2011 Advent Tour

As you can see I am one of the participates in the 2011 Advent Tour. This is my first year taking part and I have to say that when I first started blogging I saw this and every year I always meant to take part but for some reason or another it didn’t happen until this year.

When I first signed up for this I was wondered what I was going to talk about without having a repeating posting topic going around the blogosphere and honestly its was hard because it seemed like I was on the same wave length as so many book bloggers and thinking of the same things they were.

Growing up we didn’t have alot of money because my dad was a seasonal worker (construction) and that meant money was usually tight come the holidays. As it is with so many households then and now.

One of the things I always  swore to was that I would always make sure Christmas was special in my house and that I would do things with my child that I never got to experience with my own parents. Those are the true memories of Christmas and making new memories and traditions.

Traditions that have been passed down are:

• a complete Christmas dinner (turkey and all the trimmings)
• a bowl that contained huge oranges and apples (every person got an apple and orange)
• getting socks and undewear
• getting to open one small present Christmas Eve
• a stocking filled with little goodies
• advent calendars

For the past two years this has been Michael’s advent calendar. He has tried the chocolate ones and he never liked them and they would always be wasted so when we discovered that Lego was doing an advent calendar we started to pick them up. He loves doing them and each year is different.

New traditons that we have started:

• putting up the Christmas tree the second weekend of December. Growing up my parents always put up the tree up on December 1st so my birthday (the 5th) was always included in with Christmas. So when I moved out of home I always made it a point to do it after my birthday and to this day I still do it.
• decorating the tree as a family. Growing up my father always did it and we weren’t allowed to help.
• When Michael was born I started him on his very own ornaments. So every year he gets a new one and after Christmas its all wrapped up and put in a bin so that one day when (and if) he leaves home he will have his own very special ornaments.
• new pjs for everyone. Nothing nicer then having a pair of new jammies on Christmas eve.
• seeing Santa. I try to make it a point to take Michael to see Santa. Currently to my knowledge he still believes and I just love seeing his face light up on Christmas day.
• a new outfit for Christmas day. For me is usually ends up being a nice new top.
• holiday baking with Michael. This is something my mother never did with us and I always said when I have kids I want them to be able to do this instead of just watching.

Holiday Baking:

I usually don’t do alot of holiday baking but some of the things I always tend to make is cookies, peach fruit cake and fudge. I try to keep things simple when it comes to baking so that I can get Michael involved.

Over the course of the holiday season I will share some of my favorite holiday recipes with you.
Be sure to check out the other daily tour stops. This is who is touring with me today:
raidergirl3 @ an adventure in reading