Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Traditions

Tomorrow is Dec. 1st.

Which means.....Christmas is just around the corner!

I feel like is was just labor day-I mean, for real.

But as a *relatively* newlywed, Mr. Gill and I have been trying to formulate what our Holiday Traditions will be.
Growing up my (Jenny) family would always do the tree and on christmas eve we'd come home from church and have a little buffet and watch silly christmas movies. We'd also get to open one present before we went to bed to hold us over until the next morning.
For Mr. Gill and I though we haven't had much time to start traditions. Our first year of being married we had a christmas tree that was filled w/teal and silver ornaments from our wedding only weeks earlier.



















Our second christmas together we didn't have a tree because we packed up our little apartment to move across the country the morning after the holiday and decided that dealing w/a tree would be just too much work.















This year, we will probably put up a tree, but as we are in the process of purchasing our first home (!) we'll wait until we're all moved in. While waiting for that fun event, we have something that we've been participating in for a couple of days now that we think we'll keep as a tradition for our family-an Advent Wreath!



















The wreath has been great because we get to take time right before dinner and light a candle, read the scripture for that day and remember the waiting of people for thousands of years and then we get to eat by candlelight! It's fun for us as a couple, and we've been inviting friends to join us! It makes for great conversation and who doesn't love eating around a tiny little table by candlelight with their friends!
It also kind of forces us to eat at the table together (which we don't normally do) and we really like it. We might even keep the candlelit dinners as a norm!

What are your Christmas Traditions? Are they new or have they been passed down in your family for a long time?

Happy start o' the holidays!!

*Jenny G

3 comments:

  1. My family puts the main tree up the day after Thanksgiving, shortly thereafter the entire house gets tuned into a forest--10 trees up and decorated in all....We also do the Advent wreath and I love it. However we usually don't get to open presents until Christmas afternoon mainly because we are busy singing special music in church and then eating Christmas dinner!

    I remember the day after Christmas last year!! That was a great adventure for me and I would do it again in a heartbeat! Thanks for giving me the opportunity to drive across the country with you guys!!!

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  2. The McMillion Christmas tradition Joel and I started when we started dating three years ago is Tom & Jerry's (They're like eggnog combined with a hot toddy -- all the best Christmassy drinks in one!) on Christmas morning. :P There is a bar in this tiny, rural town outside Chicago that serves free Tom & Jerry's on Christmas morning, and it's all these great smalltown regulars and bartenders who tell you about how things used to be. So we have a couple drinks with them and head out to our folks'. Although, this year we're spending the holidays in Springfield for my nephew's first Christmas, so we'll have to make our own.

    I also collect those little boot mugs from the Christkindlmarkt in Daley Plaza. I have one from every year I've lived in Chicago.

    And going way back, my favorite family Christmas tradition was going to church together Christmas Eve. :)

    Also, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE BUYING A HOUSE!

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  3. We also have had to delay our decorating due to moving residences. I'm excited about our new house (of course!), but totally bummed about missing the tradition of putting up the tree after Thanksgiving! We made an advent wreath last year, but that is also being missed because it's boxed up and waiting for us to get settled in.

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