[ajjhmf]

I thought is might be fun if we shared some of our favorite holiday traditions.

One of mine is making cookies with the kids. It takes all day and destroys the kitchen, but the kids love it and the cookies taste sooooo good.

I also love our yearly trip to see Santa. Especially the anticipation in the kids eyes and wondering if who will actually sit on his lap and what crazy last minute thing they will ask for.

[Lylac]

I think my favorite is driving through Christmas city. Looking at all the displays and watching the kids eyes light up, as bright as the lights themselves.

I also love putting the kids in their Xmas pj's, and watching Christmas programs, all snuggled up.

[redfred]

On Thanksgiving day we go to church and each of the kids light a candle for their birthparents. It’s my way of giving eternal thanks for the most precious gifts I have ever been given. The kids say a simple little prayer of “God bless ___, and __” as we light them.

For Christmas we have a non-profit organization where we provide ethnically diverse Santas for the public. It is a TON of work, but a total blast!!!! We give out free photos to anyone who wants to see Santa. And it is so much fun to have all the kids there helping bring Santa to all the other children! And the looks on the faces of everyone we hand a free photo to is wonderful.

[Barksum]

Snow, cookies, hot chocolate. HUGE family dinner on Thanksgiving with specific recipes always in attendance on the table, plus new ones that 'just looked so good we had to try them'. Also we ALWAYS have 'strangers' at the table. (Friends of friends, people without family in town, whomever is in town without a place to go, college kids at a loose end, foreign students without a place to go, you name it....) We always cook for at least 30, no matter who has RSVP'd, since there's always more who come. We have a journal that we attempt to keep from year to year, writing down what we are thankful for, and we all get a few kernels of corn on our bare plates before the meal to remember the hardships and rationed food of the pilgrims' first few years. Then long prayers, to make the little kids wiggle, then a psalm to sing, then food for hours and hours. (And this is after the appetizers while we are cooking the meal.)

Christmas is more 'tame', but there's holiday birthdays in our family so we have a big family dinner on Christmas Eve, and we've often (not since my mom got sick...but until then) done a White Elephant party on New Year's Eve.

[Yvette]

My daughter and I have a big jar that we add our change to all year long. The day after Thanksgiving we go to one of the local grocery stores to use the machine that counts the change. Then we buy Christmas Cards and decorations to add to our growing collection. We spend the rest of the weekend filling out cards to send for the holidays. We also buy a Christmas DVD each year to add to our collection. Each weekend we make popcorn or cookies and she chooses a holiday movie for us to watch together. And yes, we bake lots of cookies including some for Santa. She loves to leave the cookies and milk on Christmas Eve and to look and see if they are gone in the morning. She is getting older and not quite convinced about Santa, but she still loves the rituals, and I love the time we get to spend together!

[aspenhall]

We go as a family to a Christmas Concert every year. The last few years our favorite has been "Trans Siberian Orchestra" it's amazing beyond words. A LOVES it! loves the music, loves the "magic snow", loves the instruments...she'll dance in the aisles to her favorites. Even now, she hears and recognizes songs that are by T.S.O. .... This year the concert venues conflict with our Thxgvg Schedule so I dunno what we'll do...I'll be sad if we have to miss them!

oh yeah, I also forgot, we dress up in formal wear complete with fancy updo hairstyles and jewlery (she loves that part) we have a reall metropolitan "night on the town" ...we do the same thing anytime we take her to operas or musicals. My girl adores the theatre!

[Barksum]

LOL I just remembered that we used to leave ribbon candy on a plate for Santa. Poor Dad! He doesn't really like candy so much. (Beef jerky, but not candy. LOL) I wonder if Mom ate it???

[tybeemarie]

First, Thanksgiving. Our family likes to run races, so we will be running at least a 5k this year, perhaps an 8k (5 miles). It's great to burn lots of calories, feel a sense of accomplishment and relaxation. Of course, we will have to finish before it's time for Mass--my daughter is in the Thanksgiving pageant! She says she is going to be a Pilgrim, which I think will be very cute.

I'm a vegetarian, so in addition to the turkey my DH makes, I make a tofurkey for myself. I LOVE Thanksgiving! I adore stuffing--outside the turkey, of course! Mashed potaotes, sweet potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, roasted green beans, and broccoli casserole. And rolls. And my DH's MAGNIFICENT pumpkin pie--he even makes the crust himself. I am going to use the Halloween pumpkins for the filling. This year we are having Thanksgiving with my oldest daughter's godparents and their kids. Fun!

For Christmas, I love celebrating Mass with my parish. We do the children's Mass, and enjoy the pageant very much. We are serious about food, and feast and feast. I like the old Christmas cartoons of my youth, but none so well as the old Peanuts masterpiece. Linus does the best lectoring I've ever heard, truly a gold standard in proclaiming the Word. I can just hear him, "And lo! they were sore afraid!" Winter also means ice skating and sledding for our family, so we do that over the break. And we go see the animals at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicago is very beautiful at Christmas! (And at every other time, truly the world's most beautiful city!)

[Tudu]

I hadn't thought about exactly how important traditions are for kids, I mean I knew but not to the level I am coming to understand now. My children have never lived with the same people 2 years in a row and this is all so new to them. For Halloween they began asking me to reassure them of our activities over and over. Now we are moving onto Thanksgiving and the same thing is happening. Are we going to put up a tree? Can we have Hot Cocoa? Do we get to write Santa? You get the picture and the answer is yes to all of them. We have a huge meal and my kids will make dessert, tasting every step of the way is terribly important is what they discovered last year. Sometime over the weekend we will get out our 20 something boxes of holiday stuff for the yard and watch my poor DH climb around the roof at their direction to put up the many lights. Later that evening we will have hot chocolate and put up the 3 trees, we have one for each floor of the house. One has only homemade ornaents, one has toys, and one is traditional stuff like balls and garland. Not all the kids helped last year, they prefered to sit by the fire and watch so I am hoping to get them more involved now that they know what to expect.

We make our gifts so we will spend the weekends following Thanksgiving making them together. We will all go to my mother's house the weekend before Christmas to exchange gifts amongst the cousins and old folks. My mom makes her grandchildren their gifts and this year they will be getting the traditional Loveys that she has made for every other child at their birth. Mine asked her why they didn't get them and it was b/c they were older and she assumed they didn't need a blanket, they have informed her of her error and they will all get theirs this holiday along with a sweater for each that she has been working on all year.

We then have to go to the InLaws on Sunday before sto see them. Not my favorite b/c the step gma in law is a horrid critical woman I have managed to avoid for 2 years but will have to see ths year.

I am excited to get to cook and stay home this year on the actual big day. The kids and I have been discussing what they would like to include in the menu and in the holiday. We always set out cookies and milk for Santa on a plate and cup I made as a child.

[lambeausam]

I echo Tybeemarie's love for Chicago. Our traditional holiday activities have already begun. We went to Macy's last weekend and watched them raise the center sway of decorations. The decorations coordinator gave the kids an extra ball from the group that was used on the swag. He said they wouldn't miss one of the 2200 that were ordered. They also watched the trumpets being hung outdoors. The famous windows and Walnut Room tree debut next weekend, so we will be there for that. Among other traditions: ice skating downtown, Kindlmarket at Daley Plaza, Christmas Eve mass, and of course, the Nutcracker. C is dancing in the Joffrey Ballet's production again, so we are definitely looking forward to that.

Sam