Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Pauleen's Christmas Meme

Well, this is going to be interesting.  From a quick glance at the beginning of the list, I suspect I'll have a lot of "no" answers to these questions.  But I'm game, so here we go with this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun from Randy Seaver:

Come on, everybody, join in, accept the mission, and execute it with precision. Here's your chance to sit on Genea-Santa's lap (virtually) and tell him your Christmas traditions.

Pauleen (Cassmob), who writes the Family History across the Seas blog, started a Christmas meme in 2012 (see Deck the Halls:  2012 Christmas GeneaMeme).  So we will use that for SNGF this week (since very few readers did it in past years!):

(1) Copy and paste the meme questions into your blog or word processor, and then answer the questions.  You can use short statements, long paragraphs, or a link to one of your earlier posts.

(2) Tell us about your meme answers in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this post, or on Facebook, Google+, or Twitter.

(3) Be sure to leave a comment on Pauleen's blog post about your entry in this Christmas 2016 Geneameme.  She'll be surprised!

Here is my list (questions in green, answers in red, because I copied the text from Randy's blog and got his HTML mark-up at the same time):

The 2012 Christmas Geneameme (for 2016)

1. Do you have any special Christmas traditions in your family?  I don't remember anything in particular from growing up, unless putting up a menorah and having your mother call the Christmas tree a Chanukah bush counts.
2. Is church attendance an important part of your Christmas celebrations, and do you go the evening before or on Xmas Day?  Never in my nuclear family.  The closest we came was the two or three years I attended Midnight Mass with my Jewish mother (she was the one who wanted to go, and I kept her company).
3. Did/do you or your children/grandchildren believe in Santa?  I certainly remember my siblings and I believed when we were little.  I don't remember when we stopped believing.  I think my grandchildren still believe in Santa.
4. Do you go caroling in your neighbourhood?  Nope.
5. What’s your favorite Christmas music?  I enoy almost all music, so it's hard to pick favorites, but I particularly enjoy Christmas carols, because they're so much fun to sing.  
6. What’s your favourite Christmas carol?   "Do You Hear What I Hear?"  Second is "The Little Drummer Boy."
7. Do you have a special Christmas movie/book you like to watch/read?  I think my favorite Christmas movie was The Ref, but I've only seen it once. 
8. Does your family do individual gifts, gifts for littlies only, Secret Santa (aka Kris Kringle)?  My family members usually mail individual gifts to each other.  When I visit my grandchildren, we also exchange individual gifts.
9. Is your main Christmas meal indoors or outdoors, at home or away?  It is definitely indoors.  We didn't even do outdoor meals for Christmas when we lived in Australia, where Christmas happens during the summer.
10. What do you eat as your main course for the Christmas meal?  When I was young, we had turkey and ham.  Nowadays it's usually turkey.
11. Do you have a special recipe you use for Christmas?  I don't cook for Christmas.  For Chanukah, however, I have a favorite latke recipe.
12. Does Christmas pudding feature on the Christmas menu?  Is it your recipe or one you inherited?  I don't remember ever having Christmas pudding, not even in Australia.
13. Do you have any other special Christmas foods?  What are they?  Nope, none.
14. Do you give home-made food/craft for gifts at Christmas?  No to food.  I have done crafts in the past, usually needlework, but not for many years.
15. Do you return to your family for Christmas or vice versa?  I go visit someone, usually my stepsons and grandchildren.
16. Is your Christmas celebrated differently from your childhood ones?  If yes, how does it differ?  Christmas when I was young was my nuclear family, and sometimes my mother's best friend.  Mine is very different because I'm not married and have no nuclear family of my own.
17. How do you celebrate Christmas with your friends?  Lunch?  Pre-Christmas outings?  Drop-ins?  I get together with some friends for Chanukah, but not usually for Christmas.  We pick a night to celebrate, and I'm the designated latke maker.
18. Do you decorate your house with lights?  A little or a lot?  I have one string of lights up, and some nights I remember to turn them on.
19. Is your neighbourhood a “Christmas lights” tour venue?  Most houses have some lights visible in the windows, but that's about it.
20. Does your family attend Carols by Candlelight singalongs/concerts? Where?  I've never heard of Carols by Candlelight concerts.
21. Have any of your Christmases been spent camping (unlikely for our northern-hemisphere friends)?  No.
22. Is Christmas spent at your home, with family, or at a holiday venue?  With family.
23. Do you have snow for Christmas where you live?  No snow in Oakland, California.  One year we had snow in Portland, Oregon, but usually not.
24. Do you have a Christmas tree every year?  I have a few trees.  I don't remember the last time I put one up.
25. Is your Christmas tree a live tree (potted/harvested) or an imitation?  All of my trees are artificial.
26. Do you have special Christmas tree decorations?  Yes, but they're packed away.
27. Which is more important to your family, Christmas or Thanksgiving?  Christmas.