Holiday traditions : RSS 2.0

bingo @ 12/15/2008 12:25:03 PM

« Moe : I make pickled eggs as taught my my Gramma.

Delicious bright red pickled eggs. I cannot get enough of them.

Moe's Gramma's Kick-ass Pickled Eggs:

Ohhh, I haven't had pickled eggs in a long time. Our recipe is a bit different, but not much.
I need to make some!

Thanks for the reminder.

thebrownsofa @ 12/15/2008 5:44:43 AM

« maven :

{{{hugs}}}

{{{hugs back maven}}}

maven @ 12/14/2008 2:14:15 PM

Spa day. A good book. A walk, someplace that makes you happy.

Learning to be alone without being lonely takes time. Don't be afraid to be sad and miss happier times, just don't regret that your life has changed.

{{{hugs}}}

thebrownsofa @ 12/14/2008 2:07:51 PM

For the past seven years, Christmas makes me so sad. You see my whole family is working abroad and I'm left alone. My husband and I have no kids yet.I'm not close with my in laws. This year my marriage is falling apart so in the spirit of this holiday I decided to make a new tradition for myself that is learning to be separated, single and blessed. Any ideas on how to do that? :-)

2manyusernames @ 11/26/2008 9:35:12 AM

Humorous story I heard today about a Thanksgiving prank that some of you may want to try...

A young lady was making thanksgiving dinner for the first time. Her whole family was there including her mother. She was a bit nervous preparing such an important meal for the family but she was doing well. The problem was she didn't prepare for her mother's sense of humor.

The mother went into the kitchen while the brother kept the sister occupied. Dear sweet mom removed the stuffing from the turkey, placed a rock cornish game hen in the turkey and then replaced the stuffing.

When the meal was on the table and they started to carve the turkey, Mom shouted out, "my god Theresa, you cooked a pregnant turkey!". Theresa totally freaked out because cooking a pregnant turkey is different than cooking a non-pregnant turkey.

What adds to the humor is it took them some time to convince the young lady that turkeys lay eggs. The fact that the young lady is a school teacher racks up the humor even more.

meggysue @ 11/26/2008 9:06:53 AM

« maven :
I'm planning on drawing a tree in the sand and decorating it with shells, and taking a picture

What a great idea Maven. Hope you won't mind if I do the same. I don't do the calendar thing, but it'll be a great memory.

KerOBeroS32 @ 11/25/2008 7:45:54 PM

« Jerry520 : Some people have egg nog, my family has coquito! :D

Edit: Coquito

We have that in Venezuela, we just call it Ponche Crema... My mother brings me a bottle whenever she goes to visit. THAT STUFF IS DA BOMB!

hoosker @ 11/25/2008 6:30:14 PM

« Moe : Beer is implied

Thanks...don't mind if I do.

I can eat me some large quantities of the pickled eggs. My friends wife makes them with hot peppers. OOOOOOOWEEEEEEE, so nice they burn you twice.

Moe @ 11/25/2008 6:19:35 PM

« hoosker : pssst...you forgot about grabbing a beer.

Pickled Eggs

Beer is implied

hoosker @ 11/25/2008 6:16:23 PM

« Moe :
Take the jar out. No, not the mayonnaise, the pickled eggs you made a while back and forgot about. Open the jar. Get some tongs and grab an egg.

Eat it.

Get your ass kicked by how good it is.

pssst...you forgot about grabbing a beer.

Moe @ 11/25/2008 6:03:33 PM

I make pickled eggs as taught my my Gramma.

Delicious bright red pickled eggs. I cannot get enough of them.

Moe's Gramma's Kick-ass Pickled Eggs:
Get a large glass jar. No, a bigger one. OK. Now add the eggs already hardboiled and peeled. How many eggs? What do I look like, a calculator? Just throw in a bunch. Toss in chopped onion and minced garlic - FRESH garlic...not that stupid jar kind. How much? Pfft...I have no idea, just do it. Also lob in 3 or 4 or 12 whole garlic cloves just in case.

OK. Now pour in a quart of Borscht. Make sure it is the manly kind with the chopped beets in the bottom. Get ALL the beets in there. You missed a few. OK good.

Now top it off with white vinegar. Cap off the jar and stick in the back of the fridge for 2 and 1/2 weeks.

< time passes >

Take the jar out. No, not the mayonnaise, the pickled eggs you made a while back and forgot about. Open the jar. Get some tongs and grab an egg.

Eat it.

Get your ass kicked by how good it is.

It is the Chuck Norris of Christmas food.

suebe @ 11/25/2008 5:31:27 PM

On Thanksgiving I always listen to "Alice's Restaurant" at noon on the radio. My favorite classic rock station in NYC has been playing this song forever on Thanksgiving. Even more fun is when my kid brother and I sing along for the entire 19 minutes.

In case you miss it
Arlo himself

maven @ 11/25/2008 5:21:18 PM

Ummm.

Growing up, we always did Christmas eve at home, and opened most of the gifts. Christmas day, we had lunch with one set of grandparents, and dinner with the other, with more gifts and too much food.

Things change, people moved, etc. We started hosting Christmas, or going to the cousins instead, whatever.

Hubbin and I don't really have any traditions. We're too far away (and I don't have enough leave) for us to visit either family. And, both of us have a hard time getting in to the holiday spirit...we're used to snow, we're used to cold weather.

Spending Christmas at the beach seems...wrong...but that's probably what we'll do again this year. I'm planning on drawing a tree in the sand and decorating it with shells, and taking a picture to use in the calendar we make for my grandmothers next year.

Jerry520 @ 11/25/2008 3:33:26 PM

« TraumaMamma : OMG I love that stuff.

It's awesome. My grandmother makes the best coquito that you will ever have. It will explode your tastebuds with happiness and glee. :D

TraumaMamma @ 11/25/2008 3:31:55 PM

« Jerry520 : Some people have egg nog, my family has coquito! :D

Edit: Coquito

OMG I love that stuff.

Jerry520 @ 11/25/2008 3:19:08 PM

Some people have egg nog, my family has coquito! :D

Edit: Coquito

KerOBeroS32 @ 11/25/2008 3:08:32 PM

One of the many Holiday Traditions from Venezuela

TraumaMamma @ 11/25/2008 3:02:29 PM

Generally, I work every holiday.

No joke.

We are allowed to ask for one special day a year to be off and this year I asked for Christmas.

Most all of my holidays are spent at work and having a small dinner before I go to work.

Sometimes we all joke it is better to be here than going to inlaws, but after 7+ yrs, it gets tiresome.

Instead, we are all involved in all the family dramas around the county.

TraumaMamma @ 11/25/2008 2:59:03 PM

« lynxears : Well, I haven't been in charge in a few years, but I've passed the ladle.

Soup for 500 is a lot!

Makes me smile, in light of the story I posted yesterday.

lynxears @ 11/25/2008 2:50:04 PM

« TraumaMamma : You are da bomb!

Well, I haven't been in charge in a few years, but I've passed the ladle.

Soup for 500 is a lot!

TraumaMamma @ 11/25/2008 2:28:06 PM

« lynxears : Thanksgiving is literally the only time a year we have a cooked turkey in my house. My dad *hates* turkey, and does everything he can to make sure the leftovers get pushed out of the house as soon as possible.

So, for the past few years, we've had the 'tradition,' coordinated by me, of cooking a huge pot of turkey and rice stew with the leftover turkey carcasses from donations, and serving it to 500ish homeless persons in the city the first Monday of December.

You are da bomb!

Marz @ 11/25/2008 2:06:39 PM

My parents own a toy shop so the run up to Christmas is mental.

Christmas eve, my parents try to shut the shop at 6 on the dot and come home wrecked.

Our cousins come and we have spiced beef, Christmas cake and whiskey. Gifts are exchanged. My family puts all ours under the tree, but our cousins usually open theirs.

After the cousins leave we have some time before we go to midnight mass.

After Mass, myself and my brother go to bed, and my parents put their gifts for us under the tree.

Even though my brother and I are older now, we still get up at the crack of dawn, open our gifts, and bring them, plus any gifts under the tree for our parents up to their bedroom.

We used to go to our cousins house for dinner as our own house was too small, but this year, we're having it in our new house (I have to cook dinner for 9 people. Gulp)

Once the cousins arrive, we'll eat about 2, a 5 course meal. Washed down with huge amounts of wine. Everyone gets drunk and we play games for a while until people start to sneak off to various fires and fall asleep.

Stevens Day (Boxing Day) My self and my mother go see my nana, my bro takes part in a car race, and my dad goes with him.

Stevens night, out with my friends in our home town, the one night of the year we're all together.

I love Christmas

meggysue @ 11/25/2008 1:55:36 PM

*sniff* We really don't have any family-of-origin holiday traditions now that my parents have passed on.

BUT, Husby, daughter and I have always opened our gifts on Christmas Eve so we can keep the Main Thing the Main Thing on Christmas day. Jesus is the reason for the season in our house.

stinkobinko @ 11/25/2008 10:19:50 AM

Our tradition, as with all our family gatherings, is to eat a bunch of food, drink a bunch of drink, and pretend that we like each other. Happy Holidays! Cheers to you.

STEelsHOOter @ 11/25/2008 1:47:41 AM

Christmas:

Entire Family goes to get the tree (sometimes cut, sometimes bought).
A dated ornament is procured (homemade when we had younger ones, bought later on). There may be several "new" ones, but one is designated as "this year's" ornament.
Everybody gets pajamas/robe/sweats, and this one gets opened on Christmas Eve (so we all have something comfy for the morning.

Thanksgiving: Dinner is at MY house. Any and all friends and family are welcome, but not obligated. We usually have 10-15 folks. Some years higher, this year likely lower.

Birthdays: (They are holidays to one person.) The day you turn the age as the date you were born is your Golden Birthday. Parents must gift you with something gold. (For example, I was born on the 27th. For my 27th birthday I got a gold ring with my birthstone set in it. My sister, born on the 2nd, got hosed. :) )

chinook @ 11/24/2008 8:50:32 PM

I usually expect Christmas to be a bit of a gong show and as a result I'll sedate myself with rummy eggnoggs for a week or two.

Every other year, (as in, not this year), my uncle plays the Charlie Brown song on the piano and we dance with our heads back and forth like so. It's fun.

THIS YEAR I'M TAKIN' OFF, eh!!

I don't know where I'll be. Maybe on a beach in a bikini. Maybe on a mountain in the jungle. Maybe I'll go diving.

Oh, and we did the whole Thanksgiving thing over a month ago. Yeah, we're that good up here in Canada.

lynxears @ 11/24/2008 8:48:58 PM

Thanksgiving is literally the only time a year we have a cooked turkey in my house. My dad *hates* turkey, and does everything he can to make sure the leftovers get pushed out of the house as soon as possible.

So, for the past few years, we've had the 'tradition,' coordinated by me, of cooking a huge pot of turkey and rice stew with the leftover turkey carcasses from donations, and serving it to 500ish homeless persons in the city the first Monday of December.

coldbladed @ 11/24/2008 8:46:33 PM

No one is allowed to get in the Christmas spirit until we've had Thanksgiving first!

It really annoys me when xmas stuff is everywhere Nov 1 and comes down for like one day on the 26th to remind people of Thanksgiving.

craziesean @ 11/24/2008 8:43:21 PM

usually any holiday activity consists of lots of drinking... some crying( over those whom passed) then some fighting... more crying.... some singing... more fighting..more drinking.

and as always a crap ton of food. its really a traditional Irish holiday celebration.

tundramonkey @ 11/24/2008 8:41:43 PM

Every Christmas, I expect massive crowds, grumpiness, I expect to have my earballs pierced by incessant Christmas carols, I expect people at airports to begin to act like mad cows, I expect people everywhere to act all "godly" about the holiday without realizing how these celebrations originated....

... this year I expect to enjoy my day on or by the beach, with a few family members possibly visiting. The farthest I'm travelling is down the road from home!! I might spend my time poking around tidal pools and poking an anemone, or just reading a book and listening to the surf pound the gravelly beach. It'll be nice....

.... followed by a bustling New Year.

lynxears @ 11/24/2008 8:40:52 PM

For Christmas, my dad has always given my mom an ornament, every year they've known each other. Even though he isn't the writer of the family, he agonizes over the special ornament, and always writes a clever poem to go with it. Those ornaments are my favorite to hang on the tree.

We also have a Christmas bell. When I was little, it was my job to (wait until sunrise before I left my room, then) ring the special Christmas jingle bell to wake all the adults up. When my brother was old enough, he did it.
Even though we're grown now, we still dig out the bell and give it a special jingle.