apennieformythoughts Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions? What screams Christmas for you? Going to church on Christmas Eve? The food you bake? The ornaments? What would be your idea of the "perfect" Christmas? My family life growing up was dysfunctional. I want to start creating our own family memories and traditions, without all the baggage. Until we've created new baggage, of course. As only families can ;-). So share your Christmas ideas and traditions, your fantasies and dreams, your favorite decorating tips, what makes it special for you. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elisabet1 Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 I used to love the Christmas Eve candle light service. But it ended. And I do not want to go to some strange church on Christmas eve just for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRG Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Christmas movies are a big tradition for us. I own many and try to buy at least one new one every season. We start watching them around Thanksgiving and continue until the New Year. Baking cookies Open new Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve Looking at Christmas lights Going to see a Christmas play Christmas Parade Reading Luke 2 and The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve Christmas Breakfast--something that we don't have year round Our Christmases are pretty nice and laid back. We get together with family before Christmas day so we have the day to spend just lounging around and enjoying our time together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diane in CO Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 We have several Christmas traditions that my boys really enjoy: Christmas movies (1 a week starting on the Saturday night after Thanks giving and going til Christmas). We typically watch Elf, A Christmas story, A Muppets Christmas, Rudolf the red nose reindeer/Peanuts Christmas. We also like to read christmas books. My favorite is "The Best Christmas Pageant ever" Bake cookies (every person picks his/her own favorite) we usually end up with my grandmas recipe for butter cookies, snow balls, buckeyes and peanut blossoms. We also make homemade caramel corn and on Christmas eve we make homemade fudge. We go to Christmas eve mass and if tradition still holds, my youngest will be in the christmas play as a shepherd for the 4th year in a row :) Homemade dougnuts (well, fried pillsbury biscuits dipped in cinnamon sugar or powder sugar) and bacon on Christmas morning. I love Christmas, the food, the planning, the gifts and all of the traditions that surround it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Some of our traditions: Making sugar cookies and decorating them. This is a huge Christmas tradition for us. Making gingerbread houses. We don't do this every year, but we love it when we do. Making homemade goodies OR homemade gifts for friends and neighbors and delivering them. Touring the streets with the best Christmas lights. Buying a real tree, lugging it home, decorating it with Christmas carols, cookies and eggnog. Attending our church Christmas specials -- a musical by the kids, a cantata by the adults and sometimes another Sunday evening special event. Attending a walk-through Bethlehem tour. Christmas Eve: we eat light in prep for Christmas Day -- two soups, salad, a family recipe for cranberry pudding and eggnog. Christmas stockings. Even for the grown-ups. Dh used to do mine. Spouses do for each other and parents do for the kids. A few others, but those are primary. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharpie Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Great thread! :) I love Christmas! Our traditions: Baking Making a homemade ornament every year Jesse Tree Reading one of the books from the trilogy "Jotham's Journey" Christmas Eve candlelight service Giving a plate of baked goodies to our wonderful library Decorating the house What God Wants for Christmas Pulling out the basket full of Christmas books & reading them Watching Christmas movies Opening a present (new jammies made by Grandma) Christmas Eve Listening to Christmas music cranked high & dancing Looking at Christmas lights in our travels Attending a Live Nativity Eating a wonderful Christmas meal on Christmas day Decorating the Christmas tree together and leaving it as is, even if all the ornaments are on one side. :D Staying in jammies as long as I want on Christmas Dad (a rare treat!!) Reading the Christmas Story before opening presents Choosing a charity as a family to donate to I'm sure there are more but those are the ones I can think of. Growing up, my treasured memories were; caroling for shut ins, making Christmas baskets (fruit, soup, baked goods) for folks that needed a blessing, putting on a play for our parents Christmas Eve, and decorating a Charlie Brown Christmas tree every year. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Baking, building, decorating gingerbread house Family pjs or coordinating t shirts or similar opened Christmas Eve Lego advent calendar(kind of expensive, but always fun to see what lego thinks fits into Christmas) We used to make ornaments every year Kids each get an ornament each year, they have their own boxes to take when they move out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Visiting the Christkindlmarket in Chicago is always our real kickoff to the season. We watch a ton of holiday movies, in a specific order. We're weird. The night before Thanksgiving we watch Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, and then on Thanksgiving night we watch Christmas Vacation. When the kids were little, dh and I assembled Santa toys while watching Mass at the Vatican, and even though we no longer have Santa toys, we still watch. For years we made gingerbread houses but now that the kids are grown we don't make them unless the grandkids come visit during the season. And we still all go look at lights while listening to holiday music...even grown kids still love this. And for Christmas dinner....Italian food. Usually lasagna or stuffed shells. I love reading about everyone's holiday traditions! I'd love to find a few things I can do with my long distance grandchildren...it's difficult to do the typical stuff when they are 800 miles away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
applethyme Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Christmas Eve we have appetizer bar for dinner and my mom, dad and niece spend the night. We all dress in red jammies and have a relaxed evening. In the morning we don't have to wait for our family to arrive to open gifts. Afterwards we have a big breakfast together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plansrme Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I LOVE my Christmas tree, and I make sure everyone else does also. Picking out the fattest (live, of course) tree, draping it in an obscene number of lights and hanging so many ornaments that it looks like a Christmas store threw up on it. Using the rule of thumb, "100 lights per foot of tree height," my tree should have been twenty-five feet tall last year. It was 6. I have so many ornaments that we could use a second tree. We make peppermint bark for the neighbors; they start dropping hints in October. Last year, by accident, I ended up home alone on a cold night and caught the St. Olaf's College Christmas program on PBS. I loved it so much that I considered booking a trip to see it live this year. I am not going this year, but I do intend to kick everyone out of the house when it comes on PBS. Otherwise, there is no way I will be able to enjoy it as much as I did last year. Drinking hot chocolate and driving around to look at Christmas lights. Shoe boxes for Samaritan's Purse. Advent elves, though I do not put something in them every single night. Christmas Eve lunch at Cracker Barrel, and leaving a $50 tip on our $30'ish tab. I adore Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMommy Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Church on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Wouldn't be Christmas without those services. We have a local festival that we go to every year. We literally look forward to it for months. We go after church one Sunday, go out to lunch, and then spend the whole day there. It's so much fun! A tradition that we didn't intentionally start, but has happened for the last several (and then some) years is having our big Christmas dinner on the 26th. DH's parents usually travel to see us that day, so we wait on the fancy meal until they can be with us. I really like having a more relaxed Christmas Day afternoon, without worrying about getting a huge meal ready, and it extends the celebration. There are so many others, because I'm huge on tradition, but those are the most important to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Sunday nights during Advent we light our Advent wreath, sing, read scriptures and poems, pray, and have cookies and hot chocolate. I make lefse. We go to a beautiful formal Lessons and Carols service in early Dec. Most of our family traditions happen before Christmas Eve because we always travel to be with family - we just do whatever they have planned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindy in FL. Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 It must be late, because for a long time I couldn't figure out how you decorate a tree with Christmas carols, cookies, and eggnog! Buying a real tree, lugging it home, decorating it with Christmas carols, cookies and eggnog. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAmomof4 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 We always have one of those old-fashioned glittery paper advent calendars for the kids. Salvation Army Adopt-an-Angel. Like to have each kid pick a child that is their gender & roughly their age, so they can gift that child with some of the things they (my kids) especially want for Christmas. Christmas Vacation. Haven't shared it with my kids yet, but DH and I watch it at least twice per season and recite the entire show. Kids watch a Charlie Brown Christmas. One block in our neighborhood really goes wild with the lights and animated yard displays, and we always go walk it with the family. Carrots and homemade sugar cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. Our church does a kids' program about a week before Christmas - not a pageant, but singing carols and so forth. It's always beautiful! Another mom and I host the cookies/cocoa reception afterwards. DH made a jazzed-up slide show of our family's Christmas photos over the years, set to our favorite Christmas songs. Each year he adds the new pictures from the previous Christmas, and we have it playing on our TV throughout the holidays. We go to church, and then DH's entire family gets together Christmas Eve at my in-laws'. (There are LOTS of people.) The kids run around in their jammies playing with their cousins, we open "family" gifts together, eat a huge delicious meal of turkey and ham, and stay late. Then we have a relaxed Christmas morning, see what Santa brought, eat a big breakfast, and my in-laws come to our house for Christmas dinner, which DH cooks. We always do a standing rib roast a la Alton Brown and have cheesecake for dessert. And when the kids go to bed Christmas night, DH and I look at each other and say, quoting Clark Griswold, "I did it!" :-) I love love love love this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrittanyM Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I love Christmas, always have. Listening to carols, making cookies for the neighbors, watching Chrismas movies and having a Christmas book for the kids to unwrap each day leading up to Christmas Eve. We do a live tree and have something special to drink while we decorate it. The kids make gingerbread houses. We go to our local Christmas tree lighting in our small town park the first weekend of December and then to the local boutique the same weekend. We put together operation Christmas child boxes (one for each child) and give to other charities as a family. On Chrismas Eve we celebrate with DH's family. It is also our son's birthday so sometimes we celebrate that in the afternoon. We have a traditional Swedish dinner (DH is half Swedish) with a family cinnamon roll recipe for dessert. We sing carols, act out the Christmas story while reciting Luke 2 and Matthew 1 and open gifts. Chrismas morning we do stockings all around, open gifts with just us and then my family comes over to open gifts with them and have a huge breakfast. Christmas afternoon we just hang around or go to my Grandma's. Usually it is more low-key and we have snacks (typically a variety of special cheeses). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Our traditions: I wrap up 25 books and movies in brown or green paper and stack it in the shape of a Christmas tree. Each night the kids take turns unwrapping one until it's Christmas day. After they unwrap it we read it or watch it. The kids love this!!! A week or so before Christmas we go on a Christmas light scavenger hunt. Each of the kids invites a friend and I make hot chocolate while Dh drives us around the neighborhood as we try to see who can find all of the items on our scavenger hunt list first. It's a blast! We take the month of December off from school and just bake and make presents. That's a lot of fun as well and really gets us all in the Christmas spirit. We make cookies for our postman, the garbage collectors, and the librarians. The kids like having to run out and catch the garbage collectors early in the morning. We also do Elf on the Shelf, but not very religiously. I'm not even sure where he is right now since we moved this summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 One thing we do every year is go to the Electric Light Farm Equipment Parade. Nothing screams the holidays like a bunch of tractors and spray rigs festooned with lights. Actually, it's a great parade, and a lot of fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftymama Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I love the magic of the season and stretch it as far as I can. Our traditions include: Christmas jammies - the littles get new ones every year, but DH and I don't Christmas socks - so we can be festive no matter what we're wearing Elves - Each little has their very own, personal elf assigned by Santa. Their elves bring their advent treats every night and may or may not have a little elfish fun along the way. And if your elf makes a mess, you have to pick it up. Cookies - we make one or two kinds every week. There are certain recipes that we only make for Christmas so we only get those cookies at that time of year. Christmas cartoons and movies Decorating the house while listening to Christmas music, right after Thanksgiving. Stockings - my favorite part Christmas books and stories - at bedtime, in the morning, instead of school, all.the.time Staying in Christmas jammies all day on Christmas day. Everyone has to get clean on Christmas Eve and then get into their jammies. Then, and only then, we can open our Christmas Eve gifts. Christmas crafts - we make ornaments and other decorations and gifts. I love to see the littles get into the creative process and get excited about their things hanging around the house. We also take the month (9 Dec-7 Jan) off of school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apennieformythoughts Posted October 29, 2014 Author Share Posted October 29, 2014 I love all of your traditions! I have no idea what a Jesse Tree is, can someone explain it to me? I love the idea of the 25 books and movies shaped into a tree. My girls would love something like that. We have been pretty good at getting them new pajamas every year as a tradition, but now that they are 11 and almost 9, I'm thinking of changing that into new ornaments every year. Reading all of these replies is giving me the warm fuzzies. I love the Christmas season! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMommy Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Here's a link to the Jesse Tree readings...one for each day in Advent. Basically, it's Jesus' family tree...not only people, but also events regarding the prophecies leading up to His birth. It's my favorite part of Advent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimm Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I love Christmas! We decorate the tree but I'm kind of intense about it and it has to be done right. My kids each have a collection of ornaments because they get one every year on Christmas Eve. Some ornaments were gifts from people or have special meaning attached and tree decorating usually turns into story time. Ornaments are almost a time line of our lives. The Bless This House ornament I got the first year we moved here. The teapot ornament I bought when shopping with one of my oldest friends. The now shabby ornament that I bought our first year of marriage. The ornaments my SIL paints and gives out every year. The one year that's missing because she had my nephew and was a busy and exhausted first time mom. And so on. :) We do Christmas cookies and we bake yummy things all season. My sister is rabid about my raspberry thumbprint cookies (which are nothing special, but don't tell her that). :) I make pumpkin bread from October to New Years. We drive around looking at Christmas lights. We watch Christmas movies. We buy hot chocolate and hot apple cider. And presents! We don't do Santa so my kids know that I buy things and hide them and disappear into my room wrapping them. They hang out by my door listening and sometimes begging me to tell what I got the other person. I pretend I'm going to tell them then give them obviously fake answers. We listen to Christmas music starting on Thanksgiving. Half the family thinks we should start listening the day after Thanksgiving. This is a topic of debate each year. Which makes no sense because the household's piano players have already started on Christmas carols so the music is already being hummed by everyone. :) Love reading about everyone's traditions! I might have to do that stack of books thing. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I talked about Advent in the other thread. On Christmas Eve we put the ornaments on the tree, and set up the creche. (The tree is up with lights on it by then). We eat a special local meal (cracked crab) and go to a fantastic candlelight service. Then we come home and open presents, just the three of us, with cookies and hot spiced cider. After DD goes to bed I fill her stocking. On Christmas morning we have a special breakfast, usually chocolate waffles, and DD opens her stocking gifts. Then we go to church at 10. Then we head to whatever family member is hosting Christmas dinner that year. Usually there are 15-20 people there. It's always full of talk and great food, potluck for the sides, desserts, and appetizers. The host provides the main dish. Often we play Mexican train or go for a walk. When my grandparents were still alive we danced, because they had a big enough living room for that. Then for the rest of the 12 days of Christmas we do special other things. We bring clothes to the local Lutheran human care nonprofit. We go on a few local hikes--sometimes to Ano Nuevo. We bake. This is weird, I guess, to bake after Christmas, but it's festive and relaxed. We have fondue and poppers on New Year's Eve. On Epiphany I always give DD another big present, and we talk about wisdom (because it is the celebration of the coming of the Wise Men to seek the Christ Child. And we also go to church on Epiphany. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Only me Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 One tradition we have is that the kids get three specific gifts leading up to Christmas. On Dec 22 they each get a Christmas themed book, although this is getting a bit harder now that they are older. I'm running out of ideas. On the 23rd they each get a Christmas ornament. I try to give them one that pertains to a hobby or special event from that year. On the 24th they get new pajamas. Even though they are 16, 19 and 22 they all seem to still enjoy this tradition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I also grew up in a very dysfunctional family. we always spent christmas eve at my grandmother's - and dh did that *once* and said "NEVER AGAIN!" so, after some experimentation: christmas eve is our family meal, with nice dinner, etc. (my mother mostly always joined us while she was alive. sometimes we invite other's to join us. 2dd's friend enjoyed it so much, she asked if she could come back this year.) read the christmas story (one dudeling dressed as mary, held a baby doll, and 2dd's roommate also joined in dressing up. dudeling wanted her to. dudeling doesn't "do" being the center of attention, so it was a big deal.) sing religious christmas carols. *always* end with stille nacht. auf deutsch. my voice doesn't last as long as it used to. send dudeling to bed. finish putting out gifts. (most are now put under the tree as they are wrapped.) put 'stuffers' in stocking. and for foods for christmas eve: dinner varies according to mood. we've done everything from standing rib roast to ham to lobster (dd really wanted it - so she forked out the $$$) sometimes we do crackers (the british kind.) dh's a party pooper, and doens't like them. must have finger foods: fudge - it's just not christmas without it. egg nog various christmas cookies & candy my fruit cake. (it's actually quite good - and doesn't last.) brie and crackers my favorite smoked salmon (one of the few times I'll for out for it.) christmas day is a layabout, due to the year I was up until 2am putting gifts under the tree - no one is allowed in the living room before 8a.m. (it was really funny listening to the kids *whispering* outside my bedroom door about if it was 8am yet and could they wake me up.) we take turns opening presents, so we can all see what everyone else received. (my brother was here one year, and I was shocked how fast his kids ripped their gifts open, paid no attention to anyone but themselves, and were out of the room 15 minutes later.) breakfast varies but always panetonne & egg nog. (I buy the panetonne and save it and have kids harassing me as to when we're going to eat it.) I really looked forward to christmas decorations growing up. probably because decorations and music were the nicest part of the christmas holidays when I was growing up. tree goes up thanksgiving weekend. (and frequently doesn't come down until after new years) we have a tall tree (we downsized! to a 9' tree. oh, so much easier.) - and one year I bought 'candle lights' for dh, who is quite nostaligic for his christmas in austria. when he had real candles on a tree. I've spent enough money on christmas decorations - I now have to *really* like an ornament before I'll shell out. my living room tree is quite the hodge podge of ornaments - from elementary craft day to christopher radko. I did do a 'themed' tree for my family room. (I"m opposed to themed trees and think they are tacky. what do you do with a sentimental ornament that doesn't fit with the "theme"?) I compromised by making the rule everything had to be homemade. I've crocheted over 100 snowflakes - all different, glass balls with white paint and irredescent glitter, spruce cones with irredescent glitter, etc. you can feel the cold air come off that tree . . . . during the month we will look at christmas lights, and the botanical gardens here adds to their display every year. oh, and the christmas ships. we rode one as passengers one year - the year we had TWO FEET of snow at our house and we couldn't get up our hill even with AWD. (some people may think that's not much, but here it was a record.) this is the first year half my kids live elsewhere. dd bought a house, so we'll see how things go. 2dd has been working christmas afternoon the last few years. (she's a pharm intern in a hopsital, and by signing up for christmas afternoon - she's free christmas eve.) eta: my favorite christmas music to listen to is "the messiah", or the King's college choir christmas concert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cshell Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Our family enjoys: -walking or driving around to see Christmas lights -stringing popcorn -watching Frosty, White Christmas, Snoopy -pulling out the ornaments from yrs. gone by -simply being thankful for Jesus' birth....and celebrating how that is significant to our family. :) Peace filled, simple traditions are what we all cherish dearly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plansrme Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 One thing we do every year is go to the Electric Light Farm Equipment Parade. Nothing screams the holidays like a bunch of tractors and spray rigs festooned with lights. Actually, it's a great parade, and a lot of fun! So jealous! That sounds awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apennieformythoughts Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 A part of my family traditions growing up were "normal." We normally had a Lutefisk dinner (we are of Scandinavian descent), which we had to eat at least one piece or we couldn't open presents. Our small church usually had a Christmas pageant that us kids were in each year. The play was the same each time, and we usually got a paper bag full of small treats and gave our teachers and the pastor a present. My grandma on my dads side usually had a bigger get together in the community room of her apartment building. Our entire family on that side would gather together and eat a meal with lutefisk, ham, potatoes, potato sausage, lefse, krumkaka, rosettes, etc... After my parents divorced and my mom moved out, we still had the base of this, but we were pretty poor, so our presents usually came from things like the angel tree or the women's aid group of our town. And I know and believe that gifts are not the point of the season, but that's what we were working with anyway. I can provide a bit differently for my children. I want them to have warm memories of the holidays and our time together when they are adults and dreaming of the traditions they want to have in their own lives. I am loving all of the traditions I am hearing about here. Keep them coming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tammi K Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 It must be late, because for a long time I couldn't figure out how you decorate a tree with Christmas carols, cookies, and eggnog! The Christmas carols are easy - just stick the branch through the hole in the center of the CD. The cookies - no sweat. Poke a hole in the cookies and slip in a piece of thread. But you are going to have one heck of a time figuring out how to keep the egg nog from dripping right off the tree. :leaving: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 We make our own Christmas ornaments every year. Last year we spray painted pinecones and tied them with ribbons, we usually make cinnamon ornaments, I bought candy cane and wreath bead crafts for the kids to make, one year I dried apple and orange slices, this year I'm going to try melting peppermint candies in cookie cutters that I saw on Facebook. If there is a tree farm, we cut our tree. I purchased 12 children's Christmas books to read the 12 days before Christmas. I'm in Germany this year, so we will go to the Christmas markets, and they sell advent calendars everywhere so I'll probably get one of those. We go to church. There's usually a church Christmas party with a Christmas program. This year we are singing as a choir in our city's center. Other years we've set up a live nativity for the community. As a service project I find a mom with lots of little kids, and we make a meal for her family, make sugar cookies with supplies to decorate them, and a few Christmas crafts for the kids to make. Someone did that for me one year and it really touched me, so now the kids and I do it every year for someone else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Also I'm going to have my kids earn Christmas money to shop for their siblings. They did that for my birthday this year and it worked pretty well. It gets them thinking about giving rather than getting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albeto. Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Chocolate and cashews for breakfast. We had uncles who lived too far away to visit who would send chocolates and/or nuts (favorite being cashews). We had pounds of the goodies. They became traditional breakfast. Everything else is a blur. Marshal Field's mint chocolates. See's Assorted Candies. Five pounds of cashews here, five pounds of assorted nuts there. mmmm, chocolate for breakfast :drool5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMommy Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Chocolate and cashews for breakfast. We had uncles who lived too far away to visit who would send chocolates and/or nuts (favorite being cashews). We had pounds of the goodies. They became traditional breakfast. Everything else is a blur. Marshal Field's mint chocolates. See's Assorted Candies. Five pounds of cashews here, five pounds of assorted nuts there. mmmm, chocolate for breakfast :drool5: Did someone say Frango mints?!? :) I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, and Frango mints were a huge Christmastime treat. Now I buy a small box at Macy's every year...I don't know if they're really the same, but they're close enough for me, and my children love them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeindeed Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 -Watch Christmas movies/specials: our favorites are Home Alone (both the first and the second), A Christmas Story, It's A Wonderful Life, Peanuts Christmas, Garfield Christmas -bake cookies and make special peppermint chocolate chip Rice Krispy treats -have a candlelight Christmas Eve dinner and each of us opens one gift -special Christmas breakfast (this year I'm going to try a slow cooker pumpkin oatmeal recipe) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Did someone say Frango mints?!? :) I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, and Frango mints were a huge Christmastime treat. Now I buy a small box at Macy's every year...I don't know if they're really the same, but they're close enough for me, and my children love them. ya know -I recently bought some frango's at macy's in another state. they tasted sooooo wrong. I grew up with them. they were actually developed by Frederick and Nelson, and marshall field's got them when they bought FnN. (then FnN went under, and they were sold to the bon, which was acquired by macy's . . . . ) sometimes Costco will have them in under a different name . . . and speaking of marshall field . . . . I want an uncle mistletoe doll. my mother had one (that she gave to my sister). I see them on ebay occasionally. the originals go for hundreds of dollars. but such nostalgia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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