Can you tell I’m trying to stretch things as far as I can. This attempt at daily writing is taxing on my poor brain. . I swear, I don’t have a creative thought left in my body. It’s been sucked right out of me (not by Holidailies – just by life).

So – because yet again I’m unable to come up with a ‘real’ post, and I’ve just missed another two days – I’ll answer my own questions.

Real or fake (sorry, artificial)?
Most assuredly real. I’m a Christmas tree snob. I turn my nose up at all you fake tree people. Utter disdain is what I feel. I try not to think less of you just because you have a fake plastic tree – but I just can’t help it.

Religious or secular?Pretty much secular with slight religious undertones. Bella knows about “Baby Cheesus” and we go to church on Christmas Eve – but that is about the extent of the religious part right now (sorry Dad).

Santa or not?
Ho Ho Ho – I’d darn well say there’s a Santa. You’re talking to the girl who almost got in a fight with the boy who sat behind her in Grade Four (Fourth Grade for all you Americans) over this very question.

David Moore, cynical non-believer that he was, said there’s no such thing as Santa. I fought bitterly that there was indeed a real St. Nick.

What was my reasoning, you ask?
Number One: Santa had written me a letter, received from the post office and written in a hand writing totally different from either of my parents and;
Number Two: My parents were too dammed poor to buy us two Christmas gifts. Therefore, to me, he was (and still is) real.

I argued long and bitterly with that boy, and to tell you the truth, I don’t know when I official switched from waiting for Santa to helping my parents play Santa, it just seemed like a natural transition.

Truthfully, I don’t really get the arguments against Santa (although I certainly do get the arguments against commercialized Christmas and what Santa becomes with all that twisted into the mix, whole ‘nother story). To me, Santa is made up of the same kind of magic as elves, fairies, leprechauns, witches, wizards, etc, etc. Bella and I hunt for the red door that marks the entrance to a fairy village whenever we see a magical looking place, and we put cookies out for Santa. To me, this is nothing like lying – this is passing on a gift of believing in things that you cannot see.

I know that many of the mothers I respect and love feel very differently about this. I was actually a part of a email discussion about this earlier this week and decided to back out, not because I was offended but just because I’m working hard this year to get in the Christmas Spirit, and the fun getting ready for Santa with Bella is a huge part of that for me – I found that debating Santa the week before Christmas made me feel more ‘Bah Humbug’ than ‘Merry Christmas’. Maybe I can revisit the issue in July and feel a little less emotionally vested in my arguments.

Christmas or Hanukkah (or Kwanzaa or Solstice or…..)?
Christmas – although I feel like I’m about to embark on a journey of spiritual discovery and I hope to learn more about other winter celebrations and traditions. I want to learn about Yule and Solstice; I want to read books with Bella about Hanukkah and Kwanzaa so that she can see that there is beauty in spirituality and faith beyond the red and green North American Christmas. I want to find my own place within all the amazing and wonderful traditions and start searching for my own truth. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me.

Eggnog or Hot Chocolate?
Do you really have to ask? I’ve never tasted Eggnog – why would I when there’s always chocolate around? I kinda feel about Eggnog the way I feel about most non-chocolate deserts….What’s the point?

Turkey or Ham (or Tofurkey)?
Definitely turkey, but only white meat. Actually, I feel rather lazy about cooking a big dinner for just the four of us. My family always went all out with this – and it feels like SO much effort for our little family. However, with all my talk about yearning for tradition – I bet I’ll get over my laziness and do the turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce (real, I’m a snob about canned cranberry too).

Cash or Credit?
Cash/Debit. We use our Credit Cards but don’t carry a balance (don’t I sound so high and mighty?). Actually – since we’ve only barely begun to shop – at least we have less time to do any major financial damage:)

Travel or stay home?
Stay home. Thankfully. Traveling at Christmas is a unique form of torture that should only be undertaken by the very young and childless – or those suffering from some form of temporary insanity. I miss my family desperately during the holidays – but NO THANKS!

Mall or online?
Mall and online and various and sundry shops around town.

Extended family or nuclear?
Nuclear – usually we have Sam’s parents, last year my sister came down. This year it is just the four of us. I’m kinda looking forward to it, feels nice and low key.

Star or angel?
Star – we just bought a new one last night. Do you know how hard it is to find a tree topper? This star was the only one we could find in Target - Bella was bummed ‘cause “It doesn’t even light up or anything.”

Bella always has the honour of placing it atop the tree. She takes it very seriously.

Plastic/battery operated or wooden hand painted?
There has been a moratorium on battery operated toys in this house for several years. Unfortunately, now and then one sneaks through the barricades despite the regulations and I quietly plot its demise. We’re going for wood, and felt – Waldorfish toys. Two for each girl (one from us, one from Santa) and a stocking full of marvelous surprises. Now I just have to go shopping:)

Of course – just yesterday Bella decided that more than anything she wanted a Dora Scooter. Up till now she said she didn’t care what she got – didn’t even want to write a letter or make a list – said she’d be happy no matter what. Now, all of a sudden – when the rush is on and the lines are twenty deep at the cash registers, she wants a Dora Scooter. Of course, we can’t find one anywhere…

White lights or coloured?
Coloured! I’m also a snob about having an eclectic mishmash of a tree (sheesh, writing this makes me realize I’m annoyingly snobbish about Christmassy stuff). Matchy-matchy trees make me mildly nauseous. Something wrong in my eyes when I see a fake tree covered in all white and blue or something like that (my apologies in advance for anyone with fake trees with white lights and all blue decorations – I’m sure your tree is lovely, just not for me).

Traditional music or contemporary?
I’m equal opportunity when it comes to Christmas music (finally! Something I’m not stuck up about).

However, I’m annoyed with 99.9 KEZ – Continuous Christmas Music. I’m pretty sure all they did was burn a disk of about 50 mostly cheesy tunes and put it on random repeat for the month while the entire staff took off for the Bahamas or something. Every now and then they throw listeners a bone by playing something that has not been played six times already – but mostly it is the same, serious of cheesy songs played over, and over and over again.

Somehow I’m still listening. Why? I need an Ipod.

‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ or ‘Miracle on 34th Street’
‘Miracle on 34th Street’ - hands down. That and ‘Holiday Inn’. (I heart Bing). Those two movies were played every year at our house.

Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning?
Christmas Morning without a doubt. I do love the Christmas Eve church service (yes, even in my conflicted searching state, it is still beautiful to me). Last year when Julianna fell asleep on my shoulder during the candlelight “Silent Night” I couldn’t have been in a place of greater peace or contentment.

Still, Christmas morning is way better. I love the anticipation of it all. I love knowing that something good is coming. My family always had to force me to open my presents – ‘cause after the presents are open what’s to look forward to? I like to prolong the day as long as possible – it was not unusual in our house to be still opening presents in the middle of the afternoon – not because we had so many (because we didn’t have a huge commercial Christmas) but because we all took our time and savored the experience (or else, the rest of them just humored me and my eccentricities).

Original Grinch or Jim Carrey?
Original – no contest. Bella calls them the ‘nice grinch’ (original) or the ‘mean grinch’ (carrey). One of the only movies she’s ever asked to turn off because she was freaked out.

Red or Green?
Red. Just because.

Candy Cane or Gingerbread?
It depends…does either one have chocolate?

Re-gift or Goodwill (or Ebay)?
Re-gift or (more likely) sit in my closet or shed or a box in the corner of the living room that will eventually get peed on by one of the damn cats waiting to get ebayed or yard saled or goodwilled.

White Christmas or Green?
Very, very Green. I’d love to have a white Christmas, but that is just not in the cards as long as we live here. Hmmmm…maybe next year we should rent a cabin up north and have a white Christmas. I feel inspired all of a sudden.

‘Jingle Bells’ or “Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer”
Rudolf – sung by Jack Johnson (go and download it – very cool version)

Ready or not?
Oh so, so, so, so, so not ready.