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2nd Trimester
Holidays and Decorations/Traditions?
Well Late Night Ladies---
What is your favorite holiday? Do you decorate? Are there any special traditions that make this extra fun for you? etc.....
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Re: Holidays and Decorations/Traditions?
My favorite holiday has always been Halloween! I love most holidays but what kid wouldn't learn to love all that candy grabbing? lol...mostly I love the fall season and so my decorating style is a little more classy than the general witches, ghosts, etc. I can't wait to get out my decorations but refuse until part way through Sept for the fall/harvest stuff and until Oct for the actuall halloween decorations.
I love seeing all the kids run around showing off their costumes and how proud they get if you compliment their ideas and outfits! It was always a blast taking my little siblings out T&T even if we all wore winter coats and boots with our costumes!
My favorite holiday, by far, is Christmas!!! As a child, we used to go out and cut down a Christmas tree and decorate it, but DH hates the mess it makes in the house so we set up a fake one now. I should add, he was REALLY sweet last Christmas- he knew I missed the smell so he brought home a real wreath for me! Aw!
This year because our LO is due so close to Christmas, we are starting up a new tradition- DH and I will be celebrating on our own on Christmas Eve and then we will alternate between our extended families as to whom we will be celebrating with on Christmas Day (and then the other family will arrange another day close to Christmas when we'll celebrate with them). It'll be different, as last year, we accomodated everyone else's schedules for Christmas, but it was super important to me that our LO be born into a tradition that was already established for our little family, hence the change!
I can't wait for Christmas!!!
Christmas is my ultimate holiday. I love the whole month of December. I love decorations, carols, lights, etc. I love that people are so giving at Christmas time- that needs to happen year round! I love the camaraderie and jolly nature that happens when people get together.
First runner up is definitely Halloween. I LOVE to hand out candy and see the little kids in their costumes.
I am such a foodie...Love to eat so anything dealing with food is what I'm into...Thanksgiving is my second place followed very closely by xmas...I just had some rotten experiences with cousins being ungrateful little brats (both older than me) about gifts and xmas became hard to deal with even as a kid...sad...
Alyssa--LOVE your starting a tradition for baby and your family! I wish we could do this too but our families make this difficult. We still alternate between 4 xmas celebrations...This year xmas eve is with my family and xmas day is his, next year his fam eve and mine day....(Grandparents are still hosting instead of our parents so there are 4 to go to each year if we could)
Is it sad if I can't really think of any childhood traditions? I'm sure we have some...
The only one I can think of is that we used to sit at the top of the stairs while my dad went downstairs to make sure Santa wasn't still there. Then he would come back and let us come downstairs. I would always sit there just hoping he would exclaim that Santa had fallen asleep in an armchair.
Years later I would find out he was really making us wait so he could start the coffee pot. Kinda kills the memory, LOL.
I forgot to post my tradition, it's kind of random but what we always did so I still associate it with family.
We always did fondue at home on Christmas Eve. It was such a fun thing to look forward to all year long. We did meats, cheese and then dessert. Hmm, maybe I'll continue that with our new little family?
Aw, thanks! It's tough because I know our families aren't loving the fact that we're starting a new tradition (so their traditions will have to change), but they're understanding, especially because they know that we're our own family now and we need to make our own traditions.
That being said, this year we will be celebrating FIVE Christmases! No joke! We're celebrating with my parents, DH's parents, my mother's extended family, my father's extended family, plus our own celebration! The only way we won't be going to any of these is if our LO comes early (in which case we aren't going to expose him to so many people so quickly in the middle of the flu season). So it will definitely be a busy season for us, but I just can't wait... I'm so excited!!!
We did something similar growing up on Christmas Eve that I'm REALLY hoping to work into our family tradition this year! We didn't do fondue, but we had an assortment of meats and cheeses, smoked fish and crackers, buffalo wings, veggies, a cheese log, and desserts- Christmas cookies and Christmas toffee. Oh my gosh- it is the most amazing meal of the year!!!
The coffee pot cracks me up!
I have all these memories about the holidays, but my family was like the brady bunch plus 1 oh and we all had the same mom and dad. My dad used to set up tents in our living room to camp with us he had all these traditions involving food. never figured out why I graduated high school 40 pounds over weight and when I went away to college it all fell off hmmm. The holidays always make me miss my dad so much though!
5 christmases...yikes...I guess we did that the year Chris came home from Iraq but that was the LAST time we were going to do that...ugh....Good luck waddling between them all!! lol
I think in the next couple years our traditions will be changing a bit but I think to avoid added stress right now I'm just going to leave it as is...When baby is a little older and rips paper off her own presents it might make a more eventful xmas at home
Yeah, at some point I'm sure we won't be celebrating with EVERYONE in my family, especially as our LO gets older. I never thought I would say this, but there really is such a thing as a child getting too many presents. I've watched my cousin's kids and although they aren't spoiled, they are getting gifts from everyone (including DH and I) and I'm their second-cousin! I don't want my children growing up and only focusing on the presents at Christmas (although all kids certainly love that part!), but it's really important to DH and I that our children understand the reason behind the holiday!
I'm totally behind you on going as stress-free as possible this holiday season. Heck, if you think it's best to wait until next year or a few years down the line to change the traditions, go for it! For us, this was the best arrangement (I thought that my parent and the ILs would take it best knowing that it was because we are having a child this year), but even if our LO comes early, he certainly won't be opening packages on his own... if he is, then I will have given birth to the world's most advanced baby and you'll all be the first to know!! LOL!
This....well minus the step siblings...Chris' youngest brother is 2nd grade I believe...Still has Santa gifts etc...so xmas day is at MIL's house...She has been very clear that this would not change and so had to accept that every other year we would not be there for xmas with the family. This upsets me because I really think that we should get to see immediate family every xmas over the extended family but hubby and I couldn't back down because even he said that she was challenging us as our own independent unit. So as upset as she was and I was, we both stuck to our guns and still don't like the arrangement completely....ugh...
I really don't know how to transition into our own traditions without causing IL drama. I think it will be more like having our own xmas on xmas eve morning like my family used to do...
Don't tell the science/medical community if he starts opening gifts that early!! lol!
I totally get the part about making the transition early just to make it easier as far as explaining goes. I think that would help a long way for my side...Just drama is part of life in my IL family and I am NOT looking forward to it....I figure we will try to have xmas eve morning to ourselves like I had as a kid with my family. It went, us in the morning, then drive to maternal gmas then sleep over at other gmas for xmas day there...I think we will just make it xmas eve morning at home and then whatever switchoff for that year is up. That might make it easiest for now. Plus with Chris getting deployed next year (Oct 2010 supposedly) and most likely missing our first big xmas I don't know that this year is the year to start a tradition. I am thinking if we want a big change it will be the year when he gets back (2011).
I think it's smart to make the change when you'll be all together as a family. I don't know your ILs, but I know that having my husband's support and knowing that he has my back always makes me feel more confident when dealing with them!! Plus, you LO will still be very young so I think it would be easy to start a new tradition at that point!
Definately easier to handle MIL with Chris doing the talking (although its always--in MIL's terms "her" idea...yay...) My IL's are great most of the time, its just all the drama that I am not used to and really hate getting dragged into it without my knowledge or approval. I have been appointed to sides in arguments that I didn't even know were taking place...ugh....
Well, no use worrying over xmas traditions yet I suppose...lol
I am off to bed...class at 9am...ttyt!
CHRISTMAS!!! We have 8 plastic tubs of decor. . which was perfect when we are living in a house, but now we are in an apt, so this year its going to look like we are insaine!
This will be LO first Christmas, I hope to start a tradition of some sort...we usually open 1 present of Christmas Eve....I will have to think of something clever for an LO tradition...DH would love that
I love pretty much every holiday...but I really go all out as far as decorations for Halloween and Christmas.
At Christmas, my mother and I have a tradition of putting up her tree while watching different Christmas movies/cartoons. After the tree is decorated, we bake different goodies while listening to Christmas tunes. On Christmas eve, we always open one gift at my parents' house...usually pj's. Other than that, my family tries to pile into cars and drive through neighborhoods together looking at all the pretty lights and decorations.
Sorry this is long, I just got really excited when I read the post!
I'm obsessed with all things fall- football, falling leaves, pumpkins, apples- hence the reason I had my wedding in October and themed the entire event around fall. I even had caramel apples and apple cider in addition to my cake! But that's another story, lol! My point about fall is it makes me love Halloween. HOWEVER, my favorite holiday has to be Christmas. I love the atmosphere of the holidays, I love the music and the shopping and the sales and the giving spirit of people.
That being said, I HATE our Christmas routine! Before DH and I started doing Christmas together, I loved it because it was my tried-and-true family traditions: my brothers and I exchanging our gifts between each other and dinner with my dad's extended family on Christmas Eve, then the "Santa" gig in the morning and spending the whole day with my mom's extended family on Christmas. Now that DH and I are together, we have to fit both of our immediate and extended families into two days, no one wants to compromise their routines, and it's miserably chaotic. So, we created a new routine last year that helps a little bit, and I'm hoping will work well once LO is in the picture.
I think my favorite traditions are probably......... The exchange that my brothers and I have always had between each other on Christmas Eve. Doesn't look like it will happen this year (part of the compromise of the new routine, I guess), so I think we'll have to figure something else out. Our tradition of only being 'allowed' to open our stockings while Mom and Dad were still asleep on Christmas morning, and only being allowed to wake them once 7 am hit. When we were younger we just couldn't understand WHY they didn't want to wake up at 530/6!!!!! Mom's rule that the coffee had to be on before we even tried to come in to wake her up.
UGH! I get myself in this Christmasey mood, and then I remember that it's 90-flippin degrees outside! Grrrr....
I think Thanksgiving is my favorite. I just love Thanksgiving because the family gets together, we all make food, sit around and talk, watch football, and nap. Then in the evening, we put up the Christmas tree together.
I just love having everyone together...Plus, who doesn't love Thanksgiving food?
Ethan Michael - 12/21/09
Norah Jewel - 2/26/14
I don't have just one holiday. I love Halloween and Christmas. This year my son wants to be one of the civil war soldiers from Night at the Museum complete with shroud over the face. I can sew that costume, no problem.
I do decorate my house for all the major holidays. There is nothing like seeing my son's, niece's and nephews faces light up when everything is decorated. Not to mention I am the aunt they all come to for making homemade cookies with the icing made from scratch and no two cookies are decorated the same. I make the brownies, hot cocoa, pies, etc.
My son and I have a special tradition, I am also the one who puts up the Christmas tree right after Halloween. My son is in a better mood and does better in school when he's excited about Christmas. My brothers make fun of me but I notice a huge change in my son. He hums carols all year long if you let him. I would rather see my son happy and far more content by seeing a Christmas tree in the house.
My favorite holiday is definitely Thanksgiving because I love to eat!!
A family tradition we always had was putting up our (fake) Christmas tree on Thanksgiving, this way the family was all there to help decorate it. ?As we got older, we sort of stopped that tradition, but I'd definitely like to start something like that with the LO. ?
As far as family goes, my family has always been very lenient with where we go on what holiday. ?They understand that we can't be in two places at once- but DH's family is insane. ?They expect to see us on every freakin' holiday no matter what is going on. ?Once the baby is born, however, they are going to see an end to that- it's just going to be too much work to schlep the LO all over the place. ?(Oh and my parents invite them over every year for every holiday and they always refuse. ?Make our lives easier- just come over for SOMETHING!!!!). ?But from now on, it's going to be one family per holiday. ?The end.