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My Favorite Christmas Tradition Is…FTSF #46

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Welcome back to Finish The Sentence Friday Blog Hop (FTSF).  We give you a sentence and you finish it (however long or short you’d like).  Please feel free to link up and follow any or all of our hostesses, which are below.

STEPHANIE
KRISTI

And so pleased to have a very special co-host with us tonight!!

Lizzi from Considerings is joining us as a very special guest co-host and couldn’t be happier to have here with us for this week’s linkup.

Please make sure to visit her and share with her, as well!

And now for this week’s sentence to finish:  ““This holiday season I will…” or “My Favorite Christmas Tradition is…”

Next week’s sentence to finish: We are taking off for the next two weeks with Christmas and New Year’s coming up, but will be back on January 3, 2014 with the sentence to finish being, “My blogging goals for this year are……”

My Favorite Christmas Tradition is…

In my house we have a few different things we do during the Christmas season that are definitely traditions.

One is to put up our Christmas tree and decorations as a family.  Some of the decorations are from when I was a kid (like my Barbie Ornaments, which my girls fell in love with at first sight), some are from when we first got married (like those that say our wedding year and us as a couple), then there are ornaments I bought right before getting pregnant with thoughts of house excited my future kids would be (like all the Disney Ornaments with Mickey, Minnie, Winnie the Pooh, and even Disney Princesses), and then again still there are ornaments we have gotten each year that we have had the girls to commemorate each year’s accomplishments.

Gingerbread People Ornament 2013

But this is one evening that we do this right after Thanksgiving.  

During the actual season, I celebrate by getting a day out with my mom for Black Friday shopping, which truly is the holy grail of shopping to me. I admit, I love to shop (thankfully I know my limit), but still I can’t help but enjoy a day out sans kids and husband getting the best that retail stores have to offer.

As the season continues on, we also always do an annual Santa picture now at the mall.  We have yet to do this for this year, but should be going very soon, because the girls are chomping at the bit to tell Santa what is on their lists.

We also love to bake and decorate cookies, too.  My girls love to help me whenever I bake and this time of the year I try to make it extra special by including cookie recipes that have been handed down from both sides.

These include my Nana’s Icebox Cookies, my mom’s Three Color Cookies and even Kevin’s mom’s Meringue Teasers Cookies.

I shared all three recipes last year and am going to share them again now here, too.

If you want to try any of these, just click on the images below:

Nana's Icebox Cookies

Nana’s Icebox Cookies

Yummy, Three Colored Cookies All Ready to be Eaten

Yummy, Three Colored Cookies All Ready to be Eaten

Meringue Cookies

Meringue Teaser Cookies

We also make sure to put our Elf, Gingerbread up to report the girls’ daily behaviors to the big man himself, Santa.

Gingerbread Being Read to By His Mommy Elf!

Gingerbread Being Read to By His Mommy Elf!

Christmas Eve, we always put out milk and cookies for Santa’s impending visit!

Gingerbread Feasting On Santa's Cookies!

Gingerbread Feasting On Santa’s Cookies!

Then, of course, is always Christmas Day where the kids always open their presents first thing out of bed, because no kid can wait that long to open up toys!

But for now, we still have about 2 weeks of traditions that we will be working on and can’t wait to see the girls reactions this year as we continue!

 

Now that I have shared my favorite Christmas traditions here, please share yours with me now!

Janine's Confessions of A Mommyaholic


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About Janine

Janine is a published author of the books, The Mother of All Meltdowns and Only Trollops Shave Above the Knee. She has been featured on The Huffington Post, Mamapedia, Today Parenting Team and SheKnows. She also runs her own graphic design company at J9 Designs.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Billybuc says

    I guess my favorite Christmas tradition is going to Mt. Rainier and snowshoeing and sledding…magical time of year at the mountain. 🙂

    Have a great Friday, Janine.

    • Janine Huldie says

      Gingerbread was so a gift from Kevin's mom before the annoying Elf even came into existence and we totally refused to pay money for that newer one. So, we totally have been using this one and the girls just love him. So, I guess it worked out in the end!!! 🙂

  5. stephsprenger says

    Your girls are at such fun ages for Christmas! I too am a sucker for Black Friday shopping… and those cookies look amazing! Merry Christmas!
    My recent post Holiday Traditions- As a Child and As a Parent

  6. perfecttenn says

    This year will be my husband's and I second Christmas and we are really set on making our own traditions. Its even more important that we have our son now. Next year he will be just over a year when Christmas comes around and we can't wait to create new traditions with him.

    Awesome idea for a link up btw! I'll definitely have to participate!
    My recent post 5 Ways to Take Time Out for Yourself During The Holidays

    • Janine Huldie says

      Next year will be here before you know it and I remember thinking like you on my daughter's first Christmas. She is now four years old and can't get enough of Christmas and Santa!! But hope you have the best first Christmas with your little boy and husband ever now!! 🙂

  7. Sarah says

    Oh, Janine, I love this because I have so many of the same favorite traditions – decorating the tree, the special ornaments, the baking cookies…. except Black Friday. I avoid that one!
    My recent post Welcome, Christmas

  8. basicallyb says

    My goodness I love those multicolor cookies. They take me back to my childhood in NYC. I went to 2 cookie parties this week, but I could still go for those multicolored yummies! I also love how you decorate the tree as a family. I'm sure your kids will remember that when they're grown. 🙂
    My recent post Fried rice & fortune cookies

    • Janine Huldie says

      I am also from Queeens (NYC) and we had these cookies every year at Christmas time, so it just is a tradition now that must be kept up with for us for sure. And I totally hope my kids will indeed remember all we do to celebrate for practically a month's time now each year!! 🙂

  9. lrconsiderer says

    The meringue cookies look amazing. You have some great Christmas traditions here 🙂 I hope your Christmas is full of beautiful.

  11. rmemommy says

    Those cookies look yummy! I love decorating our tree, too. Now that my girls are old enough to help, my hubby is pretty much on the sidelines, though – just not his thing. Anyway, I love the memories that come as we put the ornaments on the tree. Now, Each of my three girls has their own box of ornaments – ones they made, ones with their names on them. It is so fun to listen to them say "I made this one she I was . . . " They ask about some of our ornaments, too. (Since we got married in December, we got a lot of ornaments and Christmas stuff as gifts 15 years ago!)
    My recent post Holiday Traditions

    • Janine Huldie says

      I love the idea of going each of your girls a box with their special ornaments in it and think I am going to do this now. Thank you for sharing that idea here, Lisa!! 🙂

      • rmemommy says

        No problem! Each year they would dig through our boxes looking for their special ornaments to put on the tree. Last year, as we un-decorated, I just gave each one a different shoe box and told them when they take one off to put it in the correct box. This year it was great to hand them each their own box and just say "these are yours to put not he tree!:" Hubby and I have a box, too, and there is another box that is just all the "generic" ones.
        My recent post Holiday Traditions

      • Janine Huldie says

        Sounds like a perfect system and am going to definitely look into storage boxes now to organize them for us when we do take down the tree and ornaments this year. Thank you seriously again, Lisa 🙂

  13. NuggetOnABudget says

    Like rmemommy said, I love the idea of having a box of ornaments for each of my girls, too! My mom did this for my sister and I when we were growing up because we received so many ornaments each year. It was nice when we moved into our own house with our own tree, that my mom had that box to give me. We now put those ornaments on our tree and I want to start boxes for Sofia and Eliana now too. This week's link up was so great…I'm super big on the holiday traditions! I linked up my Christmas Book Countdown post AND wrote up a new one for today, too 🙂 I'm finally starting to get into the holiday spirit.

    I love that you have the elf for your girls, but it's a cute plush one instead of the one that everyone else has. I might try this with Sofia and E next year, since they will be older. And cookies are always a great tradition to have. I loved reading about what you love the most here now! Thanks for the link up and here's to a nice weekend all around 🙂 xoxo!
    My recent post christmas traditions.

    • Janine Huldie says

      So happy you joined us this week and seriously love that you also wrote a new post, too. And I am so with you loving Christmas time, so this post this week was a lot of fun for me, too to share. And we also had boxes of ornaments as a kid and totally going to have to start to make separate boxes for both my girls now that they are making ornaments at school and also have their own from thane they were babies. Thanks again for sharing both your awesome posts with us and again hoping you too have a great weekend now!! 🙂 xoxo!!

  15. tamaralikecamera says

    I used to do a Black Friday thing but then I got pregnant with Scarlet and I couldn't quite do it anymore. I miss the excitement, though. I really love our tradition of getting our tree (the Wednesday BEFORE Thanksgiving – oops!) and then it takes a full day to really get it settled and decorated.
    My recent post The One In Which Honesty Is An Understatement..

    • Janine Huldie says

      I happen to love your tree and think you spent the right amount of time decorating. It is just perfect, but then again wouldn't expect anything less from you my friend!! 🙂

  16. kellylmckenzie says

    You have a wealth of lovely family traditions! The baking pics are truly giving me hunger pangs. Bring them on over – I'll share a cigar, others are bringing brandy and cake.
    My recent post Gingerbread Basics

  18. Tarana says

    It was lovely reading about your family's Christmas traditions. Your tree must make you nostalgic because you've saved ornaments from all those special times. I think that's a great idea, and I love those cookies and your cute elf!
    My recent post All this mom wants for Christmas…

    • Janine Huldie says

      Thanks Amanda and sure you will make some great new memories now, too in Canada for this one Christmas and hope you will share all about it when you get back 🙂

  20. mamarabia says

    We open stocking first while everyone (mommy and daddy) are still waking up. Daddy likes to have breakfast before presents and we usually go to Mass before presents too. The rest of the day is opening gifts and enjoying time together.

    • Janine Huldie says

      I would love to ease into it, but the kids are usually so excited and raring to go, but love that you guys do ease into it!! 🙂

  23. Brittnei Washington says

    This sounds like such awesome traditions! I can't wait to create them with our family. We have played around with ideas back and forth. JR is still pretty little this year. I think it may begin more next year where he is talking a lot more and understands a lot more. 🙂
    My recent post Feature Friday- Week 4

    • Janine Huldie says

      Brittnei, I can tell you one year to the next at this age does make such a difference and I have seen it with both my girls. We are finally both at an age where Christmas and Santa is truly the big thing and so magical for them!! 🙂

  24. donofalltrades says

    I love a good holiday tradition and these all sounds awesome. Well, except for the part where you go out in public to shop on black Friday. That sounds awful. Lol.

    • canigetanotherbottleofwhine says

      I'm noticing a trend with that "lol" you've been throwing around in your comments, Don. I'm guessing people weren't getting your attempts at humor. lol!
      My recent post Songs I Didn't Know Were About…"Doin' It"

  26. lizzy allan says

    I love that you bake using recipes passed down through the generations from both sides of your families and that you shared the links to your family recipes too. My grandmother used to make amazing meringues, coconut ice and rocky road and now my mum and oldest sister always make these every year too to honour her memory and to keep the tradition alive. Hope you and your family have a very, very merry Christmas. xx
    My recent post My Favourite Christmas Tradition

    • Janine Huldie says

      Kim, I am so trying to and we baked a few cookies today during the day and trying my best to take a break from blogging as I can the next few days to do more baking and just taking this time in with them now!! 🙂

  28. Forever Five Blog says

    You are no joke, Janine! I am constantly in awe of how you get so many things done in your household. The cookies look delicious!
    My recent post Statement Gifts

  30. gigigirl says

    A very nice recounting of nice traditions. I remember Adele's ice box cookies and your mom's tri-color ones. I'll look forward to trying one of Maureen's one day. I'm too lazy to bake my own! I received your card today and love seeing the girls in our living room…..still have last year's too. Hope the weather won't be too bad over the weekend. Have a good one and love to all…….xxxxoooo

  32. Melanie Chisnall says

    Oh yum, those meringue teaser cookies look divine!!! I need to bake meringues again because the last time I didn't do them right… although they still tasted pretty good! Traditions for us so far are decorating the tree together during the first week of December and then we'll have a really nice Christmas eve dinner just the two of us. Christmas lunch the next day with the family. And lots and lots of Christmas music – Boney M especially!
    My recent post I’m Back! What’s New, What’s Changed… What’s Ahead!

    • Janine Huldie says

      I know meringues are hard to make, Melanie and the first time I made them they were totally flat, but now I just let my Kitchenaid mixer run for a about 10 minutes to make sure they are fluffy and almost gummy like in consistency. Your Christmas sounds perfect and as you know jealous of your warm weather, too!! 🙂

  33. Sara says

    I love your elf!!! We don't have the real elf on the shelf but one that looks very similar that was my moms when's he first got married. Luckily Collin doesn't know the difference.

    Yummy rainbow cookies. Aren't they so much works?? I made them once with a friend and at the end I said it was easier to go to the bakery and buy some. Haha.

    One of our traditions is that my family makes pizza at midnight on Christmas Eve. There is so much food on the eve including the traditional 7 fish so we don't even need the pizza, but we still do it because it's been a tradition for well over 30 years. Tommy thinks we are NUTS!
    My recent post Recipe Swap- Gingerbread Cookie

    • Janine Huldie says

      I love that you make pizza at midnight on top of everything else. Seriously, sounds perfect to me in every way. The rainbow cookies can be a job, but my mom and I do them together and just become such a fun tradition now. And I literally have been baking off and on since yesterday now (seriously having so much fun). I love this time of the year just for the cookies alone!! 🙂

  34. Jean says

    I used to work at a bakery where I made "icebox cookies" every day of the year. I can't remember what we called them but that's exactly what they looked like. My sister still begs me to make them. Good memories!
    My recent post FTSF: This Christmas

    • Janine Huldie says

      Ilove that you made these at a bakery and they looked the same. These were really my grandmother's favorite and totally bring back a ton of memories for me, too!! 🙂

  35. dianeroark says

    It is so important to pass along Christmas traditions. It is was makes each families holidays special. Children and adults will remember them forever.

    The two traditions that I enjoy the most besides baking with my kids is reading the story of Jesus birth in the dark and lighting candles for each person when they are mentioned. They blowing them all out except Jesus.
    My second favorite is reading a ton of Christmas story books with my entire family. Everyone picks out their favorite book and reads it a loud. My favorite has always been THE CRIPLE LAMB by Max Lucado. It is the story of a special criple lamb that God had plans for the night Jesus was born. My son Caleb is our Criple Lamb. The story really hits home.

    Blessings and enjoy your Christmas season and traditions.
    Diane Roark http://www.recipesforourdailybread.com
    My recent post “RoundUp Review” Week End 12/14/13

    • Janine Huldie says

      Totally agree Diane and will say it is the movies and books that we do so enjoy on top of everything else I mentioned here. I just love this time of the year and all that comes with it!! Thanks for sharing and love hearing how others celebrate, too!! 🙂

  36. canigetanotherbottleofwhine says

    I like to do Black Friday shopping too. I went at around 7:30am on Friday this year and got everything except one thing I wanted. There was nobody in the stores. They all went on Thanksgiving. Best Black Friday shopping ever.
    My recent post Songs I Didn't Know Were About…"Doin' It"

    • Janine Huldie says

      I love that you went Black Friday shopping too and seriously too many thought I was crazy for this one, but I went at 11:30 Friday and you were right not as many people there as people would think and think they all went the night before, too. Love it though and just get the best deals of the year!! 🙂

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