A Christmas Meme

I'm back! Yay.

And so I present you with a Christmas meme from Pavlov's Cat.

1) Do you have a tree, and if so what is hanging on it?

No, we just a have a pot plant which has a couple of candy canes at its base and a small piece of gold tinsel tied to it.

2) What's the most successful bit of Christmas cooking you've done so far?

I made a mushroom-nut tart that was quite yummy, but I think that the gingerbread was the most successful (post with recipe coming now that I can finally switch over to the new blogger).

3) And the least successful?

I didn't do enough cooking for anything to be a real failure this year.

4) Which bit of your Christmas shopping are you happiest with?

I bought my Mum and her partner a toilet from Oxfam Unwrapped. I think that this was my favourite present to give away.


5) Have you opened any of your presents yet? What was it / were they?

Yes. I received some beautiful jewellery from P., which he bought for me in Laos. It is a matching necklace and earrings made from silver and bamboo. I also received school supplies for children in Thailand, Carmen Lawrence's book on Fear and Politics, a parenting book, a thermos, Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss, some moisturiser from Lush, a make your own cookbook and some vegan chocolate, a Christmas ornament, and a magazine subscription. I am also going to get a sewing machine from my parents, but I have to go and find the one that I want first.

Yes, I did very well.

I must say that our little one may have done even better - s/he received tons of books, clothes, nappy liners, Bunnykins crockery (the crockery was from me).

6) Do you have any bad Christmas associations that will have to be tackled?

Not really, although P. and I have managed to get quite bad food poisoning in two of the last three Christmases (once in China and once in Cambodia).

7) What's your favourite carol? Why?

Away in a Manger - because my brother and I sang it at a church Christmas concert while sitting on my grandfather's lap when I was very little.

8) Which part of your Christmas plans is most likely to go awry?

The part where I try to keep some of the day for myself, just to relax.

9) What's your most favourite thing about Christmas?

Giving gifts to people and catching up with family.

10) What's your least favourite thing about it?

The excess consumption and going to too many family events in one day (yes, this does seem a little inconsistence with my favourite parts, doesn't it?).

11) What Christmassy thing have you seen or heard in the street or on the teeve or in the blogosphere that has
(a) touched your heart

PC's encounter with the 'Merry Christmas to a Wonderful Mother' cards.

(b) hit a nerve

The sermon in church was about advent being a lot like pregnancy.

or (c) made you want to barf?

The lead stories in the news were cricket and sailing - and this was well before we even got to 'sport'. I quite like cricket, but there are simply more important things going on in the world.

12) Who do you wish you had contacted to say Happy Christmas but haven't so far?

Sally, Tiff, Mum's family who were in Sydney, those of Dad's family who were in Grafton,The Hivemind, Kristy, Armaniac, Aletia and probably a whole bunch of other people...