Starting the party…and the season… (With E-Reader Giveaway) Back to Blog
Update: The winner of the e-reader is Julie Kornhausl!
Do you have a favorite way to kick-off the holiday season? Is there a special tradition that really gets you in the mood for holiday magic?
At my house, it’s all about the ornaments for me. When the ornaments come out of the boxes, when I get to oooh and ahhhhh over them, well, that’s when the magic starts.
My ornaments aren’t a perfectly matched set. They aren’t fancy glass balls that shimmer and shine in the light –instead, my ornaments are a totally mis-matched set. A Santa made with popsicle sticks, a snowman painted by the hand of a two-year-old boy. Each ornament has meaning for me, and it’s the memories that matter most.
Every year, I get my son to spend time making a new ornament with me. A new ornament=a new memory. I don’t need to have expensive ornaments lining my tree (my son would have smashed those long ago!), but I do need the memories to hang from those branches.
What about you? Please share your special tradition for starting the holidays with me! One commenter will be randomly selected to win a Kindle Paperwhite e-reader (and if the winner already has an e-reader, I can send a gift card for the e-reader’s price, instead–a value of $119).
And here are a few of my ornaments…hanging proudly from my tree… 😉
See? I told you I had a popsicle Santa.
Snowman fun! Painted by my son, back when he was 2.
She's not exactly a dark angel, but I bet she'd still like Az...
Every year we buy Christmas pajamas for the family and when we get home from Midnight Mass we open them so we could wear them. We started this tradition when the kids were younger so they could open at least one gift on Christmas Eve and that would at least satisfy them until the next morning. Also, we watch Hardrock, Coco and Joe, an old claymation Christmas short in black & white. If you’re from the Chicago area then you know what it is.
Happy Holidays!
Angie – we had that tradition growing up, too. Can you believe I was surprised EVERY year that I opened pajamas? I can’t believe I never caught on until I was a teenager 🙂 BUT, I still treat myself to new Christmas jammies. It’s an awesome tradition.
I love your ornaments!! That sounds like a fun idea. I have never made one with the oldest, but I have the ones that he has made at school throughout the years. And, I have to agree with you on the sentimental value of them. 🙂
For me, when getting in the mood for the holidays, I play Christmas music and get out the decorations to start transforming the inside of the house. My little one will be 3 soon, so I am hoping that this year he will be getting excited! 😀
I love your ornaments!! I decorate my Christmas tree in a western theme. It’s full of all kinds of cowboy santa’s, livestock and cowboy boots.
I’ve already started rearranging the furniture so the tree can go in front of the window. As soon as the couch moves – you know we’re getting serious around here on Holland Farm!
Hugs, happy holidays and Happy Release Day!!
Nancy
I love unique, hand-crafted, & homemade ornaments; awesome snowman!
Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love to start it with EGGNOG! Just love that stuff. Happy release day! 🙂
Your ornaments are priceless. Xmas starts for me with the buying of a tree. That’s when I know we are getting serious.
blakekap1@aol.com
My kids are in elementary school and decorating the Christmas tree is what kicks off our season. They love to pull out all the ornaments they made when they were younger. We choose the non-breakable ones to put on the tree since we have a hardwood floor and a dog (don’t want her to pull one off and accidentally break it). My favorite ornaments are the ones that have pictures of the kids on them. That is my favorite part! Congrats on Angel in Chains!
I start the holidays by decorating the fireplace mantel. Hubby & kids think it starts with the tree, but I disagree. Once I see my collection of Santas displayed, the “stress” of all of the holiday preparations disappears & I’m ready to start the holiday season.
Thanksgiving Day kicks off our holiday season! My family and I watch Christmas movies all day. That puts us in the mood for the month! We decorate the tree together, bake a ton of cookies. Enjoy my oldest daughter’s Christmas choral concert plus there’s a lot going on at our Church. We take drives at night to look at all of the Christmas decorations, too. This is such a special time of year for my family and I!!
Julie K
kornhausl@yahoo.com
My kids 4 & 6, this year we let them decorate the tree. It was so much fun watching their excitement with their finished product @ spending time as a family!
I start my Christmas off with starbucks holiday flavors..lol then decorating my tree and remembering when my kids were little…I have a memeory tree nothing but ornaments made by children as they grew up. I also have ornaments that my great grandmother had thats been passed down. This always takes me down memory lane…
We love putting the tree up as a family after having our Thanksgiving meal. We also love watching Christmas movies together.
Reading your post is bittersweet for me. Like you, I had an eclectic collection of ornaments–nearly 25 years of married life ornaments and some that I even made as a child, with others from my mother-in-law. BUT, in April, we had a shed fire. I know that it could have been much worse–no pets or people were hurt and our home was not touched, but every single holiday item we had was destroyed–trees, lights, wreaths, angels, stockings, decorations, and ornaments. We never go out shopping on Black Friday, but we did this year–for one thing only: a tree from Home Depot. My mother gave me an ornament on Saturday, so now we have a lovely Martha Stewart tree with ONE ORNAMENT on it! Since unpacking the ornaments and listening to Christmas music while decorating the tree (and reminiscing about each ornament as we placed it) was our tradition, I’m looking to find a new one. Maybe today’s comments will give me some ideas–like the Christmas pajamas!
As a going away present to college, my coworkers at the library bought me a pink Christmas tree (it’s my favorite color). Almost ten years later, I still have that tree and put it up after Thanksgiving. I’ve added a new personal ornament each year since I’ve added to remember a special event that year. One friend even paints sand dollars (in pink of course!) to help me make memories. 🙂
My favorite is wrapping presents to holiday music:) I love giving presents and wrapping them up:) probably even more than getting presents! Love your books just read Wolf within and it was great!!!!
I love the ornaments. Every year I buy a special ornament for each person. It has to be something that means something to that person, like my daughter it is always tinkerbell, Joe’s is usually a hot wheels car and his daughter is a Disney princess…these make them smile and that is what is special to me.
Those are some beautiful memories on your tree 🙂
For our family kickoff to the holiday season is after Thanksgiving, my children’s elves “mysteriously” show up at our house. My kids get super excited on Thanksgiving night knowing the next day their elves should be there. This year my son got up at 4:30 to see if his elf, Ben had come. I cherish these years of magic 🙂
Beautiful ornaments Cynthia!!
Starts when we pull out those boxes and as a family decorate the whole house from top to bottom and watch Christmas movies. As exhausting as the day is, wouldn’t trade it for the world 🙂
For us the magic starts when we go pick out our Christmas tree 🙂 So much fun looking at all the trees and find the right one what we all agree on!!!!
Happy book birthday, Cynthia!
We kick off the holiday season usually the weekend following Thanksgiving, when we head out to get the perfect Christmas tree. 🙂 I love getting it in the house and decorating it, with plenty of help from little hands, and then setting out my mom’s DEPT56 Christmas village and stockings. I really love it at night when I have all the lights on and it gives the house such a warm, soft glow. <3
We have a few smaller trees around the house too and in the kid's rooms and they're full of hand-made ornaments from the kids, I love going through those and their baby ornaments.
I LOVE Christmas!!! For my family it starts a little early because we make gifts for everyone. So it starts when we get together to come up with the new idea of what we are going to make for our family members. Those are some of our best times as a family working together to make something for the people we love.
Love the ornaments!
Our family’s Christmas tradition starts on Thanksgiving day when we all gather to watch “A Christmas Story” after eating. It’s my father’s way of ushering in the holiday. 🙂
Our tradition is putting up the tree and watching the awe in my 4 y/o granddaughter’s eyes as she adds the ornaments to the branches she can reach. DD#2 lifts her to those she can’t. What fun it is for her.
During Thanksgiving weekend we always attend the yearly Fantasy of Trees which is a huge display of decorated Christmas tress that are donated by local businesses to benefit the ET Children’s Hospital. It’s an annual event we have attended for years and inspires me to put up my tree once I get home!
We have a tradition of getting our christmas tree. We go as a family to the tree farm, pick out the perfect tree, cut it down and haul it home. We make hot chocolate and just hang out as a family watching Christmas movies. Love it!
Happy Release Day! We start off our holiday by bringing down all the Christmas decorations and then proceed to get busy decking the inside and outside of the house! It has been a family tradition for many years to decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving. We make cocoa if it is cool enough outside and I play Christmas music all day long while we decorate. We end the day with relaxing at the dining table and making our Gingerbread House! I wish you a happy holiday and thank you!!
Awww, those ornaments are precious!
If I have the time to visit my family, I usually spend Christmas eve cooking with my mom, sister, and granny. Three generations of women under one roof in one kitchen—THAT’S something you don’t wanna miss. If I don’t have time to travel (I’m still in school, blechh), my friends and I love decorating our rooms with lights and streamers. Late-night Christmas carol karaoke sessions initiate the official holiday season too, of course 😉
The only tradition we have is that we always put up our outdoor decorations first – dad started putting them up yesterday -he puts up the manger scene and then puts the lights on the large fir tree we have. Usually a day or two later mom and I start putting up the decorations in the house – we always put up her Christmas village and several different wreaths and things and our collection of nutcrackers – which I usually add to every year (this year I got a blond girl angel nutcracker). Sometimes we listen to music and sometimes we even have snacks:) Thanks for the great giveaway
The first snowfall gets me into the holidays spirit. And that was yesterday. (after Christmas it can go away 😉 )
I’m like you my ornaments are not matching or all fancy. I used to get my nieces and nephews to make new ones each year. But now they are older,so I just go out and buy a few new ones each year. The home made ones still make it onto the tree. They hold a special place in my heart and great memories.
Pretty! We have our tree up and decorated already. We have so many decorations, we can’t put them all on the tree. I don’t know if we have one tradition. The whole decorating, the outdoor lights and celebrating with family, it’s all a tradition.
When my boys were little we’d make center pcs for each grandma and great grandma. The sleigh made with Popsicle sticks was the biggest hit. The other activity that marks the beginning of the holidays is me making fudge. Even though they’re grown they both fight over who gets the scrape the pan – and I make 10 batches – boys ;).
Thank you.
Going home to spend Thanksgiving with my parents means the holidays have started because the day after Thanksgiving we begin shopping for gifts on Black Friday and putting up the holiday decorations and the tree.
It is usually putting up the tree the day after Thanksgiving. And I ususally enjoy reading holiday themed books to help get me in the mood.
Favorite thing for me about the Christmas season is digging out all the ornaments and remembering where they came from. Decorate 5 trees now, all with different themes, so start decorating before Thanksgiving.
My mother started the tradition of buying us kids an ornament every year and still continues the tradition. She now has 5 grandchildren and 2 in law children. She never fails on finding the perfect ornament for each person in the family that fits each person’s personality perfectly. We savor every memory with every ornament.
My most favorite tradition is when my mother puts up her tree and puts the angel topper on it. My grandmother bought the angel topper the year my mother was born -1941. She is beautiful and has been on our family tree since that first Christmas.
Love your ornaments. I make something with my kids each year also. They have so many they’re the only ones that we put on the tree. Our favorite tradition is to take a long drive after the Christmas Eve church service to look at everyone’s lights and decorations. My husband is a driving instructor so he drives around a lot and knows where the good displays are.
I have my kids make handmade ornaments every year with a pic of them on it. I love the handmade ones the best. We don’t t really have any big traditions, but I love suiting down with my kids and putting the ornaments on the tree
lol *suiting* I’ve been auto-corrected 🙂 that should have said sitting!!!
Our Christmas tree is a memory tree, as well. We have quite a collection of ornaments our kids have made over the years Every year also brings one special ornament purchase for the year, usually one of the Hallmark ornaments, although not necessarily the “annual” ornament. Our annual Christmas light viewing is a trip to Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile, AL, topped off by hot cocoa at the end of the walk.
My Christmas tradition is adding a new string of lights each year to the huge, snarled, tangled, mess of lights I already have! Miraculously, I somehow get them out and up, flip the switch and well…just call me Sparky Williams. LOLOLOLOL
Thanks and Happy HoHo,
Joey (no, I’m a girl)
Love Christmas… We usually start buying gifts around November… put up the trees… love the cookies of course!
Christmas officially kicks off for my family with the Thanksgiving Day Parade. When my kids were little, they were most interested in the balloons, and Santa’s big appearance. Now they like the Broadway show scenes and the bands, but we still all love watching it together.
We have a small pair of handknitted mittens and matching hat from my mother-in-law over 35 yrs. ago. My husband and kids always put them on the angel tree topper when I’m not looking! Also, ornaments go on with things that walk at the bottom, then vehicles and things that move, and up top things that fly.
I just got my tree out today to put up. With me usually I put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving. This year since my dinner was on Sunday I had to wait to put it up. My tradition is going through all my ornaments to see which ones I want to use that year. I have 12 totes of hallmark ornaments so I switch them around.
Putting Christmas tree up and looking at all the Christmas lights.
The first thing that I do is write out all the cards because they have to go to lots of different countries I have to post them early. Then I go and buy everyone in the family a new pair of RED panties or boxers because here in Spain to ensure good luck for the new year you must wear new red undies for midnight new years eve.
p.winmill.hotmail.com
I love the ornaments. Every year for the past 4 years my family goes out and buys me a special ornament that a little Kiosk in the mall makes. We put our last name on it and then dad, mom, and the 2 kids name. Last year it was a fireplace with gloves hanging from it drying and then the names on each glove. Also every year the kids get to pick out one special ornament. My daughter is 10 and my son is 9. We have a pretty full Christmas Tree. A little too full, but can’t bear to party with any of them. The kids don’t seem to care. They love the ornaments and so do I.
My favorite thing is to go to the tree farm walk around finding the perfect tree then cutting it down and hauling it back up to go home. Hot chocolate and Santa at the farm. Then coming home and getting it set up. We get a new ornament every year for my daughter we write her intials and the year on them to always remember
As a kid, my parents has friends that owned a tree farm and every year we would go and cut down a tree for Christmas. It was great fun! I would spend hours decorating and re-decorating the tree and play with the trains my Dad set up under the tree. Such fond memories.
Yes, it’s decorating the christmas tree and making homemade ornaments and a paper chain. As I’ve gotten older, it seems pretty cheap and tacky looking, but when the lights are on it’s still beautiful. The important thing is the family time together drinking hot chocolate and talking as were working on new ornaments and repairing the old. Our tree (artificial)was up the day after Thanksgiving until after my birthday on Jan. 20.
Decorating the tree is also the best for me^^; but we often can do it only after the 6december ( in my country we have st nicolas on the 6th so christmas preparation come after). i always enjoy to see the ornaments and especiasly those inherited from my grand parents because each time my mother tell me a new memory she has or something secret about teh family, i love that sharing time
isabelle(dot)frisch(at)gmail(dot)com