Saturday, November 22, 2008

Grateful for traditions

Don't you just love the Holidays? I especially love traditions. Most families have their own versions Here are just a few of our traditions.
Years ago I began decorating my kitchen cork board with family pictures embellished with seasonal decorations. Not very long after we were settled here in Colorado, I realized I really NEEDED a cork board in this kitchen. Here is my Thanksgiving display. Sorry for the glare- but I couldn't eliminate it no matter how hard I tried.
For the third year in a row, we are holding our Christmas Jar contest. All through the year we throw our loose change into a large jar. Near Thanksgiving we post a picture of the jar on our family website and invite everyone to guess the total. The person with the closest guess receives the amount in the jar. It has been over $150 each year. Its so much fun to see what the little kids guess. One year our grandson Kaden guessed "3 minutes"- he almost won!
Every Christmas, Fred's mother would make hundreds of popcorn balls. She was careful to make sure each family had plenty of their favorite kind. Personally, my favorite is raspberry. My sister-in-law, Candi, started a tradition in her honor. Sometime in November, family members who are available gather and make her famous popcorn balls. Her birthday is November 13th and I know she is smiling down to see her posterity remember her in this manner.
I guess that will do for now.... but be warned... I am just getting started.

2 comments:

Lott said...

Your corkboard is so cute! With all those darling grandkids, I guess it couldn't go wrong.

If the jar has been that much every year, we lose again.


Popcorn balls are great, but candy trains are where it's at! Here's to TRADITION!

Mike and Kelli said...

Yay for traditions! Don't forget the "I Am Thankful For..." poster. That one is one of my favorites!