Eat, Shop & Be Merry: Celebrating the season Compiled by Splash and Current Staff
For Eat, Shop & Be Merry "My holiday traditions include gathering with children, grandchildren, family and friends; making Christmas cookies; reading holiday books and decorating the tree with grandchildren; going to a holiday movie; sharing memories; favorite foods and holiday cheer. And, of course, skiing if there is snow!"
"For a few years now, we have decided to give our children three Christmas presents: something they want, something they need and something to share. It's been fun to keep it simple and purposeful, while still taking the opportunity to spoil them a little bit - hopefully somewhere short of ‘rotten.'"
"My favorite holiday tradition began the year we moved to the Spokane Valley. After much searching for a tree at Greenbluff, we found a tree at Huckaba Christmas Tree Farm. Every year since, our entire family makes the return trek to Huckaba's and painstakingly chooses the best Christmas tree on the farm. Ultimately, it isn't the tree that is the most important part of the tradition … it's the togetherness and the stories created and retold year after year that makes this such a cherished family tradition."
"For our family Christmas dinner, every member randomly draws a course that they must decide what to prepare and serve. There are no rules except for any allergy restrictions. As you can imagine, we have had very interesting meal combinations including crab mac-n-cheese for dessert, a mashed potato appetizer, and garlic bread as the main dish."
"Our community is strong because of the connections between people. In our family, we select an early December Saturday evening and share hospitality with our friends and neighbors. Some would call it a house party, but I like to think of it as a gesture, an open welcome to people who have been a part of our lives during the year gone by, to recognize we appreciate them and what they mean to us. I like to boldly greet everyone as they arrive and welcome them with a warm, ‘Merry Christmas.'"
"On New Year's Eve we have pizza, watch movies and play games. It's a great time for our family to share with each other all we are thankful for in the last year and celebrate the start to a new year!"
"Our tradition is to decorate the Spokane Valley Museum with the historic Christmas bells that were used at the old University City Mall to celebrate the season as well as put lots of lights on the building. The bells are large and red and a lot of people recognize them."
"In our first year of marriage, my husband and I took time on Thanksgiving to fill a notecard with things we had to be grateful for during the past year. We continued the practice as kids entered the picture, and they now get a kick out of going back through 20 years worth of notecards each Thanksgiving to see how our lives have changed."
"Passed down from my great grandparents, every Christmas Eve the kids open their first present - a new pair of warm winter pajamas. This serves two purposes. It's easier to get the kids ready for bed because they can't wait to wear their new pajamas, and they look great in the pictures the next morning."
"Traditions change as our adult children have children and other family members to share the holidays with, but our traditions seem to revolve around food - Christmas Eve dinner of crab or seafood chowder, cookies that we have made for weeks - followed by the evening church services. We reconvene on Christmas Day with dinner, presents and hopefully outdoor snow activities!"
"My wife and I received an advent calendar from my grandmother when we got married. It has little doors to open with mini-ornaments inside to hang the calendar on which tell the Christmas story. As we had children and introduced the advent calendar to them, it's become one of their favorite things to do in counting down to Christmas day, waking each other up in the morning so they can do it before school."
"Although it is not a traditional holiday setting, we've made a tradition of spending the holidays at the beach. We don't have a white Christmas, but palm trees decorated with Christmas lights and hoping to see Santa riding a surfboard is something we all look forward to. Mele Kalikimaka!"
"Growing up, my parents started a tradition of gifting my brother, sister and I with an ornament to hallmark a special event that occurred in the year - a hot air balloon for my first marketing internship with the Lake CDA Balloonfest; a Christmas package for my first job as a gift-wrapper at Troutman's Emporium; a piano for my childhood passion for music. My tree is now filled with treasured memories that serve as a great reminder of the beautiful life I'm blessed to live surrounded by loving family and friends."
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