12.21.2011

{inspired} holiday traditions

When I hosted a the little Anthro gift card giveaway a couple weeks ago I threw out a pretty arbitrary question: tell me your favorite holiday tradition. Friends, you blew me away. You have so many unique and amazing traditions! You also blew away each other ... so many comments included excitement about the various ideas and about sharing traditions with others. Thank you all for sharing :). 


It got me thinking about my favorite holiday tradition. I think I have two: one quirky and one more traditional. Quirky: as an entire family (even though my brother and I are both adults) we pick out a Christmas tree, at a Christmas tree farm. In October. It has a lot to do with my mom not liking to pick out Christmas trees in the cold, wet December weather. I love it :). And, it spreads the Christmas cheer out a little. Traditional: the weekend before Christmas we go to a Christmas piano concert at a beautiful old church in Portland. We have a nice family dinner out beforehand, and then we listen to beautiful music in a completely inspiring venue. It's a tradition I treasure and hope we do for a very long time.


Below are a few of my favorites from that post. If you haven't had a chance to read them all, there are 40+ amazing and inspiring traditions here.

My favorite holiday tradition is taking a family photo in front of our tree each year. Since it is just my husband, me and our dog (and our fake tree) the photos don't change a whole lot and yet looking back at them I remember all the different places we've lived and what was going on in our lives. - Tovah Fair Winds, Following Seas

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My favourite holiday tradition is to have an airing of grievances with my siblings! We get together, celebrate Christmas, tell each other 'grievances' we have with each other over the last year, get it out and adore each other for the rest of the holidays!- Meagan from Row House Nest
 
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My favorite christmas tradition is a new one (this is our second year). Matt and I have a cocktail party 'open house' on Christmas Eve and both sides of our family come. It's nice to have one part of the holiday season where we don't feel torn between two families. We break out the catch phrase or cards and try to do something inclusive for everyone. - Erin from House of Earnest

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My favorite tradition is the Christmas Eve Swedish Smorgasbord we do in our family. We have tweaked and Americanized the offerings a bit and even my kids list this as their most memorable tradition! - Cathy from Room Rx

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My favorite tradition just started last year..my 4 + 5 years olds each get a little christmas tree in their rooms. On the weekends when we visit stores to do our holiday shopping they each pick out ornaments for their tree's.. they are sure filling up this year! And they remember where they came from, who we may have been visiting ( grams )so it's alot of fun for them! - Sarah from Flourish Design and Style


And, on that note, I hope you all have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS filled with love and family and friends! I'll be back next week with some year end wrap up posts :).


4 comments:

  1. How fun to share a few from that post Jenn! You are right, it is so fun to hear about and share our traditions. Yours sound lovely too, especially the Christmas piano concert. Have a wonderful holiday and here's to the best for you and your family in 2012!
    Cathy

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  2. The music of Christmas definitely does it for me. Your family traditions are so special and that's what you will remember year after year. I wish you and your hubby and your family all the best - enjoy each other and the company. It really is a special time of year. And I'm looking forward to a brand new year of blogging with you friend!! :) Merry Christmas!

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  3. I love traditions too. =) I think it's so fun to have things to look forward to doing each year.

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  4. Merry Christmas to you:)!!! Love all of these traditions - so specia

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