It’s This-or-That Tues — er, Thursday.
1. Opening presents…rip ’em open with all abandon, or carefully open, preserving the pretty paper for recycling? I have grave doubts about folks who try to recycle wrapping paper (i.e., use it over again for another gift).
Recycling bows, on the other hand, is perfectly legit. And boxes of substance, too. And gift bags.
I’m into the “rip into it with vigor, but with enough care that the amount of trash generated is manageable” thing.
2. Do you and yours take turns, opening one gift at a time, or does everyone just rip into everything at the same time? I grew up with the former, and still think it’s the polite thing to do. It lets everyone appreciate the gifts from everyone else, ensures that you get to see the smiles of delight (or courtesy) on the faces of folks who open a gift you gave them, and makes certain that the “hidden envelope” (etc.) that you snuck in with the sweater doesn’t end up in a ball of trash in the garbage can.
Margie’s folks go more for the latter tradition, alas, taking turns loading up everyone with “rounds” of gifts, all opened more or less at once. This does accelerate the gift-opening process (which, in a household that believes in lots of smaller gifts, is a good thing), but does lead to more chaos.
3. If you get something you don’t like…do you try to return it, or keep it so as not to hurt the giver’s feelings? If the person who gave it to me will actually be aware that I’ve given it away, then I’ll keep it.
4. Do you spend the holiday at home (yours or someone else’s), or do you go out and eat, see the newest movie, whatever? I think I’ve answered that one this year. At length.
5. What do you do with Christmas cards after the holiday is over? Save them, or toss them? Unless there is something extremely special about them, I toss them. (And don’t take offense that other folks toss mine.) I think I still have Christmas cards from Margie when we were dating, though.
6. Cook Christmas dinner, or does someone else do that? See #4.
7. It’s Christmas Eve, and you have run out of wrapping paper. Do you go out and buy more, or wrap the rest of the gifts in the Sunday comics? Gift bags rock, especially for 2-year-olds.
Besides which, we do our wrapping at the Ks. Running out of wrapping paper here is like running out of food.
That having been said, I have, at home, used the funnies for wrapping gifts.
8. On Christmas morning…up at the crack of dawn, eagerly anticipating the loot…or would you rather sleep in? These days, sleeping in is a gift.
Once upon a time, John and I used to be glued to the front windows, waiting for Nono and Nona to arrive. No gift opening (not even stockings!) until they did.
9. Do you want a white or a green Chrismas? Green, in large denominations.
If I were home, white.
10. Going to church on Christmas…yes or no? For church-going folks such as ourselves, it’s kind of odd that we don’t make a point of doing so while out here in Faerie, particularly for Christmas. But we don’t. I’m not sure why, since it would not be a particular hassle. On the other hand, it would not be our home church, which means a lot.
Or maybe this is the reason … 🙂