Here is my assigned topic for this month’s Secret Subject Swap from Rena at the Wandering Web Design.
What is your favorite holiday tradition?
I have to go back to childhood for my favorite holiday tradition, although it’s hard to pick just one. I grew up in a small New England town in the early 50s with my family (two brothers), two sets of grandparents, three aunts, two uncles, and four cousins all living in the same town. Thanksgiving was always spent at my paternal grandparents house.
I’m the one with the big bow in my hair, around age 5-6.
Christmas varied a little. We opened our presents at home, we visited our mother’s foster parents (considered our grandparents) and showed off what we had gotten, then we went to our paternal grandparents for the family gathering and dinner feast.
While these were all good times with good memories, my favorite holiday tradition was on Christmas Eve. After dinner, we’d all get into our pajamas, pile into the car, and drive around looking at Christmas lights. So many beautiful displays in our and neighboring small towns. I attempted to continue this tradition with my children and was semi-successful but none of them carried that tradition over to their children.
My second favorite tradition was Christmas morning. We got to open our stockings while we waited for our parents to get up and play with any open Santa gifts. Once they were up and all the presents were opened, we’d have English muffins. I’m not sure where that tradition came from but it was the ONLY time of the year we had them. Any time I eat them now, they bring back memories of Christmas morning.
Other holidays had traditions but none are as strong in my memory as those around Christmas. Do you have memories you’ve carried from childhood into adulthood or have you started new ones?
What is the Secret Subject Swap. Simply put, a group of bloggers submit ideas, topics, or questions to be answered in a post. Then the hostess, Karen @BakingInATornado.com, divies the ideas back out to the participating bloggers. Then they write. These brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were in turn assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Here are links to the blogs featuring their Secret Subject Swap posts today. So sit back, grab a cuppa, and check them out. You’re bound to find one to enjoy and maybe even promote some thoughts of your own.
Here are this month’s brave bloggers:
- Baking In A Tornado
- Wandering Web Designer
- Spatulas on Parade
- ME! Our Prime Years
- Sarah Nolan
- Southern Belle Charm
- Part-time Working Hockey Mom
- Climaxed
18 thoughts on “#SecretSubjectSwap: Holiday Traditions”
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My favorite tradition was getting to open one gift on Christmas eve. We got to pick what we wanted because the big main gift was never under the tree until the next morning, but I always tried to find one that looked like it was a book. Loved to read since I was about 3 years old.
We never did that but I started it for my kids.
I love that idea, having to wait to open the gifts would be much easier if you can did into your stocking.
My favorite tradition is and always was lighting the candles and playing dreidel.
Love it, thanks for sharing!
Christmas was amazing when I was little. My dad never put our names on our gifts.He’d use a number system or a color and one year he took five singles out of his wallet (my 4 brothers & I) and the serial number on our dollar matched the number on our gifts. He made it so much fun.
Wow! What an intriguing idea!
My mom and I used to ride around and look at Christmas lights because my dad was always working. Otherwise we had similar Christmas traditions.
Now neither of us likes to drive at night so I have to be satisfied with watching videos of lights.
So similar to my Southern memories and traditions.
…wow! Interesting…thanks for stopping by to read & comment.
We give our kids (15 year old twins and a 10 year old) new pjs every year. They open them on Christmas Eve and know they are getting them. My husband then reads “The Night Before Christmas”, we track Santa on NORAD, then the kids go to bed. It is something we do every single year.
I love it and honestly, when the kids are adults, I plan to try to keep it going.
I love that…my youngest daughter does the matching PJ thing for the whole family. Always loved the photos!
Awww, your family picture looks just like in a movie! You’ve got wonderful childhhood memories!
Looking at Christmas lights would probably be a favorite of mine as well.
Thanks, Tamara!
My family wasn’t exactly one for traditions when I was a kid. But now we do chili on Christmas Eve at my mom’s, and I always make something called “cheese pennies” which are flat, crispy, spicy cheese biscuits I guess. They’re sort of like cheese straws if you’ve ever had those. It’s my partner’s grandma’s recipe, and I love being able to carry on her memory that way. plus, they are the absolute best for chili.
I love that you can carry on your partner’s grandma’s recipe and they do sound good with chili. Think they might be similar to my baked parmesan crisps (on a low carb diet).
I remember the Christmas Eve lights and the Christmas morning english muffins!
Love!