As I said in my last post...Tradition is a word that seems to pop up a lot at this time of the year. We talked about traditional foods and recipes that our family looks forward to each year. But there are other types of traditions as well.
Our family has a big party every year and we invite all of our friends and family to come but to get in you have to bring a toy for the Toy's For Tot's drive.It is something very dear to my heart.
We take our children and grandchildren to see the lights at Temple Square.
And for pie and hot chocolate afterwards at the local Village Inn.
Traditions can be something you just started and plan to continue each year or something that has been passed down for generations. Different cultures have different Holiday traditions.
I know a friend of mine who is German and they hide an ornament that looks like a pickle some place on the tree and the first person to find it wins a prize.
Kissing under the mistletoe is a very old tradition. I was going to research it and find out it's roots but hey it's the week before Christmas and who has that kind of time....LOL
There have been songs and poems written about it. Relationships have started with that first sweet kiss under the mistletoe. Arguments forgotten, and families started all because of this wonderful thing called mistletoe.
OK, I did say you could win something right? So here it is....a beautiful Mistletoe Kissing Crystal.
Hang it up year after year and let the smooching begin. Just share with me some of your family traditions and one....awww....it's Christmas...make it TWO lucky people will win one of their very own!!
Remember...you can't win if you don't play!! You just have to be a follower or become one and leave me a message about your family traditions!!
Contest closes at midnight on Thursday Dec. 23, 2010
I am linking this to: Dittle Dattle Amaze Me Monday
That picture of the SL temple is killer! Did you take it? Sounds like a wonderful tradition and I love the service worked in there too!
ReplyDeleteWe grew up with an aunt that never married and she had Christmas Eve at her house and gave everyone, that was over 30 people a gift which we opened after a big sit down dinner. Everyone wore their new Christmas outfits. Now she is gone, but I have continued on with a formal sit down dinner in your holiday best. We open one or two gifts, usually nighties and calendars we have made with photos of everyone. It is like carrying on her tradition.
I have a pickle on my tree too! With a name like mine, it's not shocking though. Lol.
ReplyDeleteI'm a follower, and my favorite christmas tradition is making gingerbread houses with all the family and having a contest who makes the best house.
ReplyDeleteWe have always loved coming to your Toys for Tots party! You are awesome to do something like that for your friends and for the community! We have several traditions and all of them are simple... a couple of them are...I make my special chocolate peanut clusters (it isn't Christmas without them), and then on Christmas eve, we go out to dinner. When the kids were little, mom was too tired to do dinner on Christmas eve, so we took the kids to their favorite place, McDonald's, for dinner. We have since graduated to a nicer place for dinner, but it is still nice for mom to not have to cook since I am usually trying to put the finishing touches on all the Christmas plans.
ReplyDelete....now a follower :)
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite traditions is the 12 days of Christmas. We select 3 families every year to secretly do a "12 days of Christmas" for. It is so much fun to be sneaky and try to never get caught! My most favorite part of doing this is that I have found when we are secretly serving others, my own family seems to get along better, they are more helpful and kind to each other (and a house full of teenagers.. that is tricky!) The true "Christmas" spirit seems to come out in our house and the excitement builds. I think I'm going to make this a monthly tradition!... the 12 days of winter, the 12 days of Valentines... you get the idea... I wonder if it will still be magical. :)
Thanks for the opportunity to reflect upon traditions... sometimes I think we tend to take them for granted....
Merry Christmas!
We probably do all the same traditions that most everyone else does although they seem to vary slightly from year to year. My favorite traditions are the ones from growing up. My dad was ruthless on Christmas morning. He'd tack a sheet up at the end of the hallway so no one could get up in the middle of the night to peek. He'd set a time that we could be ready by, like 9:00 a.m. We had to get up and get all ready, including make our beds, before we could holler for him to come get us. He'd blindfold each of us and usher us upstairs where we had to eat a FULL breakfast. THEN we had to line up at the top of the stairs, youngest to oldest, and then (I swear my mom did this on purpose)there was always the "Oh wait - I need to get scissors." "Oh wait - I need to get batteries." "Oh wait - we forgot to get that other present to take down." Then we could finally stampede down the stairs to see what Santa brought. My dad made Christmas last forever. We'd spend a good hour or two just looking at the stuff Santa gave us before we moved on to opening gifts. It was brutal at the time but I sure do look back on it as a fond memory. And actually, to this day, we still do that when we go to my parents house for Christmas. We always go for brunch and then "line up" at the top of the stairs until everyone is ready and then head down to open gifts - which he still makes last all afternoon! It's awesome! Christmas lasts forever that way!
ReplyDeleteI don't know to have a profile so I think this will look like "anonymous" but this is Angel. :)