Christmas Meme

I have been ordered by SweetViolet to complete the following Meme. Enjoy!



















Hot Chocolate or Apple Cider?
Cider of course!! Especially the mulled variety...yum!

Turkey or Ham?
Preferablly neither. Growing up on a turkey/cattle farm, I DETEST turkey and will only stand for it on Thanksgiving. Of course, seeing as how I have no say so on Christams Dinner, I will be subject to both turkey and ham. Chirodad has mentioned the interest in a TurDuckIn. Eww.

Do you get a Fake or Real/cut it yourself Tree?
I have insisted on real trees only! Nothing smells quite like christmas than a fresh Fraiser Fur!

Decorations on the outside of your house?
Ok, here's the deal...this year we DO have deocrations, though not at all what I wanted. We have a very simple greenery swag with red bows at the apex, a huge grapevine and light wreath, and a beribboned mailbox. I'd rather just have the nice greenery on the outside. Growing up, my Mother ALWAYS had either big parties at the house or we entered in a local tour of homes. This consisted of 5 fully decorated trees within the house, tons of greenery everywhere (God help you if you had allergies), a lighted tree stuck on a boat in the middle of the pond, an 18th century horse cart filled with 'presents' bows, and lights, and goodness only knows what else. I refuse to get that in depth with the decorations. And if I ever do, you have my permission to put me out of my misery!

Snowball fights or Sledding?
Since I live in SC, and rarely see enough snow to do either, I enjoy both! Although, one of my fondest memories as a child (when there was more than an inch of snow on the ground) is my Dad tying a rubber innertube to the back of a truck and taking my sister and me 'tubing' through snow-covered pastures! I guess thats redneck sledding??

Do you enjoy going downtown shopping?
Before the hubby and child, yes. Now, heck no!

Favorite Christmas Song?
What Child is This and Gloria...oh, and O Holy Night and Santa Baby...I have too many!

How do you feel about Christamas movies?
Like most of them, love a few (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, animated version), don't really care for the newer stuff (Jim Carey's Grinch, The Santa Claus, etc).

When is it too early to listen to Christmas music?
July?

Stockings before or after presents?
After! My parents used to hide cash, gift cards, and jewelry in ours at home, so it was always a nice ending to the morning. Of course, now with BeeBabe in the picture, we may start doing them first (at the foot of the bed Christmas morning).

Carolers, do you or do you not watch and listen to them?

Having been a caroler, I pay close attention always!! Although, if you sing off key, I'm likely to try and help 'correct' you.

Go to someone else's house or they come to you?

This is an issue with a large family. We have ALWAYS had Christmas breakfast with my father's family and Christmas dinner with my mother's family. So, this year it will be, Christmas morning at my house with beebabe and chirodad, a Christmas brunch with my dad's family, Christmas afternoon with my mom, dad, brother, sister, and future brother in law, Christmas dinner with my mom's family. Christmas eve will be spent with my inlaws and at Divine Liturgy.

Do you read the Christmas story? If so, when?

does liturgy count? we probably will start doing this this year with beebabe.

What do you do after presents and dinner?

Drive back home!

What is your favorite holiday smell?

GINGERBREAD!

Ice skating or mall walking?

I've never been ice skating and heard its rather dangerous...still, I'd take that any day over the other choice!

Do you open a present on Christmas Eve or wait until Christmas Day?

Usually one gift on Christmas eve - PJ's!!

Favorite Christmas memory?

A very sleepy Chirodad showing up for Christmas breakfast at my parents house early in the morning. This was a few months before we were engaged...it was very sweet AND he had to meet all the family at once (poor guy).

Favorite part about Winter?

The weather!!! You can finally wear cuddly sweaters and scarves!

Ever been kissed under the mistletoe?

Yes. By a weird uncle. It was frightening.

As far as tagging goes...if you are like me, stuck at work and bored, go for it!!

I Am BatGirl!

And this, ladies and gents, is what happens when Chirodad and BeeBabe go shopping together... 

Bee Babe meets Santa...

And didn't cry! In fact, she seemed rather determined to pull off the massive beard he was sporting. 

An early Christmas Gift

Yet another member of the militant breastfeeding club... 

What's in a name?

So, after several of the bloggers I read regularly posted bits and pieces about Wikipedia, I decided to do a quick search on my name. Turns out it isn't a bastardization of a French name after all! Woo hoo! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbette

Thanks, mom and dad. 4 days of deliberation and you came up with THIS?

A funny story about Bridges

The wonderful Chirodad and I honeymooned in London and Scotland two years ago. Being the frugal couple that we are, we decided to carry our backpacks and use the wonderful Hostels (the US needs so many more of these!!). So, we left balmy Charleston, SC for the 2 hour drive to Charlotte, NC for our flight (the weather was about 75 degrees F and sunny). We get to Charlotte in time to take an earlier than scheduled flight to Newark, NJ. For the record, I do NOT like Newark. Period. My experiences there have never been pleasant, and I suppose the powers that be didn't see any reason to change that trend just yet. Well, we hit NJ, go through the insane security check lines, and head down to the Virgin gates to await our overnight flight. So far so good. Even the gaggle of young choirboys from Bristol couldn't manage to annoy me too much. Heck, I was on my honeymoon! And I was going to Euorpe! The flight there wasn't too horrible...the great thing about overseas flights is the liquor is free. Enough bourbon and anything is tolerable. Even the screaming 2 year old to the left of my seat. Upon arriving in London, we hit the tarmac ready to GO. Well, we soon find out that our luggage has been detained in NJ, but will be on the next flight over (that night). No worries...we decided to pick up a few pair of socks (Chirodad was in birks w/o socks...brrrr) and some necessities, hit the hostel, and then start the adventure.
To make a very long story somewhat shorter, the luggage took 6 days to arrive. We had planned on staying in the UK for a total of 10 days. Not fun. After day 3 of being in London (and hand washing underwear and socks), I decide what the hell, lets get on a bus and go to Edinburgh. We should have been there yesterday and I'm sick of staying here! So here we go....only the bus ride takes forever and we hadn't made reservations at a hostel in Edinburgh. Ok, so no worries, right??? WRONG!!! The only rooms in that freaking town that were left were DORM rooms. Thats right. I was going to spend part of my honeymoon in a room shared with *gasp* other people!!! Poor Chirodad...I had a literal meltdown (and remembering this, I totally see where my daughter's tantrums are coming from!) on a bridge in Edinburgh. Yes, there were people around and nope, I didn't care. So, Chirodad did the only thing he could think of. He managed to persuade me to step inside a nearby pub, ordered up some wonderful soup and a BIG glas of whiskey. Followed by a few dozen more glasses of whiskey. And wouldn't ya know, after that much whiskey, I could have cared less WHERE I was going to sleep!

The only thing that tops off the bridge tantrum was the return bus ride to London a week later. We were the last two people on a packed bus, and weren't able to sit together (SOOOO High School, I know). Chirodad got a lovely, stick thin fellow as a seat partner. I got the Santa-in-training GASSY partner. And the bus driver wanted to be a NASCAR driver, I swear. So, that night was spent being farted and half-sat upon while simoultaneously being scared witless. Fun times, fun times.

I'm ready to go back!! Imagine the fun times to be had with a toddler in tow!! 

Random Scotland Pictures

Here are a few of us around Edinburgh...we have St. Giles' Cathedral, King Arthur's Seat, the Bank of Scotland (that STOLE my freaking debit card...the dang machine wouldn't give it back and I was almost screwed, but thankfully had a great hubby with me who took care of things), Edinburgh Castle, an Armistice Day memorial, The Tollbooth Tower, and me!  

Rosslyn Pictures

Here they are...Pictures taken with a sub-par digital camera at Rosslyn Chapel during our honeymoon. These are a few of my favorites...the Apprentice Tower (thought to house the Holy Grail), Lucifer (fallen angel tied in ropes), the Little Green Man (pagan Aztec God), and a few stained glass windows. There were also carvings of agave plants and maize all over the place (along with the 5 point flower/star associated with Masons), but we were unable to get pictures of those on the digital camera.

My cat is a Gigolo!

Yes, thats right. I'm admiting that my cat is not the most selective of creatures. To those of you who don't know, I have an almost 6 year old black and white neutered feline in my posession of the name Nick (Mr. Mistofoles was a bit hard on the tongue). Nick has been with me for quite a while...through several college roomates (and helped harbor the love of all things feline in one of them, Kim you know I'm talking about you), crazy parents, and now a husband, daughter, and live in father-in-law. At one point, poor Nick was forced to give up the lazy house-cat life and become quasi-feral at the Dragon Lady's home (aka, Chirodad's Grandmother). She tried to rename him, but he was having none of that nonsense, thankfully!

It was noted by the two fabulous college roomies that Nick was somewhat of an attention whore. We'll translate that to food whore...we found out that he actually had a 'route' of apartments that he visited where each of the little old ladies fed him copous amounts of tuna and milk (the smell makes sense now). Fast foward a few years to our current living situation. I've noticed a certian fuzzy grey furball hanging around with Sir Nick, as he goes about his neighborhood route (begging for food and attention, no doubt). I thought that this grey cat would be a good companion for Nick, especially considering that his fathering kittens was out of the question. And I had thought that one companion would be enough for him. Ha, boy was I wrong. Turns out, the grey kitty is only his daytime companion...at night, he hangs out with this fellow, who scares the bejesus out of me!