Friday Five from Sister Carrie
Carrie was nice enough to send me some Friday Five questions. Thanks Carrie.

1. What is one of the best holiday gifts you have ever given?

One memorable year - I'm guessing it was about 1986 - I bought everyone a red chamois shirt from L.L.Bean and we all wore them for Christmas. It was fun, easy, practical, and festive.

2. What is one of the worst holiday gifts you have ever received?

The first year I was married to ex-husband I received a watch. It was a really tacky, cheap looking watch but I decided to like it because he picked it out and probably didn't know any better. Ha! I never wore it after I found out he got it as a free premium in a box of supplies he bought for his business.

3. What are your favorite holiday foods?

The Upjohn Pumpkin Torte is right at the top of the list. I'll be posting the recipe sometime this weekend.

4. Do you have memories of favorite New Years' Eves?

I'm not a party girl. Bob and I usually sit home and read on New Year's Eve. We're happy with that because we're both introverted nerds and that's our favorite thing to do.

My favorite New Year's Eve was Y2K. Since I work in Information Technology, I was really into all the work that went into having the switch to a new millennium work well. The company I worked for had an agreement with us that if there were no significant Y2K problems we would all get a bonus equal to four months pay.

If you are of the opinion that Y2K was a big ado about nothing, you are wrong. It turned out to be a non-event because thousands of IT professionals planned, coded, and tested for the changeover and monitored the results to catch the glitches early.

My company had a very successful conversion to the year 2000 and I bought a 2000 Camry with my bonus.

5. Do you have favorite holiday traditions?

My favorite tradition is the family gathering and gift opening at Mother's house on Christmas Eve. Through the years I've come to think of that as my Christmas.

Christmas Day has always been devoted to DH's side of the family. Now that they are all gone to be with the Lord, we stay home and enjoy the day puttsing around and reading the new books that we always get on Christmas Eve. It's a beautiful, peaceful, unrushed day. It's the beginning of winter after the fracas of Christmas is over. I look forward to it.