pebblerocker

It's international book week. The rules: Grab the closest book to you, turn to page 52, post the 5th sentence. Don't mention the title. Copy the rules as part of your post.

"But I don't like all the sleuthing you do."

(I think you can guess the genre, at least. I have a whole shelf of these, very nearly the whole series, in rather shabby condition.)

It's going around at the moment. And I've been to Australia More than Once.
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thanks to indefatigable42

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? - It'll be paper again this year, but I'm scheming for reusable fabric bags one day. Probably made from nice-looking bits from the remnant bin, and not Christmas themed, that way they'll do for birthdays as well.

2. Real or Artificial tree? - Nana's artificial tree, which is starting to get a bit wobbly where the wire branches get bent in and out every year for storage.

3. When do you put up the tree? - First weekend in December.

4. When do you take the tree down? - Before the hobgoblins get me! Usually after New Year though.

5. Do you like Eggnog? - Never seen it, never heard of anyone who'd had it, and the name makes it sound extremely unappealing.

6. Favorite Gift you received as a child? - The motorbike was a good one. And I always loved getting books.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? - No. My grandmother is religious and has a pretty neat knitted one, with knitted wise men and knitted sheep.

8. Hardest person to buy for? - My father. He has everything he wants, except for things that are way too expensive.

9. Easiest person to buy for? - My mother likes a lot of the same things I do. Actually all the women in my family are very easy to please, because we're all delighted by stationery.

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? - I think one of my brothers gave me some lurid squishy putty stuff, or one of those jellyish sticky balls that slither down a window. Something that feels disgusting and leaves hands smelling of petrol. Not a present I enjoyed, but after he gave it to me he could play with it himself as much as he liked, and that was fine by me.

11. Christmas Cards - Still haven't sent any... got together with the family a while ago and thought up a design and made a stencil and bought some cardboard, but that's as far as it got.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? - I don't think I've ever seen one.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? - Um... next week?

14. Have you ever "recycled" a Christmas present? - Not that I can recall, but I did pass on some earrings for pierced ears that I was given for my birthday.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? - Ooof. So much. All the roast potatoes and pumpkin and kumara and onions, with mountains of peas, and shepherd's pie with gravy, and Christmas pud, all those traditional things that are completely unsuitable to eat on a hot day. And Christmas nuts in the shell, with bits of Brazil nut shell sproinging from the nutcrackers in every direction and getting stuck in the carpet. And pulling the crackers makes it all even better. But I also quite like having a less traditional and more seasonally-appropriate Christmas dinner of several different leafy salads and potato salad and slices of beetroot and things.

16. Clear lights or coloured or both on the tree? - Do they even sell clear lights? And wouldn't that look a bit boring? I have the very cheapest sort of lights with the sharp spiky coloured plastic bits that hurt your hands as you try to untangle them. These days it appears that even the cheapest lights from the Warehouse are wired in parallel, so that one blown bulb won't break the circuit and stop the whole set working.

17. Favorite Christmas Song? - Snoopy's Christmas. Mary's Boy Child, when done by Boney M. I... quite like Cliff Richard at Christmas *blush* singing O Little Town and Mistletoe and Wine.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? - We usually go to my grandmother's place to load up on roast veges and Christmas nuts, but not always on the day.

19. Can you name Santa's Reindeer? - 'Course yes. We always read The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve, and it is traditional to laugh at the bit where Saint Nick "turns with a jerk". Hey Santa, who's the jerk?

20. Do you have an Angel or a Star on top of your tree? - An orange and purple origami star. I could only manage four points; maybe I'll make a more sophisticated star for next year.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning? - Morning. If you opened them early, what would there be to look forward to on the day apart from eating too much pudding?

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? - Everything happens all at once.

23. Favorite Christmas tradition - I don't really know. Eating too much and wading through discarded wrapping paper all day? Seeing what the Queen has to say this year? I like playing with my new toys and being with my immediate family.

24. Family member you always try to stay away from during the holidays? - To the extent of ringing my grandmother to find out what day he'll be there, so I can arrange to come at another time. And not just at holidays either, I would hate to run into him at any time.

25. Do you attend any actual religious services in celebration? - Once I went to see Handel's Messiah with aforementioned religious grandma, if that counts.