I am discovering that one of the dangers of being responsible for the acquisition of Christmas-themed music is getting said Christmas-themed music stuck in one’s head. Usually the same tiny clip of the same song over and over and over for days on end. Currently if my Christmas becomes any more Holly Jolly, I may shoot someone. Probably me.
I made a tree topper for our Christmas tree yesterday. My husband’s tastes and mine are different in places on that issue, so it’s taken us a while to figure out what we could put up there that we could both live with. Last year we just left the top empty due to conflict of opinion. I have a habit of compromising a little too much sometimes when it comes to conflicts, so we also had very few things on the tree last year that weren’t in line with his style preference. I will say that he’s been pretty great about it lately, and once I realized that it was important to me to have something up there and have some of my tastes represented in our tree (in that surprise blubbering way in which I tend to realize stuff that’s been bothering me as an ongoing issue), he came home from work with a star for the tree, to try to make me happy.
(Which was awesome. Even if that particular star looked really tacky up there)
Anyway, I’ve been searching for a more permanent (and slightly less tacky) solution that could blend out tastes. He’s big on rustic. I like “natural” but I’m not so much into “rustic.” Maybe because rustic for me conjures up visions of hunting lodges, or antlers, or oversized roosters. And plaid. Lots of plaid. I’m not a fan of natural with any kind of plaid involved (though to be fair, he is not a fan of hunting or antlers or roosters or plaid either). At any rate, I think I’ve come up with something that will work. I bought supplies yesterday, and we’re going to take a walk around the little forest patch across from our house and collect some appropriately-sized sticks and use them as the basis for a homemade star of our own. I think that could work out well.
And in the mean time, I glued three mini stockings to a tree-topper base and it’s providing a good placeholder backdrop to our whimsical, non-denominational, mostly-agnostic festivity tree.
This week’s questions aren’t ones that seem designed to bring out my deepest thoughts or long and introspective answers, but here they are nonetheless. As always, I would be curious to hear your own thoughts on them if you were inspired to leave your own answers in the comments. As per normal, they come via Mama M, and I am unlikely to actually get them posted on Friday (very “unlikely,” really, since it’s already Saturday) since Fridays kind of stink as a blogging day for me. Maybe I’ll start posting Mass of Questions Monday instead. 
The Questions:
1. Do you regift…and if so, do you have a regifting horror story?
2. Do you know what you are getting for Christmas this year?
3. Who brings the most gifts in your family, you or Santa?
4. What store do you love to by jeans from?
5. Christmas meal: Big, All Out Meal or Snacks and Apps?
My Answers:
1. Do you regift…and if so, do you have a regifting horror story?
Not really. I likely would if I received something great that I already happened to own. I have too much self-pressure to find really good gifts for people to give away something I thought was crappy. And if I didn’t think it was crappy, I would want to keep it.
2. Do you know what you are getting for Christmas this year?
Partly? I actually purchased some of my own gifts to myself, which sounds kind of weird, but it’s part of my Christmas present to my husband that I take care of most of our Christmas shopping, and it kind of works out for me to grab a few things for myself along the way. He is getting me one gift that will be a surprise, and my sister will likely make me something or buy me something small as well. I like surprises a lot, so I wasn’t sure how this arrangement would work out for me, but getting stuff I actually like has been kind of fun too. 
And honestly, it’s kind of fun to get to surprise them with my presents. As long as somebody’s getting surprised, I’m pretty happy.
3. Who brings the most gifts in your family, you or Santa?
Most of our gifts are tagged from my husband and me. According to the precedent we started last year, Santa bring treats, and activities to amuse ourselves with Christmas day, and other miscellaneous items for everyone to enjoy. And fruit. Because my mother started that tradition, so Santa will always bring fruit in our family. Sometimes more practical or household items end up wrapped under the tree as well, and these come from “The Elves.” That is also a carryover from my mother.
4. What store do you love to buy jeans from?
There is a store that I love to buy jeans from? News to me. I hate shopping for jeans. The last time I tried, I ended up in a change room of a store that I am apparently now too old to shop in, with a sixteen-year-old sales girl trying to convince me that I would be great in a sweatshirt with thumb holes and rhinestone phrases on it. Not so much.
5. Christmas meal: Big, All Out Meal or Snacks and Apps?
Both! Snacks and treats all day long, then big meal at night. With fifteen different kinds of stuffing. We’ve been over this.
