https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Thu, 23 Apr 2026 17:47:26 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1594019 Thu, 17 Dec 2015 04:18:58 +0000 Carla 1594019@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Little Christmas is the feast of the Epiphany and Jan. 6 is thought to be the real Christmas (Christ's birth) in the 'olden times' calendar. When we were kids, we would have the 3 kings arrive at the manger on Jan. 6. </p> <p>Wikipedia has a nice little write up about it!</p> <p>Summer, I think that book is still available, though I read mine over 30 years ago.! I gave mine to my sister, and she later gifted me an updated version. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1593852 Wed, 16 Dec 2015 14:02:25 +0000 Alassë 1593852@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Runcarla, you have a great month-long approach. What is "little Christmas"? </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1593827 Wed, 16 Dec 2015 11:44:43 +0000 Summer 1593827@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p><b>Carla,</b> I need to get my hands on that book! &nbsp;I feel the need to simplify Christmas and make a few changes. &nbsp;Your decorations and goodies look delectable - and very tasteful. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1593764 Wed, 16 Dec 2015 04:16:15 +0000 Carla 1593764@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>After reading the book "Unplugging the Christmas Machine" at 21, I felt empowered to design the kind of holiday season that my new DH and I wanted - and not get caught in a tug of war between families or drowned in a commercial undertow!</p> <p>I like to stretch the holiday out - starting with a wreath on the door and Christmas cards in the mail December first, and ending with a big clean-up after 'little Christmas'.</p> <p>During that time the house gets decorated with greenery, cookie baking becomes a little more fanciful, Christmas CD's go into rotation. We have long conversations over some great meals, play cards or Mahjong, make music, read books or watch movies and being a sporty family - we spend a lot of time out of doors. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1593650 Tue, 15 Dec 2015 19:10:17 +0000 rachylou 1593650@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Totally food oriented here: sprinkle cookies, stollen, Beef Wellington (whoa betide the year my uncle made fish ravioli), 'peruvian' cookies (dulce de leche sandwich cookies), and dairy up the gooha - fondue all month, esp Christmas Day, with raclette if someone insists on variation, followed by ice cream. Not for the faint of lactose.., </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1593233 Mon, 14 Dec 2015 10:55:51 +0000 Summer 1593233@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>As a little girl I used to "help" my mother to make mince pies on Christmas Eve while listening to the BBC broadcast of Lessons and Carols from King's College, Cambridge. &nbsp;This service - aired every year - always starts with a lone boy chorister singing, a cappella, the first verse of Once in Royal David's City. &nbsp;The sweet, pure sound of that young voice never fails to bring a lump to the throat and a tingle to the spine.<br />I make my mince pies a little earlier these days, but I don't think I've missed a broadcast over the years. For me, it really marks the start of Christmas. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1593204 Mon, 14 Dec 2015 07:00:18 +0000 Desmo April 1593204@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>We live on the opposite coast from our families and my husband usually has to work so Christmas evening is always going out for Chinese food. It has ranged from 8 people to just the two of us. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1593190 Mon, 14 Dec 2015 05:06:44 +0000 Adelfa 1593190@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>DD and I always make a big pot of vegetable soup to counteract the effect of the cookies we bake! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1593013 Sun, 13 Dec 2015 19:23:41 +0000 Alassë 1593013@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Yum, Elly! Potica is delicious. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1592992 Sun, 13 Dec 2015 16:30:04 +0000 Elly 1592992@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Every year we make potica, which is a Slavic nut roll/sweet bread. It takes many hours to make but was always an important thing to my father, who grew up with his mother and grandmother making it. It is a big deal in the eastern side of Colorado where there are many families that originally came to the area to work in mines (Welsh, Slavs, Italians, etc.) and whole communities have embraced the tradition regardless of heritage. Its labor intensive enough that many bakeries that make it charge up to $16 dollars a loaf. This year it is extra special since this is the first year that the SO will be helping me make it (although I will miss making it with my dad) and we will be sharing it with his brother-in-law, who is also of Slavic descent and recently took a trip to visit him non-American family in the old country after having "discovered" his relatives there. We will also bake a special cookie from another side of my family and relish in memories of baking with my aunts, grandmothers, and great grandmothers. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1592986 Sun, 13 Dec 2015 15:52:31 +0000 Janet 1592986@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Aw, I love reading these. Honestly, our Christmas traditions have been all scattered and shot since my mom passed away, and that was seven years ago! In that time, my stepsons have also gone from being high school kids to young men, and they have not always joined us for Christmas anyway (we used to alternate with their mom between having them on Christmas or Thanksgiving from one year to the next, and we spent a lot of Christmas days in the car, driving to pick them up, since their mom lived 3 hours away and never brought them to us). We've had some rough Christmases. Last year we had to cancel travel plans at the last minute because one of my stepsons went into the hospital. So the holidays have really had me feeling like I'm going through the motions for a while now. </p> <p>This year is the first in some time that I've felt compelled to do something more than the barest minimum of decorating. I actually picked back up on a tradition my mom had as I was growing up. I hauled out the Christmas garden box, full of little houses and people and trees that mom used to use to build a Christmas garden! I used the desk I inherited from my mom as a platform, and built a little Christmas village/garden. Not enough room for a full train track, which we used to do back when my dad was alive and would set up the whole thing, motor and all, but I put a couple of sections of track down and parked some train cars there. I made a pond out of a couple of small frameless mirrors, with a little bridge over it. It's not very big -- my sister has half the decorations and I have half -- but it was fun to do, and it looks cute. I don't know if anyone will appreciate it but me, but that's enough. Remind me of that when I have to disassemble all this and put it away! </p> <p>We're going to resume our tradition of going to get a real tree this year. I grew up with artificial trees, and when I was out on my own, I craved the experience and smell of a real tree, so most years I've gone that route. My husband and I are looking forward to going to get a tree together in a couple of days when he's back home! We'll put on Christmas music, mix up some festive drinks, put a fire in the fireplace (if it's cold enough!), and I'll do the decorating while he puts some lights up outside. He leaves the tree to me because he figures I like to do it my own way, rather than art direct him! </p> <p>We do have a tradition of watching at least one of the Lord of the Rings movies at Christmas time, usually on Christmas day. I could probably recite full pages of dialogue from the movies, but I never get tired of it. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1592958 Sun, 13 Dec 2015 13:20:11 +0000 Gail 1592958@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>My mother in law has all the US grandchildren over to decorate ginger bread houses the week before Christmas. This has been going on since they were little. They are now 26,23,21,20,19,16,6 &nbsp;and apart from the 26 year old (guy) they all still go ! When they were little they used to eat more of the candy than they used to decorate !</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1592938 Sun, 13 Dec 2015 07:03:52 +0000 anne 1592938@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I like making gingerbread and plan on doing a GF version for us and to give away to the other celiac family in my family.&nbsp;<br />As a child, I enjoyed a tradition where we stood around the piano singing Christmas Carols on Christmas Eve. I still love carols, and having 2 a week in church in December in no way quenches my desire to sing them - I especially enjoy revisiting &nbsp;(and don't much get to these days) some of the lesser known carols. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1592845 Sat, 12 Dec 2015 23:53:49 +0000 shedev 1592845@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>A nice meal, mudslides, the movie The Mummy. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1592817 Sat, 12 Dec 2015 22:09:02 +0000 Alassë 1592817@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>What lovely traditions, Ornella! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1592654 Sat, 12 Dec 2015 08:50:32 +0000 Ornella 1592654@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Every year I make a short film which is basically a collage of photos showing what we as a family did in the previous year, and it's premiered on Xmas Eve. We have so much fun remembering the situations and people who made the year memorable. It's a fun take on photo-album. We end up watching the growing playlist consisting of the new and all the old films over and over during the holiday season.&nbsp;</p> <p>I also bake at least one batch of&nbsp;my son's favourite&nbsp;cookies which are even more special because I inherited recipe from my late mum. And I try to find a quiet hour when I switch all the lights but those on the Xmas tree off and just sit and play a CD of traditional music from back home. The atmosphere gets filled only with beautiful choir voices, and the gentle lights make me feel very peaceful and happy. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1592575 Sat, 12 Dec 2015 00:22:08 +0000 Anonymous 1592575@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>It's so fun to hear these annual traditions!&nbsp; We always take a short drive to a street where all the neighbors collaborate on decorating with lights and other things, in very imaginative, original, artistic, and (some would say) eccentric ways.&nbsp; It's fun to walk down the street and marvel at what everyone has done.&nbsp; Afterwards, we go have hot chocolate.&nbsp; I look forward to it all year. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1592469 Fri, 11 Dec 2015 20:02:55 +0000 catgirl 1592469@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>My son's birthday is just before Christmas so Santa delivers him a birthday gift. :)&nbsp; Every year we attempt a gingerbread house that ends up more like a shanty that should be condemned, and we have an annual dressy-optional cocktail party.&nbsp; &nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1592448 Fri, 11 Dec 2015 18:55:36 +0000 Anonymous 1592448@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>For me and my mum it's the traditional making of the special stuffing mix for our Christmas dinner. My Grandad (who passed on many years ago) had a distant relative that worked for gentry as a cook. Grandad acquired a recipe off them for thyme and parsley stuffing and always cooked it at Christmas time. The recipe was passed to my Mum and then she&nbsp;started to make it for us when I was young. Since I've been married, each year we get together two days before Christmas and prepare a double batch of the stuffing mix, which then gets cooked on the big day. The smell of it for me is so evocative of Christmas and always will be. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1592388 Fri, 11 Dec 2015 16:47:17 +0000 Glory 1592388@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Mary what a wonderful tradition. I am inspired to do this with my children. It is never too late to start a new tradition!&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1592386 Fri, 11 Dec 2015 16:41:47 +0000 MsMary 1592386@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>That's so fun, Glory!</p> <p>My favorite Christmas tradition is Cookie Day. Every Christmas season since my son was three months old, we have set aside a day (usually the Saturday before Christmas) to bake and decorate cookies. My son is always there, and usually we invite a friend or two or three. The only years we missed were when he was stationed in Japan with the Marine Corps, and then I went to my mom's house and did it with her. Last year he was back and we picked up again. Our work product is just awful but we have a great time! </p> <p>Here are my side-by-side photos of Cookie Day the year before he went into the Marine Corps, and the year he graduated from boot camp (2010 and 2011). I always say they should use it for a recruiting poster! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/holiday-traditions#post-1592342 Fri, 11 Dec 2015 15:13:09 +0000 Glory 1592342@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I was out with some ladies the other day and this topic came up. For many whose families live away from them, they have created their own traditions ranging from baking cookies to decorating the tree.<br />We have a few traditions in our small family but the one I shared with the group (mostly because we were speaking about gift giving) was this one.<br />When we were small children my Granny gave us new pjs every Christmas to be opened on the 24th in the evening. Even as small children we loved the anticipation of the new pajamas. I started it with my own children when they were very young. I tell them each year how it was so special for us growing up, hoping they can see there way through to enjoying pajamas :). This year I went with a plaid theme as a testament to my Scottish roots. I was able to find plaid onsies! Such fun. </p>