December 12, 2003 - 4:08 p.m.

Holiday Friday Five

1. Do you enjoy the cold weather and snow for the holidays?

Definitely. Where my parents live, in Tennessee, Christmas is usually cold, grey, and rainy. Ick! I much prefer a crisp New England type Christmas, especially if there is snow. I think it would be hard to really get in the Christmas spirit in a place like Hawaii or San Antonio!

2. What is your ideal holiday celebration? How, where, with whom would you celebrate to make things perfect?

I really enjoy spending the holidays with my parents, brothers, and sister-in-law since I see them so rarely (with the exception of my big brother who also lives in the Boston area). It would be nice to get to see my Grandmother as well. I haven't seen her in almost three years I think. Any ideal Christmas celebration would have to include Sam as well. We've never been in the same place for Christmas, since we are always with our respective families. Other than having my loved ones around me, my ideal celebration would include midnight Mass (even though I don't go to Catholic church the rest of the year, I still love that particular service), a delicious meal, and plenty of tradition.

3. Do you do have any holiday traditions? Many. In addition to the usual cookie baking, tree decorating, and gift opening, my family has a couple of unique traditions. Growing up, Mom would always put our stockings at the foot of our beds before Christmas morning. It was a brilliant strategy, since it gave us something to tear into and keep us occupied, first thing in the morning, which gave my parents a little longer to sleep after their long night of assembling toys and wrapping gifts. Also, for many years, my dad has supervised the charity gift wrap booths at our local mall. Usually the booths are manned by all kinds of volunteers, but few people care to donate their time on Christmas Eve. Most years every member of our family ended up getting roped into wrapping for several hours. We dreaded it, but it became a family ritual, and we always bonded over the stories of the crazed and harried shoppers who would want us to wrap an unboxed tricycle or an ab roller or insisted on a gold bow with blue and silver paper...

4. Do you do anything to help the needy?

Since becoming a nanny, I try to help the kids weed out old toys to donate to charities before the holiday influx of new ones. This year I would like to have the kids make homemade dog treats to donate to the local animal shelter.

5. What one gift would you like for yourself?

Ideally more time with Sam. Realisticly, though, I guess the one gift I want most is a Japanese mandoline kitchen slicer. It's one of those things I would never actually buy for myself, so it would be great to receive it as a gift. Really, though, I don't have my heart set on anything I asked for for Christmas. I just want to have easy travel and good times with my family.

today's project: homemade Christmas ornaments with the kids while I am babysitting tonight

musing about: hoping that rehearsals for the play go well this weekend

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