Qotd: What tradition are you grateful for? (11/7)

[Saar]

What tradition are you grateful for?

I'm grateful for 'komen eten'. It's a Belgian television show where 4 people who don't know each other have to cook for each other. A whole week long, each evening at someone else's home. At the end of the evening they have to give each other points. And at the end of the week, the winner is announced.
One of my friends thought it would be fun to do the same thing, so invited the rest of us for dinner. A few months later, another friend from the same group invited us for dinner. And so on...
We've been doing it for two years now and it's a fun way to get together and spend time with friends.
At the end of the evening we give each other points, but it's just for fun.
It has become one of my favorite traditions.

How about you?

[jaye]

Boxing Day. Since we stuff ourselves Christmas Day, Boxing Day is a 'wind down' day for us. My mom comes to my house or I go there and we are dressed in sweats/lounge wear, messy hair don't care and we eat finger foods, chips, have a few drinks and play board games or Monopoly on the old PS2. It's just a lazy day filled with laughs.

[LynnZant]

Decorating cut out cookies at Christmas with my daughters. It's a fun way to spend time together and doesn't get old even as they get older.

[jaye]

I forgot to add our potluck at work. Our department (I am part of Student Services) consists of 6 people and rather than do token gifts we have a potluck lunch. The only organizing is the day, we don't sign up for what we are bringing instead just going with the flow and we have yet to be disappointed or not have enough. We include the school secretaries and our administrators. It's nice for us to just sit and lunch which we rarely do. There is always enough for us to enjoy lunch the next day as well, a nice way to end school before the break and the new year.

[KingsQueen82]

That sounds really fun Sarah!

A favorite tradition in our household is "sisters gifts". Every year my husband and I alternate which kid we take shopping and she is given $25 to pick out something for her sister.

The point is for each girl to think of her sister (instead of herself which they tend to do around the gift giving season) and what her likes and dislikes are and to have something special just from her to give on Christmas. Maybe some day they'll even spend their own hard earned money on it? Lol.. but since we started it when they were so little they didn't have their own money yet.

The first year we did it was my absolute favorite because it was a last minute idea the day before Christmas Eve. The girls were 3 and 5 at the time. The hubs and I jumped in the car and drove to Toys R Us. As you can imagine, so close to Christmas, it was utter chaos. Since we didn't want the girls to see each other's presents, we spent as much time "on the lookout", diving in and out of aisles when we saw each other and hiding from each other as we spent looking for the actual present. It was so fun and we all laughed a lot. I've found it's impossible to recreate that impulsive moment/reaction even as much fun as it was, so now we make an afternoon of it and each of us takes one girl out to eat, shopping and spending quality one on one time while looking for her sister gift.

The girls look forward to it each year and they have surprised me at how well they've been able to keep their present a secret for weeks before Christmas!

[Saar]

What a beautiful tradition Cassie! Sounds like a lot of fun.

[mrsashbaugh]

That sounds like a very nice tradition Sarah!

Well, I had a tradition with our whole family that I always looked forward to and miss it terribly! My whole family got together at my parents house on New Years Eve and we'd have a variety of food that we'd snack on and we'd have our family bingo night. My dad would call out the numbers and we'd do different bingo combinations and have gift cards and scratchers for the winners. It was always so much fun and I have the best memories of those days. Since my dad passed away (3 years ago this coming Thanksgiving day) and my sister's family moved to another state, we haven't done it.

A tradition with my own family that I look forward to is watching the Home Alone movies together during the Holiday season. I love hearing my kids crack up to certain scenes in those movies.

[rach3975]

Getting together with family on vacation. When I was a kid, my grandparents spent the winters in Florida. Every year over winter break we drove down from Connecticut to spend a week with them. Now I'm the only member of my family who isn't in the New York/Connecticut area. During the summer, my parents rent a house in the mountains for a week so that all of us can spend a week together (them, my siblings with their families, and me with my kids and DH). I'll admit that I have a little bit of a love/hate relationship with that week--on the one hand, it's hard for this introvert to spend a week with 14 people crammed into a house and no way to spend a little time alone. On the other hand, I'm so grateful that my kids have that week to forge close relationships with my parents and siblings and with their cousins.

[Saar]

You all have such fun traditions! I loved reading about them.

My family and I started a new tradition last Summer. My uncle (my moms brother) wanted to take a roadtrip to Italy and since I like to travel, he asked me if I wanted to join him. I said yes. Not long after we started planning our trip, my mom said that she and my dad wanted to join us. I was even more excited. The last time I took a vacation with my parents was when I was 15 or 16. Then... a few days before the trip my brother said he had some vacation days left and wanted to join us as well. So a vacation with 2 people became a vacation with 5 people.
We had so much fun and we're talking about our next vacation already!

[LeeAndra]

We've only done it one year so far but I hope we make it a tradition!

Last NYE, I dropped my son off at my parents' & then my daughter & I went and spent the night at my sister's house. My sister, my daughter, and I wore our new Christmas jammies & slippers. My nephew & daughter played Minecraft most of the night after snacks & pizza and my sister & I chatted and watched chick flicks. At midnight, we all got together and had noisemakers and sparkling apple juice and took selfies. Then we crashed & had donuts in the morning before we went home.