Our group has grown so much over the past couple of years, and I'd love for us all to get to know each other better, so I devised a new holiday edition of our (highly successful) blog expedition!
How to "play":
1. Please leave a comment telling us about your holiday traditions: it can be silly, funny, weird, or serious: however you choose to celebrate the holidays.
2. At the bottom of your comment, include your blog address, (important!) or if you don't have a blog, a link to your Flickr photo stream.
3. Now, look at two people who commented above you and leave a comment on their blogs. (commenter #1 and #2 leaves a comment on my blog:unafloresita.blogspot.com)
I will leave a comment on the blog of everyone who comments on this post (preferably a crafty blog). So every person who leaves a comment here will get 3 new comments on their blog (I'll leave extra comments on commenters #1 and #2)! You're more than welcome to comment on more than 2 peeps - I'm sure everyone appreciates visitors!
Special note to spammers: Don't even think about it. Especially if you're a spammer named Susan and you hawk car insurance. Have a heart, spamming peeps! If not, thimble guy will talk to Santa and you'll have a big ol' lump of spam coal in your stocking.
Does this sound good? Yeah? Then bring on the holiday traditions, people, and let the Holiday Comment Expedition begin!!!!
As an almost "nearly" wed, my fiance and I are making new traditions!!!
ReplyDeleteThis year we decided there would be nothing extravagant and we would have a "Very Little Christmas". So together we made candied pecans and put them in mason jars to give out. The best part was getting to spend a Sunday creating together.
Happy Christmas!!
Almost everyone in my (very large) family lives within about an hours drive, so the Christmas season is spent with lots of visiting, eating, and more eating. When absolutely everyone gets together on Christmas day, we've outgrown anyones house, and have our big day dinner at the local trap shooting club. Weird, but it's big enough, and handy for everyone.
ReplyDeleteForgot the blog!
ReplyDeletehttp://barncat-alwayshome.blogspot.com/
Yeah I'm a bone head LOL...
ReplyDeletewww.anothercraftyday.blogspot.com
I feel short on traditions, but it's something I plan to work on for next year... We will take a holiday family photo with my parents, brother, and sister-in-law. So that is always something to look forward to.
ReplyDeleteI also use old Christmas cards to make gift tags for the next year. I can't always keep up with it these days, but I seem to keep a good supply going by doing it every other year or so now.
My blog is here.
Even as a thirty-something, I still get new pajamas from my parents to wear on Christmas Eve!
ReplyDeleteHappy Holidays : )
http://notquitevintage.typepad.com
Hmmm...well, on Christmas Eve, I always stay home and watch a Christmas-y movie. On Christmas morning, I call my siblings right away to wish them a merry Christmas, even though I will probably be seeing them later in the day. Seems silly, but I would miss it if I didn't do it! : )
ReplyDeletewww.leftatthestoplight.blogspot.com
what a fun idea!!
ReplyDeleteI discovered my children shaking presents and even suspected some pre-opening----so the tradition began of assigning a number to each child and using that instead of their names.......it frustrated their attempts to guess what they received, but solved the problem for me!
What a fun idea for the blog! Off to visit new bloggers! http://shebrews.com
This is my first Christmas with my inlaws. In Norway there are two traditional christmas dinners, one being the dried rib of lamb which is soaked and simmered- served with potatoes and mashed cabbage root. (This is what I get this year). The other is roast rib of pork served with kraut, potatoes, sausage and pork meat balls (What I usually eat. Since I don't get my traditional dinner we're doing some of my other traditions- the day before Christmas eve we're having Rakfisk (fermented fish) and ale. At noon Christmas eve we're having pannettone and sparkling wine. Now, you might think we Norwegians eat wacky food, and we do. But it tastes so much better than it sounds!
ReplyDeleteHappy holidays!
Linn from Norway
www.fiolinn.blogspot.com
traditions...
ReplyDeleteBaileys in the morning, in pj's all day and an evening walk in the snow after dinner!!
http://frizzillustration.blogspot.com/
We always have cream cheese danish on Christmas morning (YUM). We open presents oldest to youngest- my mom is a few months older than my dad so that's how that one started and has now continued in our family. We play all day. Very low key- just teh way I like it!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea. Thanks! Merry Christmas!
Mique
www.thirtyhandmadedays.blogspot.com
Growing up, my sisters and brother and I thought the best dinner you could ever eat was hamburgers, potato chips, and homeade milkshakes. We would have that as our special Christmas Eve dinner every year. Now our very large extended family gets together every Christmas Eve and guess what we have for dinner?!
ReplyDeleteIn the Netherlands we celebrate christmas without gifts. Gifts night is on december 5th when Sinterklaas comes from Spain on a white horse. It is his birthday. There are a lot of songs that belong to this holiday. We get a christmas tree as well. So we celebrate two times :-)
ReplyDeletehttp://my-stitch.blogspot.com/
Whoops! Forgot my blog :)
ReplyDeletehttp://bigbgsd.blogspot.com/
Merry Christmas!
Each year my partner & I are going to get one new ornament each to decorate the tree -- next year when we have our baby (she's due in January) we'll let her pick one too!
ReplyDeletehttp://desireefawn.blogspot.com
always fun to meet new blogs! thanks floresita!
ReplyDeletewe like to make a big deal out of "el dia de los tres reyes" (three kigs day) on jan 6 ...we fill the boys shoes with treats. it's nice to have a little something more to celebrate once all the christmas craziness comes to a close.
Our tradition...if you could call it that is ALWAYS wearing those silly paper hats you get in the Christmas crackers while eating Christmas lunch, and then forgetting to take them off. So i guess that makes our tradition wearing silly hats...I suppose that's accurate! xx Steph
ReplyDeleteOne of our family traditions is making Rosette cookies (only make them at Christmas) and serving them them on a special plate only used for this occasion. Of course, some cookies always seem to - somehow - get broken, and those must be consumed right away. :) I can remember the first time I realized, as a very young kid, that Mom was *DELIBERATELY* breaking some! GASP! Adults can DO that??!! Very eye-opening! Hee.
ReplyDeleteMy blog at: http://gauffered.typepad.com/
I"m Catholic (go Jesus)and we never put out the Baby Jesus in the creche until after midnight mass! My blog
ReplyDeletehttp://365projectchange.blogspot.com/
What a fun game, Flor!
ReplyDeleteWe didn't really have any one particular Christmas tradition when I was growing up, so I've decided to start one for my daughter. Every Christmas Eve, she will get a new pair of pajamas to keep her warm and snuggly while visions of sugar plums dance in her head.
xoxo,
Amy
I grew up in a half-Mexican household, so every year we're together we do the traditional Mexican-American Xmas Eve dinner of tamales (three types!), posole (hominy & pork soup), "black butter" (black beans pureed into a smooth paste), and "Ensalada de Noche Buena" (literally translates to "Christmas Eve Salad," which is a fruit salad with sliced apples, oranges, beets, sugar cane, and little Mexican candies called "colacion.") It's traditional to eat this at midnight, but we always get too hungry and eat around 9pm!
ReplyDeletehttp://handeyemindmouth.blogspot.com/
On Christmas Eve we have Bagna Caulda. It is sort of like a rich, buttery fondue that we like to dip or cook veggies in and also we have salami, cheese and French bread with it. We've done this every year for the past 32 years.
ReplyDeleteJulie
www.justjulie.typepad.com
We always get up and have biscuits and gravy after presents.
ReplyDeleteHappy Holidays
Peggy
http://pegslifeinthebuttonjar.blogspot.com/
My favorite tradition that we've had in place since hubby and I married 18 years ago is no traveling over Christmas. We have Christmas Eve grub with whichever of my sibs and their families and my mom are in town (this year we're doing dessert-only, rather than a huge meal, which I hope becomes a tradition!!), then hubby kiddo and I open our presents to/from each other that night. Christmas Day is when we scope out the loot Santa leaves us, and we spend that day at home, just the three of us. Santa has taken to leaving chocolate oranges in our stockings in recent years, and that's a tradition we all hope continues ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's all blend into one big, endless buffet table for my family, plus we're all born around the holidays. My brother is a Thanksgiving baby (Nov. 27), I'm born on Christmas Eve and my parents are both born on Jan. 7!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea this post was...so many new blogs to check out.
Memyselfandkai.com
We always open one present each on Christmas Eve. We attend our church's Christmas Eve service as a family. We read the Christmas story to remind us of what the holiday is all about before we open gifts.
ReplyDeletehttp://muddlepud.blogspot.com
Merry Christmas!
Our tradition seems to consist of traveling to various family members houses. Cookies, lots and lots of Christmas cookies and homemade marshmallows. Yum!
ReplyDeletewww.sewhipbaby.blogspot.com
Having moved from Norway to Australia, we have a whole new set of traditions as far as food is concerned. We open presents at home with the kids, then drive down to the inlaws for Christmas lunch - salmon, cold ham, salads followed by a nice leisurely afternoon with a dip in the pool and games.
ReplyDeleteThis Christmas all our presents to friends and family are handmade, so we have been really busy.
Mari
www.vikinginoz.blogspot.com
one tradition that we have is the kids each get their own ornament to open on Christmas Eve. Those are also the only ones we put on the tree, so it's pretty bare now but in time there will be lots!
ReplyDeleteLike many others, the traditions we had when I was younger didn't quite work anymore after we all grew up and went our separate ways, but that hasn't stopped us from making new traditions. My boyfriend and I have found that it's nearly impossible to get his entire family together for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, so we have an annual ThanksMas at our house to celebrate both holidays at once, usually early in December when there's nothing else going on. It's worked great so far!
ReplyDeletewww.kikimonkey.wordpress.com
let's see traditions.....oh, we stay a night at my moms home--the whole family after christmas. we open more presents together, eat, play games, and just chill with the fam.
ReplyDeletehttp://whosies.blogspot.com
Last year we went to Costco and bought some crab the first week of December. We had such a good time we decided to make it a tradition.
ReplyDeleteThis year we bought a little more because our 2 boys are big enough for some crab of their own. We didn't get enough. Don't underestimate a toddler's love of crab.
So, now, every December we look forward to, what we call, "Sunday Crab Fest* - *not to be combined with Crab Crackin' Mondays"
We're weird.
But it starts the holiday season for us!
http://musebootsi.blogspot.com
Oh rats, I forgot to leave my blog URL above:
ReplyDeletehttp://wrenandstitchy.wordpress.com
Now that the kids in my family are "all grown up" we've started a new tradition. We go to midnight mass and then come home and open our gifts from each other at 2 in the morning. Christmas Day we all sleep in and then enjoy an early turkey dinner around lunchtime. I suspect that will change soon, now that neices and nephews are on the horizon! (My brother, not me!) :)
ReplyDelete-Christine
http://wonky-eye.blogspot.com
I name my turkey every year, last year's gorgeous creature was Ethel. This year I'm torn between Sharpei (HSM) or Cheryl (Cole). As either option will potentially upset my daughter or my husband I may have to opt for the less controversial Margot. And no, I don't know why I do this.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, and we also make handmade crackers (see The Good Life, 1970s, UK sitcom) that we have to shout 'bang' to when we pull them.
Hi - did the same thing with the blog address thingy. My crafty one is www.craftdelight.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteHappy Christmas!
We do three christmas meals on christmas day, breakfast lunch and dinner with various family groups. Mostly we eat outside as we are in the southern hemisphere, so its really a combination of eating too much and getting sunburnt!
ReplyDeleteAs my kids start to get older I am introducing a few Christmas crafts to our traditions, this year we made salt dough decorations & paper chains for the tree & my mum gets them to helps make the plum pudding & chocoltae rum balls....yum!
ReplyDeleteThis year my favorite tradition is decorating graham cracher houses with friends(such a great way to visit!)....my husband and children started what I suspect will be a new tradition...they set thiers up on the Bar b q and lit them on fire!! And took pictures.poor little candy houses
ReplyDeleteEvery year since I have been married, my husband and I spend Christmas with his two sides of the family. We spend Christmas day with his mother's family and then we go to Huntsville, AL the weekend after Christmas to spend the holidays with his father's family.
ReplyDeleteWe create and print our own family Christmas cards every year and send them out to all our family and friends.
Sorry! my blog is www.annoreilly.blogspot.com
ReplyDeletemy hubby and i celebrate christmas on christmas eve together before being with the family on christmas day.
ReplyDeletei'm a crazy dog lady, i LOVE my four legged furry dog child, and he has his own stocking too :) and gets a present or two under the tree :)
to anna above me, i am having problems on your blog, some how i can't leave comments :(
ReplyDeleteYes, I had that problem too - do you have comments disabled on your blog, Anna? Let us know if you have a flickr stream we can comment on, if not, thank you for your contribution!
ReplyDeleteEvery Christmas night we pile the dogs in the car and go look at Christmas lights. In my mind, I know the dogs are enjoying it as much as I am. LOL!
ReplyDeleteMy Blog:
http://www.fasterkittykill.blogspot.com/
Happy Holidays everyone!
Happy Holidays! Our family tradition is to build a gingerbread house (from a kit) on Christmas Eve at one grandma's house and leave the kids at the other grandma's house for a while on Christmas Day while my husband and I go see a movie.
ReplyDeleteFun to see everyone else's traditions.
www.laeroport.typepad.com
Christmas Traditions are so lovely and delicious to think about. Our first year having a child I made a (horrible) tree skirt made of felt and muslin on which we yearly make hand prints and write the date of course. Now they are 8 and 6 and it warm my heart that we can see the change in their lifes.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the holidays!
Me and my mother use to go shop nice underwear the day of Christmas eve (the 24th) It is a tradition she and her sister started when they were young. I think it is one of the nicest Christmas traditions I have!
ReplyDeleteWish you all a peace full Christmas!
http://martescraft.blogspot.com/
My family has a traditional meal of ham, shrimp cocktail, fried mushrooms, and egg casserole. We eat this meal after opening presents as our brunch!
ReplyDeleteHi there! Well, I live in Quebec, Canada....moved here from English Canada 25 years ago, so the traditions from here are what I usually participate in...combined with my English ones. We usually get together on Christmas Eve for midnight mass (although over the last few years, the mass has gotten earlier because people want to get to bed before morning). Anyhow, we go to mass then go back to someone's house and have a "Reveillon." This consists of a table laden with delicacies, starting with a "bouillon" (kind of a soup, drunk from mugs), eating "pain de sandwich" (a layered loaf of bread, each layer has a sandwich filling...oh...the bread is cut lengthwise;sold in all the stores here and in different colours)...eating miniature meat pies and salads and aspic (jello salad) and then sugary treats, bars etc...and to top it off, a "log." AFter the eating is over or we have had enough for the time being, we unwrap gifts and then eat again and well, you get the drift!
ReplyDeleteI like this sharing....off to comment.
One of our traditions is to get 4 gifts for eachother - Something you need, something you want, something to eat, and something to read. We often set price limits and force eachother to get creative. Our other tradition involves a special hot toddy you can read more about at:
ReplyDeletewww.checraft.blogspot.com
My favourite tradition is a swap I've been participating in for the past 3 years called the 12 Days of Christmas swap. There are 12 people in the swap and we each make a gift for each person, then everyone opens one gift a day for the 12 days counting down to Christmas. It's so exciting getting up each morning and having a lovely handmade gift to unwrap!
ReplyDeletehttp://ghostmyst.blogspot.com
My husband, Jeff, and I have only been married for two years, so we're still developing our traditions. One that seems to be occuring is since my birthday is Dec 18, we usually go to Pigeon Forge TN (about 4 hours away from where we live in VA) and enjoy the Christmas lights of their "WinterFest". (We were married in Pigeon Forge). And of course, we get in alot of shopping and just enjoy spending the time together. I grew up on the East coast and we always ate seafood for Christmas brunch and the traditional turkey for dinner. So now on Christmas Eve, my husband and I have a "seafood feast" and open one gift before bed.
ReplyDeleteSheri :)
my blog: www.primrosehillstudio.blogspot.com
Happy Christmas!
I have a 17-month old baby granddaughter so this will be a special Christmas for us. We have so much family we have to split Christmas up. We all gather at my house for Christmas breakfast, open gifts, then off to my mom's for Christmas dinner and gifts. It's so wonderful to have everyone together - that's my favorite thing.
ReplyDeletemy blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://madisonavenuebaby.blogspot.com
Our family traditions have evolved as different family members have relocated around the country. Currently, we are most centrally located, so many of my family come to our house for Christmas dinner. Our menu is similar to Thanksgiving dinner - I am not very creative in the kitchen!
ReplyDeleteBlog address: http://just-a-mere.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOk maybe a few days behind here according to the post but,heres my comment anyhow.
ReplyDeleteOne of our family Christmas traditions is a few days prior to the big day,we all sit together and watch 'It's a wonderful life'.
I LOVE Jimmy!!
Another,which isn't some much a tradition but just something the hubby has to do is this...Our 2 children 16 and 11 have always been heavy and late sleepers.They have NEVER woken us up on Christmas day.My hubby will stand outside of thier bedrooms on that morning and yawn loudly and make loud remarks like,"It Sure is getting late".
http://mucky-fingers.blogspot.com/
Hello! I'm Sid from Pinellas Park Florida. Mr. Man and I have lots of traditions for the holidays. We bake, we decorate, we sometimes get Scroogy, we often are overgenerous. But one thing that we always do is focus on the wonder of the Winter Solstice and how this beautiful feature of the natural way of things has inspired so many different but similar holidays. We are very interested in history in general and the Medieval world in particular. And so we try to keep the holidays around as long as we can much as our ancestors did. So, after Repeal Day, St. Nicholas Day, Chanukka, both our birthdays, Christmas Eve, Christmas, Boxing Day, and New Years, we still hang on til 12th Night(Epiphany.) Since we are the only people we know who really do this, it makes the last part of the holidays special and personal for us after the happy frenzy of holiday fun with family and friends. And, frankly, focusing on sending New Year's cards takes a lot of pressure off of us. We reccommend it to others too. I hope you all have a happy happy!
ReplyDeleteHmm...a tradition, huh? Well, two weeks before Christmas we make tamales, and we have to watch A Christmas Carol, even though we've all seen it a million gazillion times. :]
ReplyDeletehttp://www.andreasgarden.blogspot.com/
Every year I make sugar cookie cut-outs with all the trimmings. In years past, my five kids *helped*. Now only two are left at home and they help with the eating!
ReplyDeleteOur family always attends Christmas Eve Candlelight services at our church and then we go to the Grandparents' for chili or something delicious.
We also celebrate Advent (before Christmas) with candles, stories, and music.
Jody
http://gumbo-lily.blogspot.com
Looking at the falling snow outside, I just remembered another family tradition that my Mother has. Whenever she or her siblings get the first snowfall of the winter, they call each other and, when the other end picks up, they start singing "Jinglebells". :) It's so cute! I try to continue it with Mom but I am always just so eager to blurt out "SNOW!!!!" that I forget. Hee.
ReplyDeleteOne of the holiday traditions we have that I love is that each year my husband and I make each other an ornament. It's not often that I get to see his crafty side, so I always look forward to seeing what he's made me. We put the date on them and when we put up the tree it's always a kick to see what the prior years ornaments were.
ReplyDeletewww.threadpudding.blogspot.com
I love this idea! One thing I do every year is give my sister sonmething to do with the Pillsbury Doughboy because she loves him. I'm now in the middle of embroidering an ornament with him on it for her. And, if I could tear myself away from my blog reading, I could finish it.
ReplyDeletehttp://pipstitch.blogspot.com/
Seems like I've lost a lot of traditions with moving around and family spreading around the country...but when we're together,my oldest sister and I always bake our mom's coffee cake recipe for breakfast on Christmas morning. It's the yummiest way to start the festivities!
ReplyDeleteJoyous season to all!
Beverly
www.wbnm.typepad.com
what a fun idea! We have many traditions but one that has gotten more fun as the kids have gotten older is decorating gingerbread houses with their cousins...their decorations & ideas grow more & more each year!
ReplyDeleteKristen
http://www.gocksfrocks.blogspot.com
well, let's see... my mom always makes spritz cookies (my favorite!) and i always eat too many, my sister and i always get a new pair of pajamas, and we always have a traditional thanksgiving dinner for christmas, since i'm not home for it the first time around!
ReplyDeletehttp://hodgepodgefarm.blogspot.com/
Each year my children make felt decorations for the tree, which over the years have grown to quite a collection. We also make mince pies - which I always eat too many of. If the weather is nice we'll be going for a swim in the sea - as ITS SUMMER!!! Whoopee! http://www.flickr.com/photos/scoot_ah/
ReplyDeleteThis Christmas morning while my children are sleeping in, I am catching up on my google reader. Feeling Stitchy and unaflorasita (sp.?) were two of the first blogs I found in 2007, and I've been blogging ever since. One tradition we have is the tree, of course. I have always spent a lot of time wrapping the branches with lights, so it will be beautiful. Then, the decorations - so important! My family laughs, but they love it. Since blogging and marketing my business, my time has been quite short. This year, I passed the mantle to my husband and teens to decorate the tree - or it wouldn't get done until Christmas. They did an excellent job, and I have no regrets. So, one of our traditions have changed a bit now but probably just in time for them to develop their skills for their future grown-up trees and traditions.
ReplyDeleteMy blog is calicodaisy (dot) blogspot (dot) com. Thanks for all the great ideas here on feeling stitchy. I love to hand embroider and am amazed with all the fantastic ideas the readers come up with. Merry Christmas!
Hi - re our turkey naming tradition. In the interests of family unity, I had to relent and call our turkey Dorcas (postmistress in Lark Rise to Candleford, BBC TV). A last minute choice as I cried all the way through the Christmas special! She was very tasty and fed 8 of us beautifully. Hope everyone enjoyed the festivities.
ReplyDeleteI'm late, but I've enjoyed reading everyone's traditions.
ReplyDeleteOne of our favorite traditions is to act out the Nativity on Christmas Eve while my husband reads aloud from Luke 2. The costumes aren't fabulous, but we always have a great time.
http://sew-whats-new.blogspot.com
This is such a cute idea! I love hearing other peoples' traditions!
ReplyDeleteI'm late to the game, so I'll post a new years one. A couple of years ago, my husband and I decided that our new years tradition would be to buy lottery tickets and scratch them with coins from our birth years. We haven't won yet.
Happy new year, stitchers!
my kids would often overlook their stockings Christmas morning so i started giving them stockings for new year's eve. "papa noel" would pass and leave them presents-they grew to love this even more than Christmas presents i think.
ReplyDelete