Christmas Quiz

Fuqua's first Christmas. No breakables this year!

For me?
A couple of Christmases ago, I filled out this Christmas quiz with my siblings and cousins. I had fun with the answers and even got a few blog posts out of them (links provided).

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both. I especially like printed tissue.

2. Real trees or artificial? Fake -- because they can hold more heavy ornaments.

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? As long as I can hold out (somewhere between mid - January & Palm Sunday).

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, but not as much as Irish Cream (see below).

6. Favorite gift received as a child? A boy doll, when I was in 4th grade (age 9); I never gave him a name -- just called him Boy Doll and still have him. Little did I know that one day I'd have two little blond baby boys who looked just like that doll!

7. Do you have a Nativity scene? Yes, about a dozen!

8. Hardest person to buy for? I used to say Gerry; but lately I have more good ideas for him than I do for Ben and Sam. Gone are the days of Brio & Thomas the Tank.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Sister - in - law Tina.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Maybe it was the Carolans Irish Cream Gift Tin -- with no bottle of Irish Cream inside -- just the empty tin. Symbolic?

11. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? Mostly snail - mail, with a few e-mail cards, photos, etc. thrown in for good measure.

12. Five Favorite Christmas Movies?

Starting at Thanksgiving with Home for the Holidays. Great cast including, Holly Hunter, Robert Downey, Jr., Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning, Geraldine Chaplain.

The House Without a Christmas Tree (Jason Robards)

The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas (1973 animation, narrated by Tommy Smothers, Barbara Feldon, Arte Johnson)

A Christmas Memory, written & narrated by Truman Capote, starring Geraldine Page

A Child's Christmas in Wales, starring / narrated by Denholm Elliott

and . . . one more . . . the musical version of Scrooge with Albert Finney.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I Christmas shop on a perpetual calendar basis! I have, in fact, already started for next year.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Ask me no more questions, I'll tell you no more lies!

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Tiny Mince Pies (my recipe).

16 Clear lights or colored on the tree? Colored.

17. Favorite Christmas song? "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," "O LittleTown of Bethlehem," "Star of Bethlehem" (from the first Home Alone movie), and "Sweet Little Jesus Boy," especially the lines: "The world treats you mean Lord / Treats me mean too / But that's the way things are down here . . . "

One more: Stevie Wonder's "Someday at Christmas" -- best anti - war / protest song I know.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? You know that song, "I'll Be Home For Christmas"? I think it means staying at home, in your own home -- if only in your dreams . . .

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yup -- even to include Bambi! This is a little joke in our family because when I asked Gerry what ornaments he liked, he pointed to a little Rudolph and said, "Well, I don't think much of this Bambi." Bambi! Can you believe? Haha! We're not going to let him forget that one for a long time!

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? On top of our big tree is a tiny Nativity scene -- with it's own very even tinier star on top -- so I guess the answer is Star. We sometimes top the other tree with a St. Nicholas Bishop's Hat that Sam made for a school project a few years back. When growing up, we had a white plastic angel painted with gold details; a Christmas light fit right into her back and she was beautiful. Some years, my mom would let us keep her out as a night - light, even after we had put the tree away.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning (delayed gratification).

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Rarely annoyed . . . just dismayed at how extremely fast away the old year passes, even as I'm trying to clean the house and hang the greens and write the cards.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color: Oh so many! Lots of kitty - cat ornaments; a couple of 12 - Days sets; a couple of Nutcracker Suite sets; a couple of Alice in Wonderland sets; the kings & queens of England. I love them all! Occasionally I've been tempted to try a "theme" tree, but in the end I just have to cram it all in. As one of my neighbors said last year, "Now, that's what I call a stuffed tree!" That's the way I like it!

Who wouldn't want to find a giant kitten
in a bread basket under the tree?
"Little" Fuqua (10 mos old; 10 lbs.)
24. Favorite Christmas dinner -- a big ol' repeat of Thanksgiving: turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes and marshmallows, stuffing, peas, cranberry relish. And for dessert: Nutcracker Sweet Chocolate Pecan Pie. And our four British favorites: Christmas Cake, Figgy Pudding, Tiny Mince Pies, and Sherry Trifle.

25. What do I want for Christmas? Funny, the year my family did this quiz (2009), I had just ordered eight pair of boots, tried them all on, returned five pairs, and kept my three favorites to wrap and put under the tree. What did I get this year? Three pairs of boots -- red, black, and brown! So, I guess I always want boots. I also like getting Christmas for Christmas: Christmas magazines, Christmas books, Christmas candles, Christmas stickers, Christmas tree ornaments.

26. Most likely to respond: We'll see!

27. Least likely: Bah, humbug!

Fuqua Watching For Santa

Additional quizzes . . .Possible ~ Plausible ~ Improbable

Quarantine Quiz Shows

Class of '75

Challenges: Special K & Ten Favs

["Christmas Quiz"]

"You're Out Walking"

"Take This Quiz!"

"Monday: Pop Quiz"

"Talk to Me"

Day of Darkness

On such a dark day,
I am reminded of these cautionary watchwords from Virginia Woolf,
spoken by two of her best - known characters, two distraught mothers:

"There was no treachery too base
for the world to commit;
she knew that."

~ Mrs. Ramsay ~
from To The Lighthouse, 98

"She always had the feeling
that it was very, very dangerous
to live even one day."

~ Mrs. Dalloway ~
from Mrs. Dalloway, 11

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and this sad stanza from one of my all - time favorite Christmas songs:

"And in despair I bowed my head:
'There is no peace on earth,' I said;
'For hate is strong
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men!'"

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
from "I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day"

**********************

One of the best ever antidotes to cynicism are these
words of wisdom from dear, good, beautiful Anne Frank:
"It's difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart. I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery, and death. I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that this cruelty too shall end, and that peace & tranquility will return once again."

**********************

Equally hopeful are these closing lines from "The Desiderata":

"With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be careful.
Strive to be happy."

Pastel December Sky
Or, as my friend Diane says, Cotton Candy Trees

See also
"Real Memorial Day"

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Image from Harper's Weekly: "Christmas Eve, 1862"
While perusing my Christmas anthologies, I learned that "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was written as a commentary on the American Civil War. Though I've known this song since childhood, I had never seen the lengthier version, two stanzas longer than usually printed (stanzas 3 & 4 below). Lamenting a Nation divided, these lines from 1863, also seem sadly relevant now.

click to read
The Story of Pain and Hope Behind
"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day"*

and to

hear an unusual haunting rendition of the carol
As a brooding, existentialist teenager, I always hung on to that stanza about despair (# 5 below; usually #3 in the sung version), although it was never exactly clear to me how it fit into the rest of the song. Now, seeing the entire context, it makes a lot more sense. What do you think?

The complete poem:

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

I thought, as now the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearthstones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep!
The Wrong shall fail
The Right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men!"

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day
A voice, a chime
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807 - 1882
most popular, beloved, and successful American poet of his day

~ the story behind the song, narrated by Ed Herman

~ as sung by Karen Carpenter

When I shared these stanzas with my family, my Uncle Gene wrote back to say, "That's simply astounding. I had no idea of verses 3 and 4. On reading them, you can see why, maybe they were never publicized. All the same, they give more meaning to the last ones when read following the brutal war verses." My brother Dave added that after seeing "the extended play version, yes, I agree that all the stanzas together make a much more coherent picture. As a matter of fact, I would say that it was very observant of you as a young lass to have noticed the not too obvious discordance of the work without the 'extra' stanzas." Writing not long after the United States invasion of Afghanistan, Dave suggested that "To take liberties with Henry's work, one could gently alter the third stanza by replacing mouth with beast and South with East, making it more topical, albeit no better."

Thanks to Dave and Uncle Gene for these remarks;
and also to my brother Bruce for the link above from
*The Gospel Coalition.

And while we're on the topic of despair, and bells,
and right and wrong:
"I ask you...to adopt the principles proclaimed by yourselves,
by your revolutionary fathers,
and by the old bell in Independence Hall."

by Frederick Douglass, 1818 - 1895
American abolitionist, women's suffragist, author,
editor, orator, reformer, and great statesman

from an address delivered at the Southern Loyalists' Convention
in Philadelphia, 1866