This time of year there are so many holidays and celebrations that overlap, which is why it is called Holiday Season. [Editorial note:  Damn right.  You have to be pretty arrogant to insist or assume that everyone celebrates YOUR holiday.]

Jack’s Answers

1. What will you be celebrating? If it isn’t a commonly known holiday or celebration (i.e., Christmas, winter solstice, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa) briefly tell us about it.
We will be celebrating Christmas, despite the fact that it would be awesome to piss off Bill O’Reilly by celebrating something else.

2. What’s your favorite Christmas or holiday tune?
I don’t have one.  Make no mistake; I’m not the sort who can’t stand to listen to Christmas music.  I grew up with it, and really enjoy it in-season.  I don’t think that I have a favorite.  However, lately I tend to prefer secular, non-traditional Christmas songs.  The first one that comes to mind is “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl:

3. If you are giving or receiving gifts this holiday season:
– What’s the gift you most want?
– What do you think is the best gift you are giving?
For the first time in awhile, there really isn’t anything I want or need for Christmas, certainly not enough to ask for it.  In other words, while I’d love a live-in nanny who could look after the baby when I need a break and dole out sexual favors when the baby naps, it might be a bit crass to sit on Santa’s lap and ask for such a present.  I feel like I am content, and while I certainly have no problem with the accumulation of material things, nothing comes to mind as an absolute must-have.  As for the best gift I am giving, I’ll take a pass on this one, as the recipient reads this blog.  In fact, the recipient co-authors this blog with me.

4. If you could spend this December holiday season anywhere, where would that be?
I’m going to say Ireland.  I don’t necessarily want to go there for Christmas (any more than I want to go there any other time of year, anyway), but I predict that Jill will choose Ireland as her own answer to this question, and since I want to spend the holidays with her, I’m sure that’s where I’ll have to go in order to do that.  (Big sacrifice, I know.)

5. Your family has announced that the holiday celebration & get-together will be at your home. You think to yourself:
a. Yes! Finally…the more the merrier.
b. I don’t have enough room for all of you, but let’s rent a hall and you all get hotel rooms.
c. Over my dead body, I don’t want you freaks in my house.
d. Hmm…I wonder if it’s too late to book a flight to anywhere, leaving on Christmas eve?
For some elements of my own family, I would choose “c”.  For others, I would gladly choose “a”.  It’s fortuitous that I wouldn’t have to put up with the unwanted element in order to host the wanted element, as the two are opposite sides of my family.  For the purposes of this answer, it’s irrelevant whether the unwanted side is my mom’s and the wanted side my dad’s, or vice versa.

6. Have you ever given a fruit cake as a Christmas gift or a gift at all? Do you even like fruit cake?
I’ve never given a fruit cake as a gift, not even a gag gift.  Ironically, though, I do like it.  Don’t judge me.  I eat a lot of weird foods, and my adventurousness at the table translates to adventurousness in the bedroom.

Bonus:  Share with us one of your holiday traditions.
Just one?  I’ve got so many.  Since I was a baby, my mother has always made Pillsbury-type cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning while presents are being opened.  This tradition is upheld on alternating years when Jill and I spend Christmas morning with my parents.  On opposite years, when we celebrate with Jill’s extended family, we drink blenders full of Ramos fizzes instead, and I don’t miss the cinnamon rolls.  Also, despite my lack of faith, taking my aunt to Christmas Eve mass is a regular tradition for Jill and I.

Jill’s Answers

1. What will you be celebrating? If it isn’t a commonly known holiday or celebration (i.e., Christmas, winter solstice, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa) briefly tell us about it.
I celebrate Christmas.

2. What’s your favorite Christmas or holiday tune?
“I’ll Be Home For Christmas”.  This song always plays on my heart strings, especially because I come from a large family and growing up, Christmas was a very special day.  The thought of not actually making it home for Christmas with my family was a sad one.  The first time I was away from my family on Christmas was the second one Jack and I spent together.  That year, we spent Christmas with his parents.  I had a wonderful time, but I still missed my family and our Christmas traditions.  I am including Dean Martin’s version of the song because it’s a little more up-tempo and doesn’t make me an emotional wreck.  Also, I love his voice.

3. If you are giving or receiving gifts this holiday season:
– What’s the gift you most want?
– What do you think is the best gift you are giving?
The gift that I most want is more time to do everything I need to do in life.  Since no one has invented a block of time that can be added on to your day for just $49.95, I’ll settle for spending the next couple weeks, while I’m on vacation from work, with Jack and our daughter.  As for the best gift I’m giving, I can’t say here because it’s for Jack.

4. If you could spend this December holiday season anywhere, where would that be?
I would love to spend my holiday in Ireland, but only if our families came too.

5. Your family has announced that the holiday celebration & get-together will be at your home. You think to yourself:
a. Yes! Finally…the more the merrier.
b. I don’t have enough room for all of you, but let’s rent a hall and you all get hotel rooms.
c. Over my dead body, I don’t want you freaks in my house.
d. Hmm…I wonder if it’s too late to book a flight to anywhere, leaving on Christmas eve?
I would definitely go with “a” despite the fact that hosting such a gathering would be a lot of work, and we definitely don’t have enough room to accommodate half, much less the entirety, of my family.  But we love hosting get-togethers with wonderful people, and as it would be an honor to host the family Christmas party I would gladly make the sacrifice provided my relatives don’t mind being packed in like sardines.

6. Have you ever given a fruit cake as a Christmas gift or a gift at all? Do you even like fruit cake?
No on all counts.  I would never curse someone with a fruitcake.

Bonus:  Share with us one of your holiday traditions.
I’ve been given a Christmas ornament from my parents every year since I was born.  We’ve extended this tradition to our daughter.

I have done this for a few years. Why? It never stops being fun and hilarious.

I invite you to elf yourself and if you can, post it on your blogs for TMI Tuesday.

[Editorial note:  We will not be sharing ours, as it would reveal more of ourselves than we’d like to reveal.  But you all have at it.]

How to play TMI Tuesday: Copy the above TMI Tuesday questions to your webspace (i.e., a blog). Answer the questions there, then leave a comment below, on this blog post, so we’ll all know where to read your responses. Please don’t forget to link to tmituesdayblog from your website!