What is everyone's favorite holiday tradition?

roberts617 · 11-05-2007, 10:57 AM

What does everyone love the most about the holidays? What makes the holidays the holidays at your house?

Mine is just being with family. We get so caught up in things all year and when the holidays come around we really enjoy the time together. We don't have anything specific exactly, but we are always together for them!

**Diamond_Y** · 11-05-2007, 11:17 AM

For Thanksgiving, my family gathers at my house for lots of food and conversation. I love to cook holiday meals. Like so many southern families, our holiday traditions center around food.

Then after everyone leaves the Sunday following Thanksgiving, I make hot chocolate, turn on the Christmas music, and our children decorate our Christmas tree. Our son in law is 27 and last year was the very first time he'd decorated a Christmas tree. His step mother didn't allow them to touch "her" stuff.

roberts617 · 11-05-2007, 11:25 AM

Yep ours is definitely centered around meals too.

I'm glad your son in law finally got to decorate the tree. I bet his stepmom would freak when she saw my 2 and 3 yr old decorating our tree.

**gbarmranch** · 11-05-2007, 11:28 AM

Dinner, with all of our friends and/or family - and then watching the men clean the kitchen after the women have cooked.. We are good to them too - and yell in the scores of the football games while they do the dishes...

**Diamond_Y** · 11-05-2007, 11:29 AM

When my kids were small, there were ornaments that only I touched, but every year our kids got a new ornament, so they would hang their ornaments and other age appropriate things. Lots of decorations tended to be at toddler height. Our tree is not exactly what you would find in a decorator home, but everything on the tree means something, and we think it is the most beautiful thing ever.

roberts617 · 11-05-2007, 11:34 AM

Gbar that's funny! Making the men clean up, I will have to run that by the girls this year!

Diamond Y, ours is the same way! The girls get to pick out their own new ornament each year and put those on. I put on all the fragile ones, but I have several that they can do themselves too and they love it. All of our ornaments mean something too. And we definitely don't have a fancy tree. But like you all, it is perfect to us!

DoBeSassy · 11-05-2007, 01:22 PM

We center around the food as well. We get to pig out 3 times a year, and we take advantage.

One tradition we have is playing cards. We are a big card playing family.

texas sassy · 11-08-2007, 07:09 PM

Mom makes her own cornbread dressing--nobody else can make anything that compaers to it. Just one of those childhood memory foods!!

roberts617 · 11-08-2007, 07:13 PM

DoBeSassy, that's great! What do ya'll play? When my great grandma was still with us we always played cards too. We played Canasta and Pitch. I so loved it too.

Sassy my mom makes good cornbread dressing too. No one can quite make it like mom and grandma!

Faceman · 11-13-2007, 07:21 AM

The holidays are not our best time of year. We always spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with my parents. Since they died 11 and 10 years ago, and Mrs. Face's mother died at Christmas time 4 years ago, the holidays have never been the same...too nostalgic and depressing...

We are trying to establish new holiday traditions with my son and my sister, but it is hard going and not the same...

roberts617 · 11-13-2007, 10:52 AM

Face, I'm sorry, that is hard.

It's hard to start a new tradition.

We have never been able to get the whole family together like my great grandma could. She just had the knack for it. They all came when she had dinners. It's not the same without her, we have all went our own ways...

Jade · 11-13-2007, 12:13 PM

I love getting together to cook. We usually have a big Thanksgiving lunch, then watch movies and play football. Then when evening rolls around, we usually make tomato basil soup served up with French bread. I really enjoy having all my siblings and their kids at my house. My parents don't do the cooking anymore; it just tires them out too much so I got volunteered about 5 years ago.

DoBeSassy · 11-13-2007, 01:42 PM

I love all the food. My favorite tradition is making all the goodies and wrapping them up to give as presents to like my grandparents and other relatives.

shayla · 11-14-2007, 10:16 PM

This will be my first Christmas I haven't spent with my parents (yes, I'm 30, what..? *g*). I'm a little depressed about that.

For us, Thanksgiving was always at mom and dad's house with TONS of food. After dinner, we'd watch a movie or play games until late then everyone'd go home.

For Christmas, we'd put music on and decorate the tree together. We too all made it a tradition to go to "The Famous Christmas Store" in Austin to pick out an ornament every year to hang on the tree. Each one is a story and a memory of a nice day spent at that store. Most of my ornaments are pretty fugly-my parents were SO wonderful to allow me to have ANYTHING I wanted (I've got a pink unicorn and this gawdawful clown with a sprig of holly on his hat, and LOTS of carousel horses and horses in general), but, the memories are so wonderful.

We now do Hallmark ornaments for our family, my son gets one, my parents buy me one, and my new family's tree is getting filled with new memories. My boyfriend doesn't really have any ornaments of his own yet. Bad breakups tend to mean you leave things behind, and what things he does have tend to cause him some emotional pain, so we're trying to build our own traditions.

I'm going to miss hanging Christmas lights outside on the house with my dad. Climbing on the roof, wiring the front yard with lights, listenin to dad swear and cuss when things didn't work right.

But OH when the sun went down and dad flipped on the lights outside for the first glimpse of the "final" product, all the swear words, frustration and annoyance vanished in a twinkle of bright lights, glittering stars overhead, and the oohs and ahhs of my family, and my parents hugging as we stood in the middle of the street.

Then it was inside for glasses of hot chocolate and to sit down to watch one of a BUNCH of Christmas movies that are tradition.

On Christmas Eve we would drive around town to look at Christmas lights. Visit old favorite displays, find new ones. Then, we'd go home, and watch "A Christmas Carol" with Alastar Sims (the black and white version). Then, depending on how old I was, I'd go to bed after leaving out cookies and milk for Santa, or, I'd stay up to help Santa put out gifts.

I hadn't realized until I wrote all that out how much I'm going to miss being home for the holidays this year. Christmas ranks pretty low on my favorite holiday lists, I admit that, but...I guess I hadn't realized just how much it mattered to me until now.

TxHorseMom · 12-02-2007, 11:33 PM

Wow, there's so many "traditions" that we have. But mostly it's spending time with the ones you love.

We decorate the tree together. Every year since we've been married, we get an ornament for each person in the family with their name and the date on it. We have TONS of those engravable brass ornaments, but some other special ones too. Last year I commissioned TheUpNorthCowGirl to hand paint an ornament for each of us with our horses on it. (I highly recommend her work to anyone who wants one!) Our trees are always a mish mash of ornaments tinsel and garland. To me, it's the most beautiful kind to have.

On Christmas eve, we go out driving to see the Christmas lights. Inevitabily Elvis's version of Blue Christmas comes on and Jeff and I sing it to the moans and groans of the children. (Jeff does Elvis, and I do the background "oooo" part

) It's hilarious! Then we go to candlelight service, come home and everyone opens up 1 gift.

Christmas morning, (early)we make tea, and coffee and eat my homemade coffee cake while opening presents one-at-a-time. Then go eat real breakfast and take a small nap.

We then drive over to my parents house, open more presents and eat a huge meal that mom and I make. We usually get home late and feed horses in the dark!

It's going to be different next year with James and Christie in Germany. It won't be the same without them.

But, in a few years (3) they will be back in the states and hopefully the traditions will continue. Maybe even start a few new ones.

roberts617 · 12-02-2007, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shayla

This will be my first Christmas I haven't spent with my parents (yes, I'm 30, what..? *g*). I'm a little depressed about that.

I hadn't realized until I wrote all that out how much I'm going to miss being home for the holidays this year. Christmas ranks pretty low on my favorite holiday lists, I admit that, but...I guess I hadn't realized just how much it mattered to me until now.

Aw, I'm sorry you're depressed about not being with your parents. That's rough.

I'm 30 too, and I can't imagine it any other way. We are close with my family and I am so happy it is that way.

Man Christmas is my favorite holiday. Oh, not the gift giving or any thing, I don't care about that. Just the fact that we have such a good family to spend it with.

But, I am really glad to hear that it matters more than you thought it did.

roberts617 · 12-02-2007, 11:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TxHorseMom

Last year I commissioned TheUpNorthCowGirl to hand paint an ornament for each of us with our horses on it. (I highly recommend her work to anyone who wants one!) Our trees are always a mish mash of ornaments tinsel and garland. To me, it's the most beautiful kind to have.

On Christmas eve, we go out driving to see the Christmas lights. Inevitabily Elvis's version of Blue Christmas comes on and Jeff and I sing it to the moans and groans of the children. (Jeff does Elvis, and I do the background "oooo" part

) It's hilarious! Then we go to candlelight service, come home and everyone opens up 1 gift.

That is so cool! I would love to have her paint some ornaments! I really love things like that! I agree, our tree always has a mix of ornaments too, and frankly, I love it that way!

I'd also love to hear your duet! You should record it and let us all hear it!

Everyone has such cool traditions, thanks for sharing!

TxHorseMom · 12-03-2007, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roberts617

I'd also love to hear your duet! You should record it and let us all hear it!

Not a chance! We save that torture for our children!

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11-05-2007, 10:57 AM
roberts617 Seasoned Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Central Oklahoma Posts: 4,870	What is everyone's favorite holiday tradition? What does everyone love the most about the holidays? What makes the holidays the holidays at your house? Mine is just being with family. We get so caught up in things all year and when the holidays come around we really enjoy the time together. We don't have anything specific exactly, but we are always together for them! __________________ Never be too quick to criticize yourself. It's not fair to all the people who are dying to do it for you!!

11-05-2007, 11:17 AM
Diamond_Y Administrator Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: North Texas Posts: 3,650	For Thanksgiving, my family gathers at my house for lots of food and conversation. I love to cook holiday meals. Like so many southern families, our holiday traditions center around food. Then after everyone leaves the Sunday following Thanksgiving, I make hot chocolate, turn on the Christmas music, and our children decorate our Christmas tree. Our son in law is 27 and last year was the very first time he'd decorated a Christmas tree. His step mother didn't allow them to touch "her" stuff. __________________ Diamond Y Quarter Horses - Breeders of Quality Foundation Quarter Horses Home of King of Cooke County, 2004 Perlino son of Cooke County ETC

11-05-2007, 11:25 AM
roberts617 Seasoned Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Central Oklahoma Posts: 4,870	Yep ours is definitely centered around meals too. I'm glad your son in law finally got to decorate the tree. I bet his stepmom would freak when she saw my 2 and 3 yr old decorating our tree. __________________ Never be too quick to criticize yourself. It's not fair to all the people who are dying to do it for you!!

11-05-2007, 11:28 AM
gbarmranch Administrator Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Tennessee Posts: 29,229	Dinner, with all of our friends and/or family - and then watching the men clean the kitchen after the women have cooked.. We are good to them too - and yell in the scores of the football games while they do the dishes... __________________ Quality FoundationQuarter Horses http://home.earthlink.net/~vpgann Minds are like parachutes – they only function when open – Thomas Dewar

11-05-2007, 11:29 AM
Diamond_Y Administrator Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: North Texas Posts: 3,650	When my kids were small, there were ornaments that only I touched, but every year our kids got a new ornament, so they would hang their ornaments and other age appropriate things. Lots of decorations tended to be at toddler height. Our tree is not exactly what you would find in a decorator home, but everything on the tree means something, and we think it is the most beautiful thing ever. __________________ Diamond Y Quarter Horses - Breeders of Quality Foundation Quarter Horses Home of King of Cooke County, 2004 Perlino son of Cooke County ETC

11-05-2007, 11:34 AM
roberts617 Seasoned Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Central Oklahoma Posts: 4,870	Gbar that's funny! Making the men clean up, I will have to run that by the girls this year! Diamond Y, ours is the same way! The girls get to pick out their own new ornament each year and put those on. I put on all the fragile ones, but I have several that they can do themselves too and they love it. All of our ornaments mean something too. And we definitely don't have a fancy tree. But like you all, it is perfect to us! __________________ Never be too quick to criticize yourself. It's not fair to all the people who are dying to do it for you!!

11-05-2007, 01:22 PM
DoBeSassy Seasoned Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 4,966	We center around the food as well. We get to pig out 3 times a year, and we take advantage. One tradition we have is playing cards. We are a big card playing family. __________________ There is none so blind as she who will not see

11-08-2007, 07:09 PM
texas sassy Yearling Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 684	Mom makes her own cornbread dressing--nobody else can make anything that compaers to it. Just one of those childhood memory foods!!

11-08-2007, 07:13 PM
roberts617 Seasoned Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Central Oklahoma Posts: 4,870	DoBeSassy, that's great! What do ya'll play? When my great grandma was still with us we always played cards too. We played Canasta and Pitch. I so loved it too. Sassy my mom makes good cornbread dressing too. No one can quite make it like mom and grandma! __________________ Never be too quick to criticize yourself. It's not fair to all the people who are dying to do it for you!!

11-13-2007, 07:21 AM
Faceman Kid Safe Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Arkansas Ozarks Posts: 7,168	The holidays are not our best time of year. We always spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with my parents. Since they died 11 and 10 years ago, and Mrs. Face's mother died at Christmas time 4 years ago, the holidays have never been the same...too nostalgic and depressing... We are trying to establish new holiday traditions with my son and my sister, but it is hard going and not the same... __________________ Read what I said, not what you THINK I said...

11-13-2007, 10:52 AM
roberts617 Seasoned Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Central Oklahoma Posts: 4,870	Face, I'm sorry, that is hard. It's hard to start a new tradition. We have never been able to get the whole family together like my great grandma could. She just had the knack for it. They all came when she had dinners. It's not the same without her, we have all went our own ways... __________________ Never be too quick to criticize yourself. It's not fair to all the people who are dying to do it for you!!

11-13-2007, 12:13 PM
Jade Yearling Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Texas Posts: 702	I love getting together to cook. We usually have a big Thanksgiving lunch, then watch movies and play football. Then when evening rolls around, we usually make tomato basil soup served up with French bread. I really enjoy having all my siblings and their kids at my house. My parents don't do the cooking anymore; it just tires them out too much so I got volunteered about 5 years ago.

11-13-2007, 01:42 PM
DoBeSassy Seasoned Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 4,966	I love all the food. My favorite tradition is making all the goodies and wrapping them up to give as presents to like my grandparents and other relatives. __________________ There is none so blind as she who will not see

11-14-2007, 10:16 PM
shayla Coming two Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Wichita, Ks Posts: 1,717	This will be my first Christmas I haven't spent with my parents (yes, I'm 30, what..? g). I'm a little depressed about that. For us, Thanksgiving was always at mom and dad's house with TONS of food. After dinner, we'd watch a movie or play games until late then everyone'd go home. For Christmas, we'd put music on and decorate the tree together. We too all made it a tradition to go to "The Famous Christmas Store" in Austin to pick out an ornament every year to hang on the tree. Each one is a story and a memory of a nice day spent at that store. Most of my ornaments are pretty fugly-my parents were SO wonderful to allow me to have ANYTHING I wanted (I've got a pink unicorn and this gawdawful clown with a sprig of holly on his hat, and LOTS of carousel horses and horses in general), but, the memories are so wonderful. We now do Hallmark ornaments for our family, my son gets one, my parents buy me one, and my new family's tree is getting filled with new memories. My boyfriend doesn't really have any ornaments of his own yet. Bad breakups tend to mean you leave things behind, and what things he does have tend to cause him some emotional pain, so we're trying to build our own traditions. I'm going to miss hanging Christmas lights outside on the house with my dad. Climbing on the roof, wiring the front yard with lights, listenin to dad swear and cuss when things didn't work right. But OH when the sun went down and dad flipped on the lights outside for the first glimpse of the "final" product, all the swear words, frustration and annoyance vanished in a twinkle of bright lights, glittering stars overhead, and the oohs and ahhs of my family, and my parents hugging as we stood in the middle of the street. Then it was inside for glasses of hot chocolate and to sit down to watch one of a BUNCH of Christmas movies that are tradition. On Christmas Eve we would drive around town to look at Christmas lights. Visit old favorite displays, find new ones. Then, we'd go home, and watch "A Christmas Carol" with Alastar Sims (the black and white version). Then, depending on how old I was, I'd go to bed after leaving out cookies and milk for Santa, or, I'd stay up to help Santa put out gifts. I hadn't realized until I wrote all that out how much I'm going to miss being home for the holidays this year. Christmas ranks pretty low on my favorite holiday lists, I admit that, but...I guess I hadn't realized just how much it mattered to me until now. __________________ "Oftentime, the notion of "Following one's heart" is used as an excuse to avoid doing what is best because it's to hard or to complicated." ~David Hopkins

12-02-2007, 11:33 PM
TxHorseMom Greenbroke Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Texas Posts: 3,034	Wow, there's so many "traditions" that we have. But mostly it's spending time with the ones you love. We decorate the tree together. Every year since we've been married, we get an ornament for each person in the family with their name and the date on it. We have TONS of those engravable brass ornaments, but some other special ones too. Last year I commissioned TheUpNorthCowGirl to hand paint an ornament for each of us with our horses on it. (I highly recommend her work to anyone who wants one!) Our trees are always a mish mash of ornaments tinsel and garland. To me, it's the most beautiful kind to have. On Christmas eve, we go out driving to see the Christmas lights. Inevitabily Elvis's version of Blue Christmas comes on and Jeff and I sing it to the moans and groans of the children. (Jeff does Elvis, and I do the background "oooo" part) It's hilarious! Then we go to candlelight service, come home and everyone opens up 1 gift. Christmas morning, (early)we make tea, and coffee and eat my homemade coffee cake while opening presents one-at-a-time. Then go eat real breakfast and take a small nap. We then drive over to my parents house, open more presents and eat a huge meal that mom and I make. We usually get home late and feed horses in the dark! It's going to be different next year with James and Christie in Germany. It won't be the same without them. But, in a few years (3) they will be back in the states and hopefully the traditions will continue. Maybe even start a few new ones.