HUMBUG? I owe Tom a tag-back, so here goes ...

1. Wrapping, or gift bags? Wrapping, although not expertly.
2. Real or artificial tree? It's plastic, with a $5 set of battery-powered light emitting diodes.
3. When do you put up the tree? As a break from composing exams.
4. When do you take the tree down? After Twelfth Night.
5. Do you like egg nog? Yes. Tom and Jerrys too.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? That Boston and Maine freight train set.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? On an ornament.
8. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Pass.
9. Mail or email Christmas cards? All postal, all the time.
10. Favorite Christmas movie? Does "Charlie Brown Christmas" count?
11. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Summertime, especially if I'm in someplace exotic. One year I had almost everything on hand at the May Bank Holiday.
12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Lasagna. (There's a great story about the Christmas the oven failed ...)
13. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Colored light emitting diodes.
14. Favorite Christmas songs? Adeste Fideles, Stille Nacht, We Three Kings.
15. Travel at Christmas? Often. It's less painful now that the job meetings are early in the new year.
16. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? You know Dasher, and Dancer, and Prancer, and Vixen/Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen/But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all...
17. Angel on the tree top, or a star? A flashing red light, in case any tiny aeroplanes are nearby.
18. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning? Sometimes it's midday Christmas, depending on travel schedules. One learns patience.
19. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Self-indulgent advertisements from car companies that target the noveaux riches.
20. Do you decorate your tree in any specific theme or color? It has to have a train under it.
21. What do you leave for Santa? Nothing. (No fireplace, in fact, no chimney!)
22. Least favorite holiday song? That Lexus jingle (see 19 infra).
23. Favorite ornament? A 1955 lantern.
24. Family tradition? It must involve chocolate.
25. Ever been to Midnight Mass or late-night Christmas Eve services? Only on-screen in the living room. The early evening one, yes, I even had the "Myrrh is mine ..." Magi part one year.

I suppose there's a purpose in limiting the items to 25, but there's an obvious one missing.

26. Lionel or American Flyer? Lionel, definitely.