dear Sweet Bea's idea!)...
5. Have you ever made an igloo? Umm, no? I'm from Northern California...and not the part that has snow, sorry :(
6. Do you love Starbucks? Not particularly. I don't drink caffeine, but I do like their spiced cider. I am, however, a HUGE fan of
Wilson's in Racine, Wisconsin. Our 2006 campaign office was next door-ish and we were constant visitors. Their decaf soy chai latte was to DIE for...I've never had one so good in my life. Their teas were excellent, and THEY were wonderful people. I miss it! :(
7. What makes the perfect Snowman? Again...being from NorCal I would have to say snow? I've never made a snowman, unfortunately. Even here in DC we don't get enough snow for a snowman...just snowballs, which are very fun to make. I suppose I could make mini-snowmen next time??
8. Maids a-milking...(for some reason, no #8!)
9. Best gift you have ever received? Jeez, these are hard! I've had many Christmases in my advanced age! Let's see...best gift ever was probably my diamond earrings from Daddy Bea. They aren't big, but they were the first real jewelry I ever received from anyone, so they mean a ton. I wear them every single day (which reminds me, I need to buy some jewelry cleaner!)
10. What is the snowman's name on Rudolph? FROSTY, duh! Right? I mean, it must be Frosty? Those claymation or whatever movies frighten me...
11.Silver or Gold? In terms of what??? This is a trick question! In terms of decorating? Gold. (more like champagne gold, not gaudy gold.) In terms of jewelry, silver colored jewelry.
12. What is your favorite Christmas decoration? OMG I just found it on Friday too! When I had to spend Christmas here in DC a few years back, Mama Bea sent me all my ornaments...so all the Barbie collectibles that my relatives (who I think refuse to believe I grew up...) send me every year, and all the other ones that are "mine." But I don't do family keepsake ornaments and things like that...I like an incredibly polished tree, with white lights and ivory & champagne ornaments, ivory silk ribbons with gold trim, etc. So needless to say, the ornaments that Mama Bea sent me sit in their boxes year after year (apparently her idea of cleaning is shipping me things I don't want.) BUT - there is a vintage cardinal with paisley wings that I absolutely ADORE. It it meant to be clipped on to a branch or garland, not hung. I love, love, love this cardinal. So Mama Bea sent me that too, and it is the only thing that made it out of the big box of other ornaments that made it to the holiday party on Friday night. I'll take pics of it so ya'll can see and post back later.
Photos from Christmas 2004
13. What's your Christmas decorating style? Oh...well sugar! I should have read the questions more closely before answering the last one! Well, my decorating style is pretty traditional - I love fresh greens and soft colors and white lights. Very classy, very elegant, and very simple. OH and I LOVE wrapping presents in matching papers...this year I'm thinking toile with a gingham ribbon (I saw it in a commercial...don't remember what it was for...and I loved the look!)
14. Do you hang stockings? Yes...if Mama Bea can find them (its always an interesting hunt!) We've had the same ones since we were little, but Brother Bea's name is spelled wrong (well, they shortened his name, which we don't do in our family.) They are hand knitted, and soft and fuzzy. Just perfie! :)
15. How many days do you celebrate Christmas? Well I tend to put on the holiday songs the day after Thanksgiving and keep the tree up through New Year's at least. One year, however, I remember Mama Bea not putting the ornaments away until we needed the dining room table for Easter... (she'd KILL me if she knew I wrote that!)
16. What was your favorite ornament on the tree as a child? Oh this one is so easy. We have these thin metal ornaments that have very intricate, almost lacy, patterns cut into them, in gold, red, and silver (one color each.) There is one that is a box and you can actually open the box and put something into it. That was always fun to look for that ornament and see if there was anything in it (even though we couldn't touch it yet.)
17. Where will you be spending this Christmas? I'm going, going, back, back, to Cali, Cali :) I feel like I JUST left...but Mama Bea STILL likes to guilt me about Christmas 2004 when I stayed here...
18. When you do open presents? We open our ornament from June (family friend) on Christmas Eve night, stockings Christmas morning before parents get up (though these days I'm usually the last one up!) and then main presents once the whole family is together, but before "breakfast" (tee hee, usually around noon!)
NEW QUESTION 19. What is your favorite Christmas tradition? On Christmas Eve, we eat crab and chili with French bread. From what I remember, my godfather "Uncle" Ian's family used to do this, and somehow the tradition was passed from their family to ours (but I could be wrong about that.) On Christmas night, we eat "plum" pudding that Grandma Bea used to always make until a few years ago. I think it is supposed to be made with plums, but she couldn't find them one year, so she used persimmons, and its more like a loaf than a pudding. And then we have hard sauce (a thick, stiff rum & powdered sugar sauce.) And when she used to make it ooh-whee was it STRONG! Mama Bea has tamed the rum sauce a but, unfortunately. And the rule is: no hard sauce without pudding. But sometimes sneaky lil Bea's like to forage in the fridge for a nip of the hard sauce :)
Because I'm still new to this whole world o' blogging, I'm only going to cheat and only tag one lady:
Newly Wed, Newly Bred.
Hope you all had a wonderful, fun, and safe weekend and a fantastic week! I just moved today, so I'll try to get some pictures for ya'll (now that my camera connector has been more-or-less located!)
Cheers,
Sweet Bea
