Kitchen

[Mominohio]

In the past couple of years, as family has passed on, we get together on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve day for dinner with another small family that has no other living relatives. The mom is my best friend, and our boys are the same age, and we most often go out to eat, visit, then come back to my house for desert and games. It seems more special for both of us to have a bigger group to spend the afternoon with, than just our small families, and we enjoy it and talk about it all year long.

We have some friends who have a wonderful New Year's Eve tradition that I'd like to start. They go out for lunch, then to the bookstore. Everyone in the family gets a new book. They head home and snuggle up near the fire for an evening of reading. Great way to say goodbye to the old year when you aren't the partying type.

[Luvmysweetiepies]

Love the way you celebrate the holidays, mominohio! I also like the New Year's Eve idea! Thanks for sharing.

[Mary Bailey]

I love reading the traditions!

My sons used to get Christmas PJs on St Nicholas day. We used to decorate gingerbread houses. DH & I used to make our home a winter wonderland while the boys were sleeping.

I'm going to start the pickle this year with my grandson. He's only 3. I'll make it easy, this first time. MIL used to do the pickle with my sons. I'm also going to try the Elf on the Shelf. I found a hide & seek game after last Christmas.

New Year's Eve is a stay at home, eat Hors d'oeuvres all day, day. I have to work this year.

[Luvmysweetiepies]

Mary Bailey, it sounds like we have some things in common. We do the pjs, too, & do the Hors d'oeuvres for Christmas...our family likes that much better than a traditional dinner. Our daughters do the Elf on a Shelf with their children & they love it. I've seen a similar idea using a small stuffed holiday doll demonstrating a kind deed. I thought that was a really neat idea! Hope your grandson enjoys hunting for the Christmas pickle...thanks for sharing!

[Poodlepet2]

I had a good laugh over the Christmas Pickle article: it wasn't the glass pickle that tickled my funny bone- it was the glass ornaments shaped like vegetables!!! I bet they are worth a fortune if you can find them, but just the mental image of hanging a potato or asparagus or kale on your true!!!! Powell, awhile ago, I read an article that said the first Christmas trees were outside of the house-and that people would put food on them in order to.feed the animals. It was an act of being a steward of the land and the wildlife during the harsh winter months. All that being said, it also reminded me of a bowl of wax fruit my mother had on the kitchen counter back in the 60's: she later replaced it with plastic fruit. go figure! Poodlepet