1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Either. I really love wrapping gifts and try very hard to make the wrapping suit the gift and the receiver. And it must be glitzy and pretty, too.

2. Real tree or Artificial?
Always real.

3. When do you put up the tree?
It used to be whenever I caught a cold between Thanksgiving and Christmas. OK. Not really, but it always seemed like I was tramping around a tree farm looking for a tree with a running nose. Now that I’m living alone, I don’t decorate, except for a wreath outside my door.

4. When do you take the tree down?
New Year’s Day. Except now it’s the wreath I take down and not the tree.

5. Do you like eggnog?
Yes, but only homemade. I don’t like the stuff that comes in cartons. I’d prefer Tom & Jerry’s, and that batter has to be homemade, too. I know… picky, picky.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Oh, that’s hard! When I was about four years old, I received a red dress that had gold rickrack on it. It was meant as a Christmas party dress, but I instantly thought of it as my princess dress and would have lived in it had my mother allowed it. Second favorite was probably the year that my cousin made us all new Christmas sockings because ours were rather old and tired and really needed replacing.

7. Hardest person to buy for?
#1 Son. He needs many things but doesn’t often like to ask for them. And some of the things he wants are beyond my expertise.

8. Easiest person to buy for?
Bro and his family. Every year I buy them tickets to a local Christmas concert and we go together.

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes. I have a lovely nativity. My mother gave it to me one piece every year until the set was completed, starting the first Christmas I was married. I display it on the piano, which is just the right size and shape.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Email. If I remember. I usually call close friends and family.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
I can’t think of an actual gift that I haven’t liked. But a dog I’d had as a teenager passed away on Christmas eve. That was not a very happy year.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
It’s a tie between A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th Sreet and White Christmas.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
I start early and finish before Thanksgiving. Nothing else in my life is as disciplined as my Christmas shopping, trust me. But I refuse to go into a mall between Thanksgiving and New Years. Refuse. The discipline was ingrained before online shopping became available as an option.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Yes. Not often, but I have regifted things that I can’t use to someone who can. I am more likely to exchange it, though. But either happens very rarely.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
My mother’s peppernuts.

16. Lights on the tree?
Yes, multicolored.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
I’ve always loved We Three Kings. For some reason the minor melody touches me. That’s probably tied with Sleighride. In a more modern vein, The Trail Band’s original tune Dancing ‘Round The Christmas Tree has my toes tapping.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
I love staying home. But for a few years #1 Son and I went to Las Vegas for Christmas and had a wonderful time.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
You betcha! I once got a speeding ticket because I was trying to remember them and recite them to #1 Son — he was about 3 at the time — and not paying attention on a hill in a neighborhood that was marked 25MPH and had a speed trap at the bottom.

20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Christmas morning. When I was a kid we once opened the presents on Christmas Eve and then couldn’t figure out what to do Christmas morning. The family decided unanimously never to do that again.

21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
People who are so intent on getting the “perfect” present that they don’t care how rude they are as long as the objective is accomplished. That’s why I don’t go to malls during the season.

22. Favorite ornament theme or color?
I love hand-made ornaments of all kinds.

23. What do you want for Christmas this year?
It’s always hard for me to think of things I want, beyond my family safe and around me. Even when I was a child I had a hard time coming up with Christmas lists.

24. Angel on the tree top or a star?
When I was growing up, we had a star. Now I have an angel that has been on my tree for years and years. It’s always the last thing that goes up on the tree, and the first that comes down.

25. Favorite Christmas dinner?
A re-do of Thanksgiving, except with carrot pudding for desert instead of pumpkin pie. Last year, though, I made a big every-vegetable-in-the-world stew, and it was pretty darned awesome.