Winter Holiday Meme

Well, Christmas. I was trying to be PC but the meme isn't.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Warpping paper

2. Real tree or Artificial?
Real, but I haven't had one in a while. Had a menorah as a kid too.

3. When do you put up the tree?
Whenever I remember to get one. It's been a few years.

4. When do you take the tree down?
When it's brown.

5. Do you like eggnog?
Ew.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Wow, I can't recall... I know that when I was 12 I bought my first cockatiel, Peeper, and my parents got her cage and other stuff, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't for a holiday.

7. Hardest person to buy for?
Either my dad or T$.

8. Easiest person to buy for?
Mom: dark colored T-shirts w/ logos.

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
No

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Sometimes, and then mail.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Lots of clothes I'd never wear.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
That one with the mice.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Year-round. I buy things when I see things my friends would like, and save them for holidays or birthdays, or just give them for no reason. Many Christmases I don't give people things b/c I never found anything, or just give some generic thing to everybody.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Don't think so.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Butter cookies - I like when my mom makes them, even though it's the same recipe as my Aunt's.

16. Lights on the tree?
Yep, and origami, and popcorn. :)

17. Favorite xmas song?
Handel's Messiah

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Travel to my parents and sometimes T$'s.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Around 8 of them.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
I have an angel, but I've done a giant origami star before too.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Morning ... well, afternoon...

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Mall crowds, and the music at malls.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
Blown glass balls, and origami.

24. Favorite memory of Christmas?
Playing with my older cousins at my Aunt's house. One of them gave me a rubber hot dog. It was awesome. Really! Stop laughing at me!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
Audible.com gift certificates, cash, donations to charity - I really want chickens, but unfortunately it looks like Mercy Corps only has goats, pigs, and camels Give a gift of chickens via Heifer International!

dress for a wedding?

I'm going to a friend's wedding on Thanksgiving Saturday, she's the bride. The attire is semi-formal, the ceremony will be non-denominational, the bride is wearing a dress from J.Crew and the groom a kilt, and the bride is Chinese. I'm torn between wearing a strappy floor-length dress that's gold underneath with black mesh over (two crappy pictures here and here), and a Chinese-style ("Mandarin style") dress from my Nga Boo with half sleeves, a collar, and ends just below the knee, in yellow brocade (somewhat like this in cut).

I'm actually having the Chinese dress fitted and picking it up tomorrow afternoon, so if it's not ready that'll make my choice for me. While I feel like the Chinese one is a more appropriate level of attire (the long one seems a bit *too* formal), it strikes me that b/c of its outlandishness that it could be worn in many more circumstances than the long one, so I should wear the long one when I can. The bride's planning to have another reception in NYC a few months away, so it could be worn then, for example, presuming I'm invited which seems a reasonable presumption since she said she'd invite my parents.

I also have shoes and a purse for the long dress, and I'd have to throw something together for the Chinese-style one.

Any thoughts?