holiday favorites

This time of year it is sometimes hard to be merry. There is a lot of extra stress, and sometimes the knowledge of those who go without is more painful at this time than at others. It is also a time for remembering those we've lost. I find that focusing on the things I love about the holidays helps. What are the things you like best about the holidays? Visiting loved ones, wrapping and decorating, seeing the lights, hearing the music, watching holiday specials and movies? What is your 'favorite' part of the holidays?

Comments

  • 14 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • My eclectic tree which is really a sum of my life, family and friends. .
  • It's not a bottle tree, I hope...

    :)
  • I love eggnog lattes. If visiting family is the price I have to pay to acquire them, so be it.
  • I have always enjoyed going for drives to see all the lights & decorations, and sitting in the living room with just the Christmas tree lights on, listening to music. I also love going to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at church.

    In recent years, I've discovered the fun of taking each of my four grandkids out shopping individually for the others in the family...my grandson is usually baffled about what to buy for his three sisters & stepmom ("I don't know how to shop for girls!"), my oldest granddaughter is tight with her money ("But it costs five whole dollars! That's too expensive!") the 5-year-old has a just-get-it-done attitude (shopping for five people took about 15 minutes this year), and the 3-year-old wants to buy toys for everybody so they can "share" them with her!
  • Before my mom passed away we always spent Christmas Eve baking and preparing for Christmas Day. That is the one tradition that I miss the most. Now, my daughter and I do it together so we're making it our tradition now. And my most favorite part? Grandkids! Absolutely nothing in this world beats that!! :D
  • On Christmas Eve my twenty-something daughter comes to my house for the night. We watch White Christmas, play board games, and eat way too much. It's wonderful to have her under my roof even if only for a short time.

    Merry Christmas to everyone.

    Sharon
  • I love baking. This year a friend's 14-year-old daughter and I made a gingerbread house completely from scratch and it actually stood for a week. Love Christmas music. I make most of my Christmas presents and I really enjoy that - although 3 were not done in time and people got boxes with supplies and an IOU they had to hand back so I could finish it.

    My favorite is the Christmas Eve midnight service at church. The music was outstanding and while we were kneeling and singing Silent Night by candlelight great big snowflakes started falling.

    While I love the holidays, I am looking forward to saying goodbye to 2010. Way too many people I know have had a really difficult time this year. Here's hoping that 2011 will be kinder to us all.

    Anyone have any new year's resolutions they want to share?
  • I try not to make New Year's resolutions as such, but I use the beginning of the each new year to try to make some improvements in my life, whether it's exercising more, eating better (both of which are a continual struggle for me throughout the year) or getting better control of my household budget. This year the budget one is big because my husband is on a seasonal layoff from his job and we aren't sure if his boss will have enough work to bring him back right away after the first of the year. Even tho I'm the primary breadwinner, it's been a while since we had to operate on only my income so some budgetary belt-tightening is definitely in order!
  • I love just spending time with my family. We do have one slightly unusual tradition that I really enjoy--we always go see a movie on Christmas day. (Although judging by the amount of people at the theater this year, my family is not the only one with this tradition.)

    Also, my mom usually cooks a country ham breakfast that is fantastic. For those of you not from the South, country ham is something that shouldn't be missed.
  • My family has always had a very no-frills approach to the holidays, which always makes me excited to read other people's traditions. Jessica, I will more than gladly adopt the country ham breakfast tradition, as that just sounds fantastic this morning -- especially with some fresh biscuits and gravy.

    I can say that my favorite part of the holidays is the rare appearance of this white stuff that's covering the ground today. No matter what is going on that day, a little bit of snow just immediately puts me in the mood for fireplaces, hot chocolate, and holiday movies, even in spite of the fact that most of the times we've gotten snow here in Tennessee it's been well past the holiday season. I know it's a pain to shovel and drive in, but it's so beautiful that I never get tired of it. (Though this is also a good reason for me to avoid the great white North, since I'd like to keep it that way. :))
  • Holly:
    We had a white Christmas this year, first time in several years. My wife and I are each off work the week between Christmas and New Years. We keep a fire going in the family den and we have a tradition of putting together jig-saw puzzles. This year we completed three large puzzles. Santa brought me a set of the Marx Brothers DVD's -so we worked on puzzles and watched the Marx Brothers. "If itsa no gooda for you, itsa no gooda for me." "Ah, there ain't no such thing as a sanity-clause." And of course "I shot an elephant in my pajamas - how he got in my pajamas I'll never know".
    We have that white stuff on the ground again now 5-6 inches and the bottom is falling out of the temp's. It was upper 20's this morning and now in the mid teens going down to around zero tonight. Another good night to set around the fire and watch an old movie.
  • My mom always cooked a country ham breakfast on Christmas Day too, but she opted for bacon this year for some reason. It was still good - my favorite part of the breakfast is the biscuits & gravy anyway. We have an extended family gathering on Christmas Eve then each family does their own thing on Christmas Day. I love the Christmas songs and enjoy performing them (I sing with a Sweet Adeline Chorus).
  • I would love to sing Christmas songs in a choir. Unfortunately, no one (even me) appreciates my voice. :) I do love all the holiday music though. When my husband and I were first married and he found out how much I liked Christmas music he got a very strange expression on his face. (In anyone else I would have called it horror, but I knew he couldn't possibly be looking at me that way so I settled for a strange expression.) We came to an agreement. Between Thanksgiving and New Year's I can listen to all the holiday music I want. The rest of the year it is banned.
  • [QUOTE=Wendi Watts;721292] I make most of my Christmas presents and I really enjoy that - although 3 were not done in time and people got boxes with supplies and an IOU they had to hand back so I could finish it. [/QUOTE]

    On behalf of your gift recipients, please don't forget to actually finish making the gift! My sister-in-law did this same thing about 12 years ago....... I'm still waiting to get the finished gift! :(
Sign In or Register to comment.