Time Runs Out

Christmas Around The World Questions:
1. Are you religious? I don't go to church or participate in an organized religion any longer. I feel each person has to find their own peace (which I have) and live life according to their personal beliefs, not those of someone else. I also believe the 10 Commands are a good source to frame one's life around (my personal beliefe).
2. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider yourself a Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced? I've been knitting forever it seems but not on a non-stop basis until about the last four or five years. I consider myself to be an intermediate knitter, maybe a bit better.
3. Do you have any other hobbies besides knitting? Lots, I love to bake and cook, love to garden, and I do a bit of all kinds of needlework except for tatting. I have a collection of Waterford Crystal and I love good cookbooks and knitting books and, I do a lot of reading. I love all of Pearl Bucks works and Daphne Du Maurier's, too. More modern authors that I enjoy are Anne Rivers Siddons (I'm a sourhern girl), Amy Tan, Lisa See, and Rosamunde Pilcher.
4. Favorite color(s)? I truly don't know, I just love color. The jewel tones are wonderful, reds, purples, greens, blues, but I also love browns, grays, navy, and black.
5. Do you collect anything? I collect Waterford crystal, my pattern is Curraghmore.
6. Are you allergic to any fibers or animals? No, not allergic but don't enjoy receiving items covered in dog or cat hair (which has happened a few times).
7. Do you have any pets? Yes, an eleven year old Lhasa Apso named Maestro; one of the loves of my life. Lhasa's do not shed hair.
8. Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate? Coffee, but not flavors - just good coffee like Blue Mountain from Jamaica or Duncan Donuts, I don't like Starbucks.
9. Cookies or Sweets? I love good homemade cookies while they are still warm or candy full of nuts. I don't buy many American brand name cookies anymore; they've had all the 'good stuff' taken out of them.
10. Do you knit socks? No but I will get around to it someday just to be able to say I have knit them.
11. If not socks then what? (tell us about your favorite knits) I love felting and knit both hats and bags. I also love shawls which I wear and I like knitting sweaters but not necessarily the finishing process.
12. Do you put up a Christmas tree? If not then what do you do? I've always had some type of tree and often times several. One year when I was having lots of houseguest for Christmas, I even put them in the bathrooms. Generally though, I only have one and they have gotten smaller as I've gotten older. Now with a granddaughter I expect that is going to change.
13. Favorite holiday treats? Toasted nuts, fresh coconut cake, white chocolate, nut, and cranberry shortcake cookies, peanut brittle, Carmel corn; all homemade and fresh.
14. Favorite holiday smells? Evergreens and cinnamon.
15. Do you celebrate Christmas in a traditional or unconventional way? Please elaborate. For our family we have 'our' tradition which starts shortly after Thanksgiving with baking cookies and making candy. I try to always arrange a time when my son is home for the weekend and he, my daughter, and me all bake together; what fun we have and we get most of our baking done in a day. On Christmas Eve we have our traditional dinner, fondue. We make big pots of cheese with imported cheeses and have pots of hot oil for cooking shrimp, chicken, and steak. We make several sauces for dipping and add a good French bread for dipping in the cheese. We have a special white wine that we use in the cheese fondue and buy plenty to go with our meal. This is one meal where we sit around the table for a couple of hours enjoying the family on a special night. Once everyone has eaten the last bite they can possibly put in their stomachs, we go to the living room and share our gifts. Santa doesn't come until Christmas morning and he fills everyone's stocking, child, doggies, adult, and guest and he leaves the children toys and the adults presents under the tree. We get up early to see what Santa has brought then later have a huge breakfast of country fried ham, red-eyed gravy, and biscuits along with grits or hash browned potatoes, eggs, extra sharp Vermont cheese, and homemade jams. Normally that is about the end of Christmas at our house but last year it changed a bit. I wanted something special because I was in the middle of my chemo treatments, really sick and wanted something special for the family. My son took over my kitchen and cooked a special Christmas dinner for us. We had a standing rib roast (he cooked it perfectly) with butter roasted new potatoes, bundled green beans, and a fresh wild green salad. Yum… This was so enjoyable that we plan to do it again this year. Whereas all this use to take place at 'home' we now go to my daughters for Christmas Eve dinner and opening gifts. We all spend the night so that we can see our granddaughter when she wakes on Christmas morning and we have breakfast before we leave. It's wonderful, all of it.
16. What are your favorite holiday traditions? The most important is having our family together. Then giving each child an ornament on Thanksgiving night, our baking together, and the Christmas Eve Fondue party. There is also the special night when my husband and I gather all the gifts we have and wrap them. We have a fire and open a bottle of wine and wrap until we are exhausted.
17. Finish the sentence: “For me Christmas is all about loving one another”
18. If you were a Christmas ornament you would be? A Santa because that's what catches the children's eye?
19. What was your favorite gift you've ever received? Or given? Gosh, I really don't know if you mean material things. I always say to my children that I don't want anything (and actually mean it) except for us all to be together and love one another. Of course they never listen to me and I don't practice what I preach when it comes to giving to them.
20. When do you start your Christmas? We bake early, usually the first or second weekend in December depending on how the weeks fall in a particular year. Our tree usually goes up two weekends before Christmas. Gift buying starts earlier each year because as we get older it takes us longer to do those things and we can't enjoy the crowds like we did when we were younger.
21. Do you send Christmas cards? Do you make them or buy them? We send lots of Christmas cards because we have a large family and lots of friends that we want to share greetings with. I always buy the cards; I'd never get them made if I had to make that many.
22. What is your favorite Christmas dish? Oh, there are too many to name but some foods that always come to mind when I think of Christmas are my mother's fresh ambrosia with fresh coconut in it and her fresh coconut cake. My dad always cracked the coconuts after removing the juice through the coconut's eyes, then peeled and grated it. He also cracked all the pecans we used at our house during the holiday season and we used lots.
23. Carolers are at your door. What do you do? Smile with joy, listen to them sing then offer them whatever Christmas goodies we have in the house.
24. When do you open presents? Christmas eve or Christmas morning? The actual gift opening is on Christmas eve but Santa always leaves a couple of gifts to be opened on Christmas morning.
25. Do you celebrate with family or friends or both? Always family and usually friends too.