You've only just heard Trans-Siberian Orchestra? They are my cheezy guilty pleasure at Christmas. That's what I'm listening to in my car. Those who don't like it can leave. That means the baby is listening to it at a very young age.

I can raise your Grinchiness -- my husband and I gave each other our fake tree this year as a gift. Yeah, we are all special like that.

Inflatable yard ornaments are stupid. There is a house in our neighborhood that has more yard ornaments visible than yard. It is an abomination.

What are the Big Gifts this year?

There are clouds!!! So there is a bit of hope!!! I will be back after I go do the rain dance outside! =)

Bah. I love this little list. I'm right with you. Yard ornaments are so stupid. They freak me out when I drive and I see them out of the corner of my eye.

I know I've heard the name Trans-Siberian but I can't remember if I've heard them.

Candy canes taste gross anyways.

I prefer fake Christmas trees. It really grosses me out when I think about people growing trees just to cut them down. No I'm not Green nor am I a liberal hippy. I just like trees is all. Wanna fight about it? :-)

Ugh I need to be with you RIGHT NOW. I wanna go caroling and drink hot cocoa after nine. I want to mock stuff at Costco. And eat some pizza, mmm.

1) My parents ONLY let us eat candy canes on Christmas Day. We had nothing that even resembled it for the rest of the year. For the exact same reason.

2) What's the Trans-Siberian Orchestra? ;-)

4) Fake Christmas tree???? Oh the horror!! ;-) For me it has to be a real tree all the way. Yes, it's more expensive, but also (IMHO) more charming because of the delightful smell.

5) YES! I hate the inflated yard decorations too! Fortunately they haven't really made it to Denmark yet, so I only mock them in pictures/movies from the US.

7) Thank you! We've never been told to believe in Santa, nor will my kids ever know that he's anything other than imaginary. What they want to pretend is up to them, but I'm not going to lie to them and tell them he's real. It's a huge pet peeve of mine. How do you explain that some of what you told them is true and some isn't? "No deary, Santa and the Easter Bunny are fake, but Jesus is real enough."

8) Neither have I.

9) My parents did the same. Like you, I only peeked once.

11) I've never worn reindeer antlers in my life, and don't intend to start now. Santa hats are cute though.

Just for the record, the fake tree isn't just for the sake of expense. We traditionally set it up on the day after Thanksgiving, and leave it until New Years' Eve; we have a woodstove for heat; it and the tree are both in the living room. So fire hazard also comes into play.

And mess. The needles, the sap, the spillage from the water basin, that sort of thing. I have a hard enough time motivating myself to keep this place clean. :)

I do miss the smell. But that's about it. :) The thing about a fake tree, though, is that if at some point we decide that for one year we want to get a real one for the sake of the smell (so the kids can experience it once, or whatever), we can just leave the fake one in the attic. But if we don't, voila, we just bring down the tree and set it up.

And Maria, that's precisely the reason we don't foster a belief in Santa in our kids. It's funny how it OFFENDS some people, that we don't. My grandmother made a HUGE deal of it at Christmas one time and she has never been here for Christmas since. She'd rather spend it alone in her house than spend it at mine where we don't believe in Santa.

I think the inflatable yard ornaments are obnoxious, but we have one. It makes the kids happy. It's a snowman, and it's not overly huge. But yeah, it's still creepy. I'm only going on about this because I know I'm being mocked, but I just have to accept it, because the kids don't care if other people think we're tacky and cheesy.
We just bought a cd of Trans-Siberian Orchestra today. I've never heard them, but my dh got it for his sister.
We tell our kids Santa is fake, too, for the same reason you and Maria stated.
I hope you find your cheer again soon. I'm kind of ho-hum myself, as another Christmas slips by and my resolve to make it about anything BUT presents is once again not happening...

Ah, that makes sense. In Denmark it's the custom only to have the tree up for Christmas itself. I.e. from around the 4th Sunday of Advent to Twelfth Night.

Sorry to hear about your grandmothers stance on Santa - that's just weird, that she'd find that belief in Santa is more important than spending Christmas together with you guys. I'm never going to understand some people...