Monday, November 24, 2008

Christmas traditions...

Hi everyone! Yeah, I know...it's been a long time, so just settle down, lol! First of all, I have to give a shout-out to my friend, Marjorie. She helped me switch over from old Blogger to the new Blogger and it's sooooooooooo much easier now! Love my Marjorie!

Can you believe that Turkey Day is almost here?! I can already smell my mom's kitchen with all the traditional smells of her sweet potatoes, dressing (do you call it dressing or stuffing?), mashed potatoes, turkey (turkey breasts in my family), 5 cup salad, cranberry relish and on and on! I'm ready to eat and ready for a day with family. :)

So, back to the subject on hand. I need your ideas! Our family is looking to start a few new Christmas traditions this year as we need something fresh! That's where you come into the picture. I would love to hear what you and your family do for Christmas. What do you do on Christmas Eve? How do you go about Christmas morning? Special foods, appetizers or meals you always have (please share your recipe if you'd like!)? What do your kids do (or what did you do as a child)? Do you read a special book or maybe the Christmas story? Do you sit and make a craft? I would LOVE your input and hope to incorporate some new traditions for our family!

I'm hoping to start my Christmas cards today although I still need to narrow down my design. As of now, I have 2 designs and I might just go with both and do half and half. I have all my supplies out and I just keep staring at the pile wondering when I'm going to get going. Sometimes I do think less is more...naa, maybe not. ;) Last year it took me about a week to make 132, so all I know is I better get busy!

I also need to freshen up my photos in my header up there...maybe a little Christmas. :)

12 comments:

Martha said...

well, we decorate the tree together. we go out a week before Christmas and ride around to look at Christmas likes. on Christmas eve, dd gets to open one gift.
DD and I always make or paint new ornaments. And I always have to make Dirt Cake for the dinner with the inlaws.

Anonymous said...

We have a Mystery Gift tradition in our family that has been a tradition for well over 30 years now. It started with a gift brought to my grandfather. The tag was misplaced, so the bearer was a mystery. Hence, the mystery gift.
That next year, grandpa chose one person to gift the mystery gift to. (It was leather gloves that my grandfather received, but you choose whatever you feel the recipient would love when you give the mystery gift) When you receive it one year, you give it the next. It is always the very last gift opened... and NOBODY else but the giver knows who it goes to. Generally, only the adults are included to possibly receive the gift. I have the mystery gift this year, so I threw everyones name into a hat, and chose one. I am so excited to give this years mystery gift, as I am pretty sure this person has either not had it before, or it has been a while since this person has received the mystery gift.

Beth said...

I love that mystery gift idea!

We read Dicken's Christmas Carol, beginning a few nights before Christmas, its such a timeless message and my girls really get it.

We dont do a lot of things, but I would like to start a Thankful book, and have each person write something they are thankful for, and we'll get the book out each year and update it.

Anonymous said...

In my family we do a gift exchange with everyone. Then we pick one person and bombard that person with gifts. The gifts are based on a theme every year unique to the bombardee and it's a surprise for the person that gets picked. This year we chose my brother-in-law, He's in a reggae band. Whenever he sees things in green, yellow and red he has to group them together so he's getting all kinds of stuff in green, yellow and red. When it was my turn I got all snowman stuff, one of my cousins got coke stuff and my sister got coffee stuff.

Day said...

We make candles sometime at the beginning of Dec and they make awesome gifts and its a really fun family thing to do. It does involve moving hot cans of wax around so not good if there is a ton of small children running around, but in our experience if they are explained carefully the danger they are pretty understanding. Anytime wax is moved mom yells "Hot wax! Everyone freeze" and no one moves until the wax is moved and we have never (in over 20 years) had an incident *knock on wood* It is kind of involved and will be a bit pricey the first time, but if you are going to do it every year it is worth a bit of investment as after the initial supply shopping you will just need to buy wax and wick each year. Here is a link to some basic instructions. If you have any questions feel free to email me :)
mommydaytoa @ yahoo.ca
http://www.essortment.com/hobbies/candlemakingdip_sxhl.htm

Crafty Girl Studio said...

What a great question Nicole. But, to be honest we really don't have any really cool traditions. Gregg and I are very laid back and just go with the flow. We have Christmas day at our house and his sister comes frist then my brother later. They don't come at the same time because it really does get nuts with 9 little kids running around. And my brother and sister in law are way to stressed all the time anyway. LOL.

On Christmas morning our kids open their stockings first, from Santa. That is Gregg's tradition, then they open each gift after Gregg says who it is for and from (Santa and parent gifts). They did that in his family when he was young. We wrap the Santa gifts, we did not do that when I was younger. They were always unwrapped.

Traditions changed in our family as we got older and moved away. I think that happens in some other families...maybe. But, the ones we have with out kids are fun, and they love them. I hope they always want to keep some part of what we do so their own kids can enjoy it some day.

Michelle said...

My family has started making Christmas ornaments every year. It's really neat to see the ornaments from the past as well as seeing what everyone is coming up with this year.

kelli said...

ON thanksgiving we watch White Christmas and Holiday Inn. The season isn't complete without it! This year with all the turmoil in my life I am doing something different by going to fla to visit my brother.

kelli said...

ON thanksgiving we watch White Christmas and Holiday Inn. The season isn't complete without it! This year with all the turmoil in my life I am doing something different by going to fla to visit my brother.

Adora Concepcion said...

Hello Nicole...
Not much of a tradition but this is what we do. We have a pot luck, we decide what each family will bring (my 3 sisters and my brother and thier family). We'll have dinner and then open presents from the youngest to the oldest one at a time. Then we eat some more, talk, laugh and just be merry. :)

Corey W. said...

SO glad you're blogging again!!!!

on the 24th we order pizza then go look at lights - the kids open 1 gift before bed.

Christmas day starts with presents - I have a large family so a nap for Braden may split up the opening and spread it out! lol when my mom is here she makes prime rib for dinner with yummy sides like mashed taters, salad, and all kinds of goodies. being in OK without family it's hard to start too many traditions - so Christmas eve is always the same so we can say we have routine :)

happy holidays!

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