to copy emily. i always think these things are kind of lame but it brought back so many memories and made me get excited for christmas so i thought i'd share
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? neither, I prefer diet coke or vodka during the holidays. But when i was a kid i guess it was just Coke.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? the old fashioned, big bulbed, what is now considered "retro", colored lights. I remember sometime around like 1999ish all the color left christmas and all we were left with was fake icicles and white trims and it's like..hello, we live in LA! let's stop pretending it's a winter wonderland and just fucking be gaudy and colorful! I won't let my parents buy white lights
4. Do you hang mistletoe? no, i tried too one year after learning about it on some tv show (which was basically where i got all of my references to normal American teen life) but then no one actually used it and i succumbed to the reality that my family is a little FOBy sometimes.
5. When do you put your decorations up? well before my mom got old and decided christmas was too stressful we used to do it the week after thanksgiving
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Tamales! and anything my mom cooks since this is the one time of year she will still cook for me. so in that respect this is not a holiday meal but it's pork in green or red salsa sauce. Ooh and posole!
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? the year I got to stay home alone, opened up all of my present very carefully, saw how awesome my gifts were, resealed and repackaged everything precisely and then pretended to be excited again on christmas eve. I felt so bad that i told my mom right after that i was lying and had already opened everything. She said my guilt and the fact that i spoiled my own christmas was punishment enough. never again! 2nd to that though was when i got a barbie pool party set. it was so awesome!
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Sheila Calvario from across the street told me. She was 2 years older than me. But what she actually told me was "do you still believe in santa? it's ok if you do, but when you find out the truth I recommend you keep believing and acting surprised cuz then you get MORE presents!" I realized this was kind of dumb and that i'd get presents anyway so i told my mom she didn't have to sign stuff from santa anymore, she could just sign it from herself.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? midnight on christmas eve with the whole clan
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Hmm, well i have no money for trees and decorations but when my mom and i used to do it we have a mixture of 80's ornaments, random santas and baby jesuses, things from my youth like "baby's first ornament," and my hand print on clay and lights, no garland or tinsel. that's tacky. Sometimes we'd go to macy's and get ideas and decide to add really nice ribbon.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? can say now with full validation LOVE IT! but never had it during christmas
12. Can you ice skate? yes, but it's an activity i enjoy more in theory than in reality
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? oh haha, i said it already, but the barbie pool party cabana! it was a porch and it had a gate and a pool and lounge chairs and a bar and barbie and her friends could play and drink pina coladas (you think i'm lying). I actually hated barbie cuz she was blonde and ugly but i used midge and mitch for the barbie pool party and barbie was always denied entrance
14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Getting to see my family all pretty and dressed up. Since i moved away 6 years ago i only get to see them a few times of year and this is one of the times when everyone is happy and we sing karaoke and carols and go to church and give each other gifts.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? hmmm, we don't really eat desert. BUT my mom lets us splurge and around this time my dad and i get bolillo (mexican bread, crusty on outside soft on inside) and then we eat it with cajeta (mexican carmel but it's more milky, popped in the microwave for just a few seconds). holy fuck it's good!
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? We all used to stand in front of the camera and sing really loud "feliz navidad" and other christmas songs like "the 12 days of christmas" and everyone would get a day, but most of my family has moderate accents so this was a riot because people couldn't pronounce things. so things like "3 french hens" became "treee frinch heeeens" or "6 geeeeses are laaaaajjjing" or the best was when my grandpa wouldn't even try to say "12 drummers drumming" he would just do the motion on his beer can. This tradition then evolved into my cousins and I organizing a christmas talent show to be performed in front of everyone, with lead guitar by my uncle Lou, from the band CLAW!! This then became our annual christmas karaoke singing contest. Jenny and I are lead singing champions. There is a lot of time to fill when you start a party at 7 and have to wait until midnight to open gifts.
17. What tops your tree? This really ugly angel with a candle that rotates back and forth. Everyone in my family has one so i guess we can't really get rid of it.
18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Oh giving is way more awesome when you can find that gift that makes the person go "THANK YOU, JERRY!!" Like when it's something they didn't even know they wanted or needed.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? So many. Well anything from the Carpenters "christmas portrait" tape, which is what my mom used to play exclusively around christmas. I love the when Karen sings "i'll be home for christmas" in her soft dulcet tones. she makes me weep and it kind of all has way more meaning now that i live far away. Also the Judy Garland version of "have yourself a merry little christmas" from meet me in st. louise ALWAYS makes me weep buckets. AND "simply having a wonderful christmas time" by paul mccartney. Oh wait but more importantly i'd have to put wham, "last christmas" on here because it screams 80's.
2 comments:
ok wow so i also think these are lame but also wanted to do it. yours was more interesting than mine. random comments. 1) LOVE posole. that day we ate it after i was super drunk at new years and we watched like when harry met sally on tbs even though you had it on dvd... that is a good memory. i should learn how to make it. 2) i also remember the year that color left LA. EVERY house had those fucking ugly icicles. i think the year or two after that were the years my dad made the lights on our house swirl and go in crazy loops - that was before he decided he didnt care about christmas lights but for those like two years our house was the BEST. now at target they have lots of cool bulby colored lights but the old school ones are the best. 3) i also liked midge the best. barbie was so lame. have we ever talked about barbies before? cause for some reason i felt like you didn't have them like you didnt have an american girl doll and like your mom threw out your stuffed animals.
i love your description of your very messican family singing with thier thick accents and i can eemagine all the women laughing hte way you do and ppl being drunk and what not.
thank you for sharing.
ps why did your mom throw out your stuffed animals? iesan's mom did the same but it was only b/c she had lice and her mom was paranoid of it spreading so she set fire to all her belongings.
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