1. What holiday or holidays do you celebrate this time of year? Christmas and New Years, although Christmas is definitely the bigger deal. More likely than not, I’ll be spending New Year’s Eve by myself.

2. What was the best gift you have ever received? The car my parents bought me last year definitely ranks right up there, if only because it’s changed so many things and made so many of them easier. But, above all, I like to be surprised by gifts. I like to be given things I didn’t know I wanted. I don’t like coming up with a list and saying, “this, this, and this.” I mean, I have a wishlist, and my parents did insist I share it with them, but it’s there mostly so I can remember, “hey, these things are cool.”

3. What was the worst gift you’ve ever given? That’s difficult to answer. I know there have been gifts that I’ve returned that I wish I had kept. And while I understand that some relatives don’t know what to get me besides money, there’s just not as much fun to cash in an envelope. But really, the only way to disappoint me with a gift is to put no thought into it whatsoever. I appreciate simple, heartfelt cards just as much as silly gizmos and toys.

Oh wait. The worst gift I’ve ever given someone else? Nah, they’re all good. Or I have very polite friends. Actually, come to think of it, I don’t buy a lot of gifts for other people.

4. Where will you be celebrating the holidays? Are you hosting? Going away? I am headed back to New York, probably on Sunday, for about a week. We’ll go to my grandparents’ house on Christmas Eve like we’ve done all my life, and then I think my parents are hosting Christmas for the rest of the family.