holiday faves

i asked for requests for things to blog about during my nablopomo challenge and a bloggy friend jennifer (you can check out her blog by clicking on her name!) suggested favorite childhood memories. i have a lot of them, and i think i'll share my holiday faves from being a child to now being a mom.



growing up, most of the holidays were spent with just me and my parents. sometimes we'd have relatives over or go to visit, but usually it was just us. i have great memories of our holidays.

thanksgiving always started off with watching the macy's parade. then we'd have our thanksgiving dinner, complete with homemade noodles. yep noodles. outside of family, i've met just a few people who have noodles as well. but for us, it's a must! the day usually ended with our bellies full and watching the original miracle on 34th street. that was it, and it was perfect!

thanksgiving these days is spent with family, and of course the girls. i have never been able to get them interested in watching the parade, but i still give it a little peek every year. our menu has changed a little, but not much. mammie does the cooking, and other than mashed and sweet potatoes, there are no veggies, none. one year i did make the ever famous green bean casserole. but have since gone back to a veggie free thanksgiving.

my very favorite day of the year is christmas eve. i love the anticipation of santa claus and remembering the birth of Jesus. both are just absolutely magical. our routine hasn't changed much over the years. lots of christmas carols. dinner is an awesome mixture of appetizers and treats made by mammie and papa. papa's specialty is loaded nachos. we exchange gifts with extended family. and mammie always makes sure we have a new pair of christmas jammies. the girls hang their stockings and papa reads "twas the night before christmas" to the girls. we do all of this at mammie and papa's house because they have a chimney! they leave santa milk and cookies of course, and usually carrots or oats for the reindeer.



christmas morning is all about the presents. as a child i remember always waking up to a lit christmas tree stuffed with presents underneath. and santa always, always took great care of me! one year he almost broke my heart. what i really wanted that year was a speak n spell. i was so excited to get it, i just knew it had to be there. all the packages were opened and there wasn't a speak n spell. i was thrilled with all of my gifts but still sad. turns out santa had dropped a present behind some furniture...and it was my beloved speak n spell! i am an absolute spelling bee and i'm sure it's because santa didn't let me down!

our christmas mornings are pretty similar now, waking up to that magical site of a lit tree and presents everywhere! sometimes we sleep at mammie and papa's on christmas eve, sometimes we sleep at home. fortunately we are barely a mile away. papa has an "in" with santa and he never gets confused as to where he's supposed to show up. we unwrap presents from santa and from each other. listening to carols. we usually have a light breakfast of cinnamon rolls. saving our appetite for the big christmas dinner. my grandma has been making that for the past couple years.



as for new year's eve and day, we really don't have any traditions. it's never late to start them though! last year the girls had their first sleepover and rang in the new year with sparkling grape juice. the adults had champagne. new year's day we do watch college football. but again, no real traditions.

i'd love to hear about your new year's day traditions...we definitely need to start some!