Hey ladies,
With Thanksgiving almost here and Xmas shortly thereafter, I am feeling in the holiday spirit and in an effort to get to know eachother better I thought of this post.

What thing do you do every year to get yourself into the holiday spirit?

OR

What is your favorite holiday family tradition???

Hev fun with it ladies!!!

well, I know some people put up holiday decorations right after thanksgiving, but I get tired of them that way, so we don't put the decorations up or get a tree until about Dec. 15th....that way it all still looks fresh and sparkling.....but I think my FAVORITE holiday tradition is running my cats to ground and beating their little furry butts off for climbing the Xmas tree for the UMPTEENTH time.....it really IS a magical time of the year isnt it?

Hahahahaa Marie, i have the cats, the boys, and the dogs trying to christen the tree every year!! ahahahahahaah

This is going to be our first year w/the kittens and a tree. WHY won't DH listen to me and let me get a fake tree?????

Truthfully? I'm a scrooge. I could care less about the tree (when I get poked by it I get itchy and red dots. Plus the needles STILL poking me in JULY??) and I'm not a decorator of things. I put a few things out that I love to look at (just acquired a Rudolph set right down to the BUMBLE!!!) but otherwise I'm a bah-humbug person. We used to go to my parents house and DH's parents for Thanksgiving but gave up on that and started having our own Thanksgiving feast (which of course makes me the black sheep in MY family for DARING to be seperate) . It's SOOOO nice cuz then we get to take the traditional Thanksgiving nap

TG- call me easily trained, but I think it would take about ONE time of being held down on the ground by my neck and having the fur straight SLAPPED off my behind before I figured out the tree was "OFF LIMITS."

Thats a cat for you Marie, cats aren't trained their people are!!! hahahahaha so no maybe you not easily trained by kitty's point of view! ahahahahaha

I am not a huge decorationg person although I love to listen (and sing) Xmas music and look at the tree in the dark and see the lights, and I only like white lights on the tree! MMMMMMM Neil Diamond Xmas CD I am ready to bust it out right now, Neil Diamond is a stallion!!!

B- I am a firm beliver in staying home for turkey day, i like to wear sweats so i can pack more in and I do not like to eat turkey without mayo and bread! I cannot wait for turkey sandwhiches with cranberry sauce so I eat them right there at the table! No yucky gravy for me!!!

Oh too funny. I can just picture that

TG: Do you stick stuffing in that cranberry-turkey sandwich? EWWWW. I like to taste my food seperate thanks :P

Ooh, I want to play!!!!

My favorite tradition started only 2 years ago when DS was old enough to help with the whole CHristmas thing. Now we go out the day after Thanksgiving and he gets to pick the tree, then we all go home and decorate it with christmas music playing, hot cocoa, and DH complaining about the lights being all tangled up.

It was pretty interesting the first year, he was only 1 1/2 and we ended up with a real Charly brown CHristmas stick instead of a tree. Oh, and it was only about 3 feet tall. But he insisted on it, and DH and I still giggle about that tree.

Nikki

oh my this will probably make me cry.......

When I lived at home, every year my dad and I would go out to get the tree. My mom would hand us something like 25 bucks and tell us not to spend too much on the tree. Dad and I would drive around to all the road side xmas tree stands and try to find one that looks halfway decent. After a while we would both look at each other and say "want to go to Lovell's?" (Lovell's is a local nursery in our town....not cheap trees!) Well off we would go to Lovell's feeling like we gave it our best shot to get a cheap tree. When we would get there we would find a perfect tree......$40+ later!!!! So that my mom wouldn't be mad at us for spending so much we would buy her a couple of wreaths. After putting everything on our account we would drive home. We would walk in the door with everything and she would look at us and say "you went to Lovell's didn't you!" We would sheepishly look at her and say "yes but we got you some wreaths".......thinking this would make her happy and forget about the $60 bill waiting for her.

I miss my dad ........

Nikki: There are times I wish we could have gotten a Charlie Brown tree!!!

Jane: Sounds like you have great memories of your dad That's great!!

I remember when we used to go Christmas tree "shopping" with my parents. Even after I got married everyone (all my sisters, brother-in-laws, their kids & my parents) would all pile into our vehicles and make a train towards the first Tree place we could find. Ever know a person that would continue to look through ACRES of trees for THE perfect tree?? That'd be my mom. I could walk into the tree place and within 5 minutes and a couple feet of dragging it find a tree I liked. But nope, SHE always found one way back in that took over an hour and 2 guys to drag the sucker out!!! Did I mention I no longer go tree hunting with her Oh...DH's not THAT bad..but sometimes bad enough.

Just thought I would join in. We do Thanksgiving next door at my SIL's house. We only have to walk across the yard to get home and take a nap so that's not too bad. DH usually has to work Thanksgiving evening, so he usually leaves right after lunch. For Christmas, Me, DH, my dad, my brother, SIL, and nephew always get together at my brother's house the week before Christmas. We just started this tradition 5 years ago as a way for the immediate family to be close together at least once during Christmas. We usually have a big pot of chili beans and then all kinds of fudge and Christmas candy. Then we open gifts. Christmas Eve we go to the In-laws. My MIL always has all kinds of finger foods. Then she reads the Christmas story and then we exchange gifts. Christmas morning we go to my SIL's house for breakfast and see what all the neices and nephews got for Christmas. Then we usually go back home and nap and spend Christmas day with just me and DH.

I am not sure if any of you know this or not, but my mom passed away the week of Thanksgiving 5 years ago. It's been the hardest holiday every since. This is the first year I am actually looking forward to Thanksgiving. This will be the last holiday season that me and DH will be childless, so we have a lot to be thankful for!

Lisa

I always notice that I end up with the first tree I see, I always llok at all theothers but end up back at that dang tree!

Lisa: I'm sorry....I know it can be hard around the holidays but especially if she passed away around this time. You have so much to look forward to and I bet she is very happy for you.

Lisa and Jane, so sorry about both of your parents, I know it must be a hard time for year without them, but nice to remember all the memories of them around the holidays!

Lisa if that baby keeps up like she does she might be out by Thanksgiving!! ahahahahah They took out my second son 2 weeks early cause they said if they waited he would be 12 pounds!