Traditions...Old & New...

The Nightmare before Christmas

Halloween, Thanksgiving, then Christmas marks my time of year! The costumes, the turkey, the shopping, the cookies, the get-togethers, the hugs, the special moments, and the memories everlasting. It's funny though how times have changed since I've met my husband and the few years before. There are new traditions I now have to do or else it doesn't feel right. New traditions I'm eagerly awaiting this year!

\A lot of my long lasting traditions involve baking with my mom. I love making the pies and then the cookies for Christmas. My Aunt Mary goes crazy making homemade pasta and you can't lay on any of the beds in her house because the pasta is laid out everywhere! The cat is banished to the dining room so he doesn't eat the uncooked pasta. My grandfather used to tape the NYC Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade so we could watch it when we got to Connecticut and then he'd put on the Yule Log. My dad and I have to watch Laurel & Hardy's "March of the Wooden Soldiers" every Christmas. I have to watch "The Nighmare before Christmas".  My grandmother used to put her favorite Wizard of Oz ornaments up on the tree! I try to make the perfect cookie press cookies! Oh and we always opened our Christmas presents Christmas morning...


National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Then I met Craig...

Craig always hung up the stockings. Craig and his mom open presents on Christmas eve. His family every other year has a big Thanksgiving with all the extras. His mother has to make the gravy like her mother did before her. They go to mass every Christmas Eve at her church and then the party goes to her friend Pam's house. Craig's family have an annual Christmas day w/ Secret Santa shenanigans and Pjs!! 

It's hard to tell who's taken over who's traditions to be exact or how two or three traditions turned into a whole new one just as sacred. Every year a new one blooms and the old favorites warm the soul. This year is Craig and I's first holiday season as a married couple and I can already feel the sparks of the something new brewing. I can't wait! =)

What are your Holiday Traditions? 
I'd love to hear!

March of the Wooden Soliders

9 comments

  1. Traditions are the BEST! We open Secret Santa on Christmas Eve Day, that is the gifts between the six kids and now the son in law. We sit around and have appetizers while opening and play games. Then we go to church together around 530. After we always order Chinese and watch Its A Wonderful Life. After that the stockings are hung and Santa comes. The next morning the gifts are open, one person at a time so everyone can see what everyone got...That lasts hours! While opening we have breakfast/brunch. After we clean up a bit, shower and have a BIG Christmas dinner and play all new games recieved. Can't wait till this year as we have a new Grand baby!

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  2. I LOVE traditions!! In fact just started a post on ours that I'll share in a couple weeks! Your sound so festive but isn't it something how when we get married they kind of have to become a blend of the two! Part of the fun and part of embracing each other's lives pre-marriage. Just love this time of year and all the joy it brings! I hope you have a wonderful Monday

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  3. I love baking at Christmas time, it's way more fun than during the rest of the year!

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  4. awwww I love traditions. I can't get behind opening presents on Christmas Eve though! What do they do on Christmas? My favorite Christmas tradition is my dad reading "The Night Before Christmas" to us kids on Christmas Eve before bed.

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  5. Traditions are the best!! This is our first Christmas as a married couple and I am looking forward to making some traditions of our own!
    www.amemoryofus.com

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  6. It's so fun to be able to blend those traditions! This is my first holiday season living with my boyfriend and I'm so excited to celebrate together!

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  7. I love making up traditions! When my boyfriend and I took our first vacation together a few years ago, we decided we should get a Christmas ornament for each trip. Some are gift shop ornaments (like a little alligator Santa from New Orleans), while others are little things we just picked to tie onto the tree (like a sea shell from Puerto Rico). It's so fun to open the Christmas box and remember each little trip, and it's something that can continue to grow with us!

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  8. I'm late to this post, but I just found your blog tonight and have been reading older entries! :) My favorite tradition since getting married is our Cmas photo album. It's a small photo album, with one picture on each page, and every year we get our pic taken in front of a tree and put it in the album. This is our 10th Cmas together, and I love looking at the 10 pics. Us newly married, then pregnant with our daughter, then her first Cmas, then pregnant with our son, and so on. Now it's just seeing everyone grow and change through the years, and I look forward to seeing it in 50 years! :)

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