1. Create your own holiday tradition. What would it be and why? (Not something you already do.) 2. What is a tradition that you have that is unique to your family or is especially meaningful to you?
1. I would love to have a special breakfast that we always have on Christmas morning. Like when I was little my mom made these homemade cinnamon rolls that literally had to be started the night before. But I don’t have the patience for that nonsense, and frankly no one gives a poop about breakfast on Christmas except me. Maybe I’ll make monkey bread this year and see if it’s a hit. Or a crockpot breakfast casserole.
2. I wrap up all our Christmas books, and the kids take turns choosing one to read in the evening. Sort of like a book advent calendar. The last one- marked “Christmas Eve- is a really beautiful edition of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. We read all the books in front of our Christmas tree.
Post by supertrooper1 on Dec 4, 2018 10:34:48 GMT -5
1. I would throw a holiday party with friends and coworkers. It would be potluck appetizers and drinks. People aren't into holiday parties around here for some reason.
2. We make pizza on Christmas eve at home. This is special to me because my mom's side would go to my grandma's house on Christmas eve, make pizza and do a gift exchange. I miss my grandma a lot.
Post by supertrooper1 on Dec 4, 2018 10:38:49 GMT -5
mommyatty, I make this apple French toast casserole every year and it's a hit. I quickly make it the night before and then throw it in the oven while we're unwrapping gifts. I have also done pop tube cinnamon rolls. ohsweetbasil.com/apple-french-toast-casserole/
I would love to get together with family to make candy. Unfortunately, my extended family is not functional enough to pull it off. I am crashing my BFFS family candy making Sunday.
We cook appetizers on the 23rd. Dh an I have a drink. Dd loves sausage balls, I do a Turkey breast for Ds. We then watch the Polar Express.
I'm trying to figure out any circumstance where monkey bread wouldn't be a hit... I'm at a loss.
1. I honestly couldn't say. We've never done Christmas morning with just our family before, so we'll see how that goes this year.
2. We have birthday cake and a bounce house for Christmas... The cake is decorated by DH and BIL owns a bounce house company and would do anything to make DD happy. My sister is.. weird.. and appreciates DH's awful designs. Last year it was covered in "poop" - chocolate frosting piles - and covered with dead bodies. My favorite? One year in huge letters "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS" and in really small font "and k3am's sister." If that doesn't scream Christmas traditions, I don't know what does.
1. I can't really think of a tradition. We do something different every year, so maybe it is our tradition to try new things, or I want to start it where we try new things. This year was breakfast with Santa, and starting the Elf on the Shelf. I resisted for a very long time, but it comes to their classrooms so they were begging for it. For a while it was going to the Bass Pro Shop because they had a big display and games for the kids to do, but the kids are getting older and can do more now.
For a while it was purging the playroom before the massive amount of toys that family members buy arrive. Then I guess I had a mini tradition of taking off the 26th to get my house back in order after Christmas. We started the tradition of not traveling to see our family (5 hour drive) for Christmas. We had one year with 5 Christmas parties, and it was exhausting, so we stopped traveling for the holidays. We have made exceptions for Thanksgiving and the boys birthday parties, and for my 93 year old Grandma but those were not over the exact Christmas holidays.
Typically we go to the kids church service also.
2. We always had Christmas breakfast after opening presents growing up. We still do it in our house, but the food is different. Growing up it was more egg based, now my H prefers more pancakes and waffles.
ETA- family usually visits us after Christmas. Last year they didn't, which was sad. But I kind of understand since there is always a huge snowstorm.
Post by traveltheworld on Dec 4, 2018 11:39:04 GMT -5
1. I'd love to start making ornaments together as a family - but I'm super not crafty and I don't want cheap dollar store ones, she I'm at a loss as to how to go about doing this.
3. We go bowling with my parents on Christmas Eve. They always seem to enjoy bowling but never go by themselves.
1. I want to start something with Christmas books. I'm going to try it this year. I rounded up all the holiday/winter books we have already, and it's enough to cover all of the nights I have the girls this year. I don't have exact logistics of how they will get the book. I think the elf might bring it. Keeps the elf involvement level low and adds a nice touch to our evenings together. I'm looking forward to making things more of a tradition now with just the girls and I.
2. New pajamas! My mom has always given us new pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve. We used to have a huge family party on Christmas eve and we'd get our new pajamas there so we could change out of party clothes and be comfy as the night dragged on and all the kids got sleepy. Now, it's just a fun tradition. My sister and I started hunting down fun pajamas for our mom a few years ago, so now we give her some and she always buys some for each of us kids and grandkids. This year we are all getting matching ones to wear to the Polar Express event we're going to.
1. Create your own holiday tradition. What would it be and why? (Not something you already do.) I would love to be able to throw a holiday party with friends and family. I love to entertain but my house is just not conducive to an inside party.
2. What is a tradition that you have that is unique to your family or is especially meaningful to you? I make a French Toast casserole for Christmas morning. I am able to make it a couple days ahead and then bake it that morning. Sometimes we eat before presents and sometimes after. The girls look forward to that and it makes me happy that it is "our" tradition.
1. I'd love to start making ornaments together as a family - but I'm super not crafty and I don't want cheap dollar store ones, she I'm at a loss as to how to go about doing this.
3. We go bowling with my parents on Christmas Eve. They always seem to enjoy bowling but never go by themselves.
My mom would get the clear or frosted glass ornaments, and paint them. Not sure what kind of paint she used- likely acrylic and brushes with tiny tips to make smaller. Then she might have sprayed it after to set it. Can't remember.
Our daycare painted previously cut out wooden ones like in the shape of a bell with a ribbon on top and a spot to put their name and year. Maybe Michaels?
1. Create your own holiday tradition. What would it be and why? (Not something you already do.) I would love to be able to throw a holiday party with friends and family. I love to entertain but my house is just not conducive to an inside party.
2. What is a tradition that you have that is unique to your family or is especially meaningful to you? I make a French Toast casserole for Christmas morning. I am able to make it a couple days ahead and then bake it that morning. Sometimes we eat before presents and sometimes after. The girls look forward to that and it makes me happy that it is "our" tradition.
Our neighbors started doing a early Dec party. The only problem is the first year we went one of her friends made me really mad for months with something she said. This time, it went well socially, but our other neighbors brought their stomach virus to the party.
I forgot that we hosted a NYE party 2 years in a row. Then the neighbors we had invited went to visit family and the tradition died off. But like I said, I like to keep things flexible rather than being mad that the NYE party in its current rendition was no longer happening.
Post by mustardseed2007 on Dec 4, 2018 12:56:54 GMT -5
1. Create your own holiday tradition. What would it be and why? (Not something you already do.) I'd like to go see lights as a family. It's actually something I want to try to do this year. We do look at lights but DH is always resistant to driving around or driving to some place specifically with that purpose in mind.
2. What is a tradition that you have that is unique to your family or is especially meaningful to you?
I think my favorite thing we do, that I did not do growing up, is that since my oldest was old enough, we've always managed to either decorate gingerbread men, or decorate a gingerbread house.This year they're going to do both. They love it so much!
1. I want the kids and I to volunteer all together. It’s hard because we all volunteer at their ages, but not as a family. Our church has a ministry that is viable for this but winter sports always conflict.
2. I have too many traditions. One of my favorites we have slacked on - we sing carols to the elves on our front porch each night. I’ve had neighbors and friends ring bells out of sight. The kids talk about it. (My parents told me to listen for the bells on the elves’ shoes). Lately we have been having Christmas dance parties instead. If you haven’t listened to Straight No Chaser start with their 12 Day’s of Christmas and thank me later.
Also - DD (11, 5th grade) told me SHE KNOWS. So last year she helped choose the elf activity but oldest surprised her with where it was. Perfect mix. Still gets to hunt, is on the secret side of the magic.
traveltheworld google straight pin DIY ornaments. I used to make them as a kid - there are so many options, really easy to make, and look so much more impressive than they are.
I would love to host a party or open house, but I just don’t have the energy for it in December. I also wouldn’t mind fitting in a movie or other outing in on Eve or Day, but we tend to have a lot of extended family commitments.
The boys, since they were babies have been laying at the base (maybe slightly under) the tree to enjoy the lights. We’ll all get down there at various times thru the season with the other lights off and just chill. We always take a family picture in front of the tree on Christmas Eve. We also have a lot of those types of pictures from my childhood (with mom or dad missing because they are taking the pic).
1. I wish we would have a holiday party to go to. Neither DH or my own company does parties as they are super small. Dad and I really can't throw a party for just us. I guess I would love to be able to get dressed up for an event during the holidays.
2. I've always made cookies each week and froze them so we had a huge variety at Christmas to hand out for friends and enjoy. DD loves to help me make cookies and it is a great way to spend time together. I really don't need 50 million cookies.
1. I would like to go to Christmas Eve mass again. We are not church people at all, but I always liked going to Christmas Eve mass with my grandma. I love the songs and candlelight processional. We went when DD was very young to a family service at a local church. They handed out bells to the kids to ring when they heard certain words, like angel. I don't know how well the boys will sit through a church service these days...
2. On Christmas Eve, we don't have any plans. So we bake some cookies, watch Christmas movies, and have a nice dinner together. We read The Night Before Christmas and track Santa on Google. The past few years, it has been pretty warm on Xmas Eve (like 70s and sunny in PA), so we would go play at a park and roast marshmallows on a campfire. I don't think we'll get that lucky again.
Post by HeartofCheese on Dec 5, 2018 17:05:09 GMT -5
1. I am creating my own tradition already. For Christmas Eve or Christmas Day brunch, we're having some kind of cinnamon concoction (cinnamon buns, sticky rolls, bake) and drinking Troeg's Mad Elf beer. Went to a beer and food pairing recently and cinnamon buns with Mad Elf is AHmazing. 2. I think probably filling stockings are my favorite part. I like opening mine and I love watching everyone open theirs. For some reason, it's closer to my heart than the other presents... We also used to give each other beef jerky for Christmas, but we've lost that tradition along the way. And I love driving around on random evenings looking at Christmas lights. We also do hors deourves on CEve rather than a fancy dinner. I love that, too. I love everything.
ETA: I also have been giving my kids pop-up books every Christmas. So far only 2 have been destroyed...
I started the elf today. I give myself props for resisting for 8 years, and only giving in when the kids begged because their teachers had the elf at school. It's day 1, so we'll see how I feel about it on Christmas.