The one thing I always wished my family had was traditions…little rituals that we perform every year. For many years I didn’t think my family had any traditions, but it dawned on me when I was in Kansas City two weeks ago that our one little mommy, daddy, Amanda tradition was Christmas lights. Every year no matter the weather, we bundled up and drove around looking at Christmas lights for hours. Maybe that’s why they still bring such a smile to my face when I see them!
I really want to create a new tradition for David and I…but honestly I have no idea where to start..so please share away!
What are your holiday traditions? I promise not to steal everyone’s idea and wind up in pink PJ’s, eating fruit cake, while singing a Christmas carol to the neighbor. Does anyone still eat fruit cake?
IN CASE YOU MISSED IN
A Runners Reading List – Amazing books to inspire and yes put on your Christmas list
Resolution Fun Fun – Miami and Virtual Run
I want to be a writer –The tag post that helped me reconnect with my passion
Horrible race shirts – What’s your worst..mine the bloody lip and yes I’m finally learning to let them go
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Gratitude Journal
Dec 17
I am grateful for sub 8’s!
I am grateful for no icy roads in FL
I am grateful my body is responding to training
I am grateful for a chance to head to KC soon
I am grateful for all the help with the NYD run
36 good vibes:
My grandma always used to make Swedish Tea Ring, but now that we don't go to MI (which used to be another tradition), I make it. Also, on Christmas morning we always open presents one at a time from youngest to oldest. It makes the day last longer and is more fun to see everyone's reactions.
My hubs and I are starting our new Christmas traditions this year, now that we have a baby... Our baby is now the perfect reason to stay at home a few hours longer before heading to his parents' house for the afternoon/evening. This year, we're starting a new tradition of having a pancake breakfast. Just the 3 of us by ourselves. Letting go of the diet, not worrying about exercise. Just enjoying some good old fashioned pancakes and syrup and lounging around in our pj's til noon or later. I know its not super original, but its simple, and Hubs and I both love pancakes. Plus, it was my major craving while I was pregnant, so I can't imagine my baby NOT loving pancakes, hahaha. :)
Christmas traditions..... Christmas eve we always go out for Chinese food and then go for a walk looking at the lights. BUt that's about it. Christmas Day is different every year. A different member of the family hosts the dinner.
Brent and I haven't really established traditions of our own yet, but my family's "Christmas" tradition has always been to work at a local food pantry in the mornings that delivers meals to homebound AIDS patients, then to go to the movies, and then order some type of Asian food (Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Thia - we've run the gamut). Pretty typical Jewish Christmas.
My wife and I buy a dead Christmas tree, and I try to be patient as she keeps wanting to look at the next one while I hold and spin it in freezing temperatures.
Then I do the lights on the house and she comes out and tells me why I'm doing it wrong.
Then we start to decorate the tree with my mother-in-law and I slowly back out of the room.
Then I try to figure out how to get out of attending the 4-day preached retreat for advent at out church. (But that's really just my own personal tradition.)
Then we argue about how much to spend on all the kids - and my wife wins.
Just some of the traditions at the Opala household.
some traditions of mine:
we spend xmas eve with my family and xmas day with the bf's family.
we also watch xmas movies after dinner on xmas eve. and that is my fave tradition.
when the bf and i move into our own place, i want to start my own traditions with him also!
Fruit cake soaked in rum is the only way to go! LOL!
My fam has a ton of traditions, but my favorite is xmas eve - we do fondue (yes, my parents were hippies, although, my grandparents did it too, carried home from when they lived in Switzerland) and after fondue we get ready and got to midnight Mass. I can't wait for the cheesy goodness!
Have a great weekend!
another tradition that me and my parents have is that we go to the movie theatre on boxing day. there is always a big holiday movie out. Last year we watched Avatat and this year we are going to see Little Fockers
We dont really have any for "us" - me hubby and our four year old. I started the 25 days until Christmas this year with a family activity every day... some days its just reading a book together but we do what we can do... today we are taking him to his first movie at a theatre!
We also decided this year to go out and cut down our tree - we would like to make that a tradition as well.
This year we are getting together with our closest friends and their kids for dinner - would love to see that be a tradition as well.
Unfortinately with our jobs - he is a police officer and Im a nurse practitioner in an ICU - we work ALOT of holidays... this is the first xmas since we have had Gavin that we are both home for actual Christmas - super super excited!
I'm not sure my family really has any either...
Hubs and I are starting a few, like buying each other an ornament each year.
We do the 12 day of Christmas for a family who might need a little extra holiday cheer and take a secret box a Christmas dinner food to a family in our neighborhood that struggles. It's my kid's favorite tradition.
My mom also buys an ornament for my kids based on something special that happened for them that year.
We open pj's on Christmas Eve and watch a movie before bed.
And we have omelets and orange cinnamon rolls for breakfast after presents are opened.
It's fun finding traditions that hopefully will be passed down with my kids.
I always let my husband "pick out" the tree. I just bite my tongue it it's not what I'd pick but he needs to feel like the tree expert so I let it go. I was just offering to go get the tree this morning and he said no, "That's my favorite tradition." I didn't even know that until day and we've been at this for 24 years. So funny! Maybe you can give him some more time to figure out what HE likes !!
I cannot spend a Christmas Eve without my family!! We go to church (candlelight service) and head home to open just one present. But our biggest food tradition is something called Welsh Rabbit. It is a cheese mixture that you put over saltine crackers. I can remember my Gram standing at the stove stirring it all day!
Cookie baking! I love to relax on Christmas day and just bake cookies. Christmas is often quiet and mellow for us, so things like this have become my "traditions."
Andrew's story sounds A LOT like ours ;-)
I would say the kids favorite tradition is that once the tree is up, the elves visit every night and leave a little treat or small toy in their stockings. Every morning in December is special.
The tough part is staying awake late enough each night to get their stockings stuffed. Those kids stay up later than I do! We've already had a couple of close calls where I've woken out of deep sleep at 3am to start rustling through bags trying to find a couple chocolates to shove in those darn stockings!
Their sweet surprised faces every morning is PRICELESS! They even leave the elves notes sometimes...a whole other nightmare for me. I try to write in the very tiniest elf looking penmanship I can when I respond.
Wow! Where to start with the traditions? Well, since I have so many, I will pick one.
My mom (who passed away last year but was sick for 6+ yrs), would always get us the table crackers (not the edible ones) for our Christmas dinner. They are very popular in England and Scotland (where my mom is from). I have carried on the tradition and have expanded it to my brother in law's family and my in laws. Everyone looks forward to it!!!
We created a tradition of having Christmas just the two of us before the madness of family starts. We stick monkey bread in the oven, turn the heater on, go for a run and then come back to a yummy breakfast and a warm room. That's our tradition and I love it!
Here is one of our traditions. When I was little, we would always get new PJs every Christmas. We would go to midnight mass, open one present (our PJs), then go to bed and open the rest Christmas morning! My parents now not only get my sister and I new PJs, but our kids too. It's awesome!
We do quiche and Caesar's every Christmas morning. YUM!
We also have a sometimes tradition of taking my nephew (and now my niece too) to McDonald's on Christmas Eve. McD's is gross, but when my nephew was 3 he was starving before we went to visit family so my sister and I took him there out of desperation. We laughed so hard at being there all dressed up, that now we do it if we can to remember and laugh.
Making cookies with my family!
Christmass is just great, the cookies, the snow castle building, oh, did I mention the cookies?
We have certain cookies that are made only at christmas time, along with some yummy pb fudge. Christmas eve I would always get to open one gift from my mom, not santa. We like to go to mass on Christmas eve. For the past few years, I have always had a christmas celebration with friends before we all head back home for our family christmas celebrations.
we get new pj's to sleep in christmas eve. even though everyone's grown up and married. now our spouses get them too. its always fun :)
we used to sit on the steps (couldnt see the tree from there) while my parents "checked" if santa was still there then go down in oldest to youngest order. this continued through college!
I love Christmas lights! :) So I thunk that is a fabulous tradition!
Think, even - or I guess you could say I thunk it, if we warp the rules of grammar and make "thunk" the past tense of "think" - because I thunk it when I first read the post! :) Hey, I do live in Tennessee!
My fav holiday tradition started as a joke when I was about 5 with my grandma. She would take the wooden NOEL blocks and change them to read LEON. I would change my Mom's blocks at home without her knowing it. One day she yells "Who keeps changing my blocks?" and small innocent me says "Mommy that's how they belong". So now anything that says NOEL and can be rearranged...is. VERY confusing to guests.
I just posted a blog about building traditions with my fiance. We have started collecting a Christmas ornament from the places we visit on vacation. Our tree will be filled with memories of places we have traveled together and exciting moments that we have shared.
My little daughter, now understand Christmas, this will make the holidays greater.
My family had LOADS of traditions, including driving around to look at lights which I've transferred to being a BF and Amy tradition. The BFs family never did stockings, and this is one tradition I insist on us having. It means we get to open up our stockings at home and have a little bit of Christmas for just the two of us before we head to his brother's home for the family madness! I've also brought the Christmas cracker tradition to his family - it's not Christmas if you're not wearing silly paper crowns at the dinner table!!
Growing up we always went to my grandmothers house on xmas eve and did a big gift exchange-all the cousins, aunts uncles It was crazy and so much fun!!
while "mem" is not longer with us, we keep that xmas eve tradition alive and now this year, we will gather at my home and enjoy watching my 2 year old little girl marvel over all her xmas gifts :D and family!
No fruit cake though...
andy and i decorate together every year listening to xmas music then we watch christmas vacation. then the weeks leading up to christmas we drive out of our way on the way home to check out christmas lights. although the other night he wasn't paying attention and almost hit a pole. so be careful. :-)
On Christmas morning we open stockings with my grandparents. We put a small trash can in the middle of the floor and try to make baskets with the balled up wrapping paper. By the bottom of the stocking there are balls of wrapping paper everywhere and a very empty can. It always makes us laugh, and we've been doing it for years!
My family's tradition is on ChristmasEve we get to open out stoickings and then Christmas day we always go around and look at lights that evening. Simple things, but it's fun to have things to look forward to even after all the presents have been opened :)
Every year on the Sunday before Christmas my mom, aunt and I get together to make cutout Christmas cookies. We end up tripling (or one year quadrupling) the recipe and make an insane amount of cookies. But we've done it so often we've got the assembly line down and it only takes us three hours or so. After all the cookies are made we sit around the table and indulge in an ice cream drink. Then we all go our separate ways to tackle the frosting.
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