1. Wrapping paper or Gift Bags? Both...mostly wrapping, but gift bags work well for odd shaped things to wrap..or gifts that go somewhere to be opened where the paper mess is unwanted such as out to eat, maybe work? Ect.. 2. Real or Fake Tree? Fake, I have a fear of a fire with real....and I am also terribley allergic. 3. When do you put up the tree? I begin thinking about it the first week of Dec..it takes about a full week cuz crazy me cleans everything as I go. 4. When do you take the tree down? When I get sick of the mess, early January or when the urge to put the couch back in a better viewing position hits :) 5. Do you like eggnog? Love it, as does my entire family. It is a tradition to begin Thanksgiving morning with our first eggnog of the season. 6. Favorite gift received as a child? Betsy Wetsy Doll 7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yep, I handpainted it years ago. It has been boxed away tho for ten years or so. It is just to large for my space. This year I will pass it on as a Christmas gift to my daughter. 8. Hardest person to buy for? My brother, he doesnt care about anything but work...it is ALL he does..and he has no hobbies and cares nothing about clothes as long as they cover and are clean....makes gifts tuff.. 9. Easiest person to buy for? This is an easy one, my first grandchild...just 7 months this year.....super easy...and for now, inexpensive :) 10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A vaccum cleaner...bought by my husband because ours broke :(. 11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Snail mail also. I look forward to pictures in them from family...and tho I hate to admit it, even the stupid christmas newsletters from braggy family members. 12. Favorite Christmas Movie/show? A Christmas Story. 13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Sometime in October..but more heavily after Thanksgiving. 14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Maybe, I can't recall :) 15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Fudge...Shrimp cocktail and mom's blueberry cheesecake. 16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear, nice and elegant...but I like colored outside.. 17. Favorite Christmas song? Grandma got ran over by a reindeer...a family joke. My dad's favorite to tease my mom with once she became a grandma. He is gone now..so it has become a whole family favorite now..just because.. 18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Christmas Ev about a 1/2 mile from here..Christmas Day at my home. 19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Only if I sing the song as I do.. :) 20. Angel on the tree top or a star? mm..star usually..sometimes nothing :) 21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Eve we go to my mom's and have a huge caotic gathering where we exchange gifts and dozens of kids run about...then we come home late late late, and stay up and open ours now that my children are grown. They like to sleep in the next day and be lazy ... :) 22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Trying to please everyone.... 23. What I love most about Christmas? The love, the fellowship....the laughter..

1. What are you wearing right now? jeans, tank top and light sweater with clogs on my feet. 2. What have you eaten so far today, or plan to eat? just coffee, eating lunch out today. 3. Have you bought all of your gifts? Yes and trying to resist buying more. This online shopping is soooo seductive. 4. Where will you be spending Christmas? Our eldest son's house, he's an amazing cook. 5. If you can pick one sweet, pies, cakes, cookies, etc., what would you eat during this time? Ricotta pie. 6. Is there anything special you want from Santa? A new club chair and it's on the way as I saw my husband cover the mouthpiece on the phone when I walked by but he'll never know. lol 7. Did you buy something really neat for someone and can't wait to give it to them? Yes, went to Talbots and got a gorgeous coat for my daughter. She'll be thrilled. Of course now I want to buy a gorgeous scarf but then I'll have to add another gift to our two sons and it could go on and on and on. lol 8. Do you make a point to drive around and look at Christmas lights? I do but DH isn't interested. 9. Other than your Christmas tree, what special "grouping/cloche" you made inside that you really like? Feel free to post a picture! None really, just a small impressionistic Holy family grouping that I sculpted. What was your favorite Christmas gift as a child? A baby doll that I got when I was nine, I had her for years and years until I dropped her and her composition head broke to pieces, you could hear me wailing a block away.

I'm doing Christmas this year; my stepmother did Thanksgiving. There will be ~20 which is the usual. No little kids, youngest is my 13-YO niece. For appetizers probably spanakopita from Costco and some of their chips/dip. Also getting Costco steaks to grill for the carnivores and my son has a freezerful of lobster tails he's bringing up for me to grill or broil. He also has a load of mahi he caught a couple of weeks ago and flash froze so I may fix some of that too. I'll make a big salad, starch will be baked potatoes and a batch of brown rice with veggies (I dump in a couple of cups of frozen diced mixed vegetables and they cook up nicely with the rice). A warm crusty loaf of bread finishes off the dinner menu, and for dessert I'll make a key lime pie--my tree finally started bearing this year so it's truly homemade. My family usually contributes some extra desserts, so whatever comes in we will eat. I'm planning a menu that isn't as labor intensive at dinner time as the turkey/potatoes/gravy spread. Everything can either be made ahead of time like the salad and rice, or if it has to be cooked it can be delegated. We'll have plenty of guys coming who will do grill patrol. Baked spuds and baguettes just get tossed into the oven. I hate parties that leave me feeling like I didn't even attend them because I was working the whole time! Unless there is a sudden surprise front we'll eat on the patio. The weather has been unusually warm and sunny this fall/winter (don't hate me!) so that will work out well. I'm having my roof, patio and outside of the house pressure cleaned before the holidays. Hoping that having a party will finally get us motivated to clean up the yard too! This fall has been grueling at everyone's jobs so my husband, my son and I have all been preoccupied and not stayed on top of things lately. Nothing like a deadline of people arriving at your house to get you moving.

Jakkom, I would have enjoyed that foam. But I notice it's parm in tomato soup. I.e., a classic pairing of umami rich, homey foods, made lovelier by fancy techniques. Not "entertainment" which is what that "dessert" obviously was. When they were doing the graduated dots, my mind went to Nepalese monks doing sand paintings. Mesmerizing to watch, and ephemeral, but the monks don't make you lick their work. But while the dots, and even the piles of sand, were at least artistic, when they shattered the foam bricks then ever so carefully tweezered on single shards of frozen blueberry goop per person, it went from somewhat revolting but artistically entertaining and mind-expanding drivel, to--I swear this was what was going through my head as it happened in the video--"Somebody should tell the emperor his wee willy is winking!" It went from puerile "art" to a garbage heap that looked like the aftermath of the food fight. Whereas the foam on your soup sounds like it was the right technique to produce a desirable result. And if you just want melty parm without having to make a perfect silky foam, add a little calcium sterate. :) I don't mind small portions at restaurants when the point is to eat many different little things--and the patrons are forewarned at the quantity and price that a full meal will be. Tapas are generally 3-5 plates per person, in my experience, for a full meal, and a group of six might share round 2-3 dozen dishes and have a bite or two from each. They must be priced, however, as several for the price of a full meal at a competitively ranked restaurant, and if that's high enough to pay for the extra labor that tapas usually require, the quality had better be fine dining worthy. Tapas are really meant to be bar food, and often are just presented as this is what just came out of the kitchen, do you want it, rather than made to order, which probably also keeps the labor cost down. You should never have to stop for burgers on the way home from fine dining, no matter how entertaining it is!