I don’t do these non-hiking tag posts very often…but I am feeling Christmassy and this is fun to write about. So, here are a bunch of Christmas-themed questions. I seem to have a lot of photos of my family in Christmas hats, so I added loads of those as well! My Blogging friends, Katie (from Fatty McCupcakes), Cherie ( From Michigan to Germany) and Debbie (from Deb’s World) all did this first, so check out their posts too.

Where do you usually spend your Holiday?
Before we moved to Canada, Marc and I took it in turns to stay at with our parents at Christmas. Now it’s just the three of us (Me, Marc and Monty, my cat) we don’t have a ‘usual’ way to celebrate yet!

Growing up, we had Christmas routines which involved presents, then wandering around the village to drink and swap more prezzies with friends, then eating until we couldn’t move…and then going for a walk. We also used to visit one of my auntie’s homes on Boxing Day, to play games, sing Christmas songs, and eat too much all over again!

What holiday traditions are you looking forward to the most this year?
I love chatting to our families back home. It’s a bit bitter-sweet because I really miss them, but it’s so nice to catch up and see them. By the time we wake up, my nieces and nephews will have opened most of their prezzies, so we can see them bouncing around enjoying it all.

What is your favourite Christmas song?
I love Good King Wenceslas. It sounds lovely as a carol, especially if you sing it in a round.

Do you open any presents on Christmas Eve?
No way. I love the anticipation of Christmas, so I wouldn’t want to start early!

Is your Christmas tree real or fake?
Real this year! *Squeee*
One year in Japan, I helped make a tree out of cardboard when we couldn’t find any Christmas trees for sale. We were all really chuffed with our effort!

Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
Rudolph, Dipsy, Prancer, Nixon? Ehem. No. I don’t think I can.

What is your favourite Christmas film?
Die Hard! It’s Christmassy and full of action. I know that’s a bit weird for a Christmas film, but I love it. I did also really like Love Actually when I first saw it, although I cringe at the way the blokes in that film treat women if I watch it now.

When I was growing up, Christmas time was when we’d watch the BBCs Narnia series, and then the Borrowers. I didn’t see any of those for yeeears, but I loved them as a child.

Have you ever had a white Christmas?
Just a couple, it doesn’t happen very often in the UK. I’m hoping for a white Christmas this year because we can drive up to the Mountains for snow!

These photos were from after Christmas when my sister visited…The lights made it still feel Christmassy.

What is your all-time favourite holiday food/sweet treat?
I just love everything about Christmas dinner. At my mum’s house there is normally turkey (with cranberry sauce and bread sauce) honey-roasted carrots, sprouts, pigs in blankets, yorkshire puds, roasties, stuffing…and other veggies depending on what mum fancies. It is all sooo good.

I mean, I used to hate the brussel sprouts, but now I love it all.

Oh! I also LOVE bubble and squeak on boxing day, made with the leftovers. Om nom nom…

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Be honest:  Do you like giving gifts or receiving gifts better?
When I was little, I loved receiving best. But nowadays I LOVE seeing people’s reactions if I managed to find them a really good gift. This is what I’ll miss most about being away from home during the holidays.

What is the best Christmas gift you have ever received?
I am really lucky, I have received sooo many good things over the years! One that really stands out is when my mum and dad (I think it was mostly dad) made me a Punch & Judy style wooden puppet theater, and gave me puppets along with it. My poor family had to watch my puppet shows for years afterwards!

These days I think the best gifts have been experiences. Last year my parents sent us cash, which we spent on a day out snowshoeing, and Marc’s brother gave us an amazing mushroom foraging tour.

What would be your dream place to visit for the Holiday season?
Heh. I normally avoid travel during Christmas as it is so expensive and crowded! If we were rich, I guess it would be amazing to go back to the Rockies and see those amazing mountains covered in snow.

Are you a pro present wrapper? Or do you fail miserably?
I’m alright. My sister, Rosy, is amaaaazing, and I’ll never be as good as her, but I can make things pretty-ish.

Most memorable holiday moment?
Our extended family used to have a few traditions on Boxing day. One was all the kids (I have lots of cousins) performing for the adults. My brother and I play the violin, one sister plays the viola, and one plays the cello, so we’d perform Christmas songs as a string quartet. We were not particularly gracious when we practiced together, so I remember being poked by bows! I am pretty sure we sounded awful!

The other main tradition was playing sardines. One person goes to hide, then the rest of the family has to find them. Once you’ve found the sardine, you squidge in, wherever they are hiding…until you have 9 children and at least eight adults trying to squeeze into a hiding place. One year I got to be the sardine for the first time! I found a good place to hide in an airing cupboard. It was great, until I stood up to check if anyone had seen me… several shelves of the cupboard came off the wall so I ended up trapped under a pile of shelves, towels and bed linen. Oops.

What made you realize the truth about Santa?
My parents were brilliant at keeping us believing in Santa for yeears. My mum once borrowed our neighbour’s wellies to make soot marks on her white rug by the fire(!) We were sneaky and checked the footprint against dad’s wellies…but it was a different size! I knew mum would never allow that rug to get dirty, so I was totally fooled.

In the end, I worked it out with my friend. We were told not to look in some shopping bags half way up the stairs in her house. We didn’t look in them, but we held the plastic up close against the contents, so we could work out what was inside. When she received some of those gifts from Santa, we knew.

Do you make New Year’s resolutions?  Do you stick to them?
Sometimes. I made a New Year’s resolution to walk more back in 2016 – that’s been going pretty well ever since.

What do you wish for Christmas this year?
Hmmm, that I can have babies soon-ish! My nieces and nephews are already quite old, so they’ll have to be wise, older cousins.

What makes the Holidays special for you?
Marc. He’s not as into Christmas as I am, but I love having extra time to spend together.

Favourite Christmas smell
Christmas dinner! We were not planning to having a big meal this Christmas, as we’d like to go skiing…but typing this makes me think I should cook on Christmas eve, so we can take leftover sarnies up to the slopes!

What is the worst/weirdest gift you have ever received?
Erm… I can’t think of any. I’ve had some obvious re-gifts in my time, but it’s still sweet that the re-gifter thought of me, so I don’t think of them as the worst.

Favourite Holiday drink?
I am partial to Baileys over Christmas, but I also love mulled cider. There are a few pubs that serve it in London, and that always makes me happy.

Have you ever spent Christmas in another country?
I’ve had a few Christmases in Japan. Christmas sushi was amazing…even though most people eat KFC and cream cakes to celebrate Christmas there!
Last year was our first Canadian Christmas, and I loved that too.

What place/landmark in your town do you love to visit during Christmas?
If I’m at home, then I just love the post-Christmas lunch walk around our village. I was lucky to grow up in such a pretty place.

Were you naughty or nice this year?
Nice!

Do you own/wear a Christmas themed jumper or T-Shirt?
Of course! I have a Christmas dress as well as an amazing cat jumper that says meowy Christmas. I’ll take a photo of it later… for now, here is my brother George’s best jumper.

If you’d like to get involved, please do! Just copy the questions and add your own responses/photos of Christmas jumpers. Then, let me know and I’ll add a link to your Christmas tag post here too.

• This is the sweetest possible wish list by Angela from You are Awesome.
• Chronic Illness at Christmas by Claire from PainPals Blog