I’ve been Tagged again. This time, Jen has included me in on a Holiday Meme which is very similar to the one I did last year.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bag? Paper please.

2. Real tree or artificial? Real, but I am thinking that a fake one would have stood up straighter.

3. When do you put up your tree? I the past many years, we haven’t gotten the tree until about a week before Christmas. This year, we had our tree up and decorated five days after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take down your tree? The year that I took the tree down the day after Christmas Tom had a fit. I miss took his depression, and thought taking the tree down would somehow help (he suffered a great loss many Christmases ago.) One of the reasons that I put the tree up early this year is so that nobody will complain when I take it down the following day. I’m being selfish, but I like the idea of having my Birthday be separate from Christmas (even though it is two days later).

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes! I love Silk Nog

6. Favorite gift received as a child? It would still have to be my stuffed Snoopy since my overalls were actually a Birthday gift (even I mix my Birthday and Christmas up).

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, although it is still in the box.

8. Hardest person to buy for? DD. He has everything that he wants.

9. Easiest person to buy for? YaYa. He loves everything that he is given.

10. Worst Christmas gift you’ve ever received? This is a tough one. I must have blocked out the not-so-perfect gifts because I don’t have anything for this one.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? They’re in the mail (at least some of them).

12. Favorite Christmas movie? Charlie Brown Christmas

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I begin my shopping when ever I can get the time. Generally, this is well after Thanksgiving.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I am not against the idea (as the giver or the receiver) if the re-gifting is genuine.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? It depends on my mood and on who is cooking. I have so many favorites.

16. White or colored lights? I like white lights on the tree and colored lights on the house.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Oh Holy Night and Silent Night

18. Traveling for Christmas or stay home? We will be home with everyone else coming our way this year.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer’s? Probably not. Let’s see. Dancer, Prancer, Donner, Blitzen, Comet, Cupid, Rudoph, and…Vixen. No? Wait, I got it. Chet. I think that was the name of that new one who was leading Santa’s sleigh all crazy at the end of the movie The Santa Clause 2.

20. Angel or Star on top of tree? Star

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Parking

23. What I love most about Christmas? I love driving around at night and looking at the lights on everyone’s homes.

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Here are the Rules:
• Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
• Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
• Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
• Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here is my tagger:
Mia Goddess – It’s all her fault so, if you find yourself tagged (at the end of this post), direct your dirty comments to her.

Here are five random facts about me:
1. I wanted to be a cheerleader but decided not to tryout when I discovered that I wouldn’t be able to cheer and participate on the Track and Cross-country Teams.

2. I’m a Capricorn. My birthday is 2 days after Christmas. I was on track for a holiday-related name [ie. Christina, Holly, or Noel] until my Mom saw the Sound of Music. Thank you Julie Andrews for portraying an angelic character thus influencing my parent’s naming choices. Incidentally, I wasn’t exactly an angel growing up.

3. I started taking dance classes (including modern, ballet, and jazz) as an adult. Ballet was my favorite. I got obsessed, taking a couple classes a day at the community college. Since I was working the night shift at the time, I’d sleep in my car between classes. I quit in the first trimester of my pregnancy with BoBo as the bathroom was too far away from the dance studio. I was always throwing up.

4. I am a Type-A (obsessive) tracker where running is involved. I track my miles on my running shoes diligently. I will keep running past a destination to get a round number to track (ie. 5.95 miles would not be good enough if 6 miles was on the schedule for the day.)

5. I love dark chocolate, black jelly beans, and red wine. I hate apple and grape flavored candies and gums – even the smell nauseates me.

AND…

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Technically, it is fall, but if feels more like a winter without rain. Here, in California, it isn’t all the same (as my husband would have had you believe). There are subtle differences in the seasons and, unless you love the snow, it is great.

Although I love seeing the leaves turn to the varying colors; I much prefer spring and summer. One of the biggest reasons for disliking the fall season is that I dislike waking up in darkness. I also dislike the feeling of running out of time that comes with the early darkness at the end of the day. My mood changes to hope as the days begin getting longer. I know that spring will come soon and I even take joy in running in the rain (occasionally).

Spring is probably my favorite of the four seasons. Summer is next in line. This is because I like to be warm, and I like to wake up to the sun coming through the window. I like to sit outside and listen to the birds singing.

Spring has always meant new life – when the spring flowers are blooming and the young animals are coming to life. Since Tom’s death occurred on the first day of spring, “new life” now has a different meaning. Still, I think that I will like the coming of spring. It will be a point to appreciate my life and the new growth that has occurred in the year left behind.

It’s that time again. It’s National Blog Posting Month again! That means that I’ll be joining many of you in the fun of posting something on my blog everyday for the month of November.

For those of you who are wondering how on earth you come up with a new post everyday, look what I found. Click on “journals” for a list of interesting topics to write about.

Here’s one example:
Look in the mirror, and write down what you think. Are you being too hard on yourself?

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Marathon Maritza tagged me for the Rockin’ Girl Blogger meme that has been circulating. Although I have already had the joy of participating in this meme, I felt like I could not just ignore the tag.

So, if YOU have not yet encountered this meme on a more personal level, I urge you to click on the log in my right sidebar. Go ahead…Rock On Girl!