Sweet Celebrations Blog Tour: Happy Hanukkah!

Hi everyone! Welcome to mine and Vanessa’s day on the Sweet Celebrations blog tour! I’m just overjoyed that I get to be a part of this fun group of designers and can’t wait to talk a little bit about my project–first though, a quick introduction for those of you who are new here (Hi! by the way, and welcome!).

My name is April Rosenthal. I design quilting patterns for my little business called Prairie Grass Patterns. I am a work-at-home mama to my sweeties: 4 year old twins, a boy and a girl. I’ve been married to my high school sweetheart (awwww) for over 10 years, and I love the traditions that we’ve created together–which brings me to my project!

When I was told that the book would focus on celebrations, I was SO excited to see that they were looking for a Hanukkah project–I couldn’t wait to get started. One of our family traditions each holiday season is to celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah. My husband’s father grew up in a Jewish household, and though he later joined another faith–he always taught his children about Judiasm and celebrated some of the holidays with them. We’ve continued the tradition in our home, and love the added depth that these holidays bring to our more Christian-oriented celebrations.  We love lighting the menorah candles, singing songs, and playing with the dreidels. We love the reminder that miracles happen, and that God is merciful. We also love the potato latkes. Seriously.

So, I made a Hanukkah quilt.

I adore it.

And although I would wager that a majority of you don’t celebrate Hanukkah–don’t count this design out. It is remarkably versatile, and would look so fun in traditional Christmas colors, if that’s more your style. In fact, I mocked up a little example to show you what I mean.

See? Told you so. (Those fabrics? Aneela Hoey’s Cherry Christmas. So cute.)

And besides my fun quilt, you also get about a billion other projects in the book too. I can’t wait to get mine!

Oh, just for fun, I’ve got a couple questions to answer:

What is your favorite apron? My husband and I got matching white canvas aprons for our wedding as a gift. Monogrammed with our names and everything. It’s old, it’s stained, and it works like a dream. So even though there are much, much prettier ones out there–I wear this one most because I don’t feel bad getting it dirty. In fact, it’s a must when making those latkes I was talking about.

Do you prefer to celebrate with cupcakes, cake pops, or just plain old cake? Spice cake with cream cheese frosting. Every birthday. Yum.

When you picture Oda May, what does she look like? A hip chick who’s always mixing up something great with her precuts, her hair tied up with some scrap fabric, wearing a really great Tova top, and possessing some ninja-like skills with a rotary cutter and a 1/4″ seam allowance.(See Vanessa’s post for more about the ninja skills.)

SO. If you want a copy of Sweet Celebrations hot off the press, before anyone else, you should enter the giveaway here on my silly old blog. Because one lucky person will win not only a copy of the book, but also a Fat Quarter bundle, which you’ll want to use to make this really cool star quilt. Just saying.

If you want to win, here’s the deal:

Comment on this post answering this question: What is a tradition or belief your family has that is uniquely yours? It can be something fun, or serious, an activity or a food. Anything really.

For another entry (but just one extra) you can be my friend on Facebook , Twitter, Instagram (amrosenthal), Pinterest–whatever makes you happy. Make another comment to tell me which kind of friend you are.

You have until the 14th to get your entries in at each blog on the tour. Winners will be announced on the 19th.

As a final yahoo, I’m going to share the highly coveted Potato Latke recipe that I use every year for our annual Hanukkah party. Trust me, you’ll want to make these ASAP, and only when you’re ready to be worshipped by everyone who tastes them. Heh. Make sure you’re wearing a cute apron for all that attention.

You can download the card here.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Hanukkah!

xoxo

April

| Filed under Books, Giveaway

365 thoughts on “Sweet Celebrations Blog Tour: Happy Hanukkah!

  1. One great tradition our family has is to put the Christmas cards we receive in a box, then every night at dinner (for the whole year) we pull out 2 cards and pray for them that day. The next night we put those in the back of the back and pull out 2 new ones. Its been a really wonderful way to pray for those friends thru out the year and teach our kids the same. :)

  2. We’ve had a Christmas Eve tradition for 18 years now – dinner out and a movie. We live in a PODUNK town now and there are not great choices for either of those activities on Christmas Eve. If it is snowing we stay in PODUNK but if it is clear we head about 1.5 hours away to a town with many more options.

  3. We attend a live performance of the Nutcracker Ballet, I think it keeps the “kid” in me as I love the music and story. My children grew up, married and we don’t all live in the same town anymore, so this tradition has waned a little since there are limited dates to attend. But I now have grandchildren and I would say by next year, when old enough to sit still that long, we will revive the fun every year again.

  4. A fun tradition of ours was to have a chocolate breakfast on Christmas morning! I have my own little boy now, he’s about at the age where Christmas may mean something this year, so I’m hoping to start a few traditions of our own :)

  5. I’m in the Netherlands. Our family tradition at Sinterklaasavond (Saint Nicolas evening) is to have a special plate full of Sinterklaas candy, which has been secretly delivered by the Candy Pete (one of the helpers of Sinterklaas).

  6. Yummm! Potato latkes! My dad grew up in NYC and always said that his was the only Irish Catholic family surrounded by devout Jewish families. We thought he was exaggerating until we found his family on the census and yep–the McAllisters/Rooneys were the only Irish names in the group! :) He was a wonderful guy and brought us up to love our faith and to be respectful and understanding about other faiths & religions as well. I hope that is the tradition we’ve passed down to our kids. The potato latke recipe reminded me of my dad–he made such GOOD potato latkes!

  7. My tradition is to bake Christmas cookies for everyone. Even the mailman (mail person?) gets some cookies. Thanks for the chance to win.

  8. Not sure it is unique but…my husband and I always have champagne and smoked salmon for Christmas breakfast and you HAVE to get dressed before opening your presents:)

  9. Our family gathers for Christmas Eve at my sister’s and the kids get to open gifts from family, a Polish Tradition.
    micheletimms(at)gmail(dot)com

  10. I like you on FB!!! Thanks for a second entry – I would love to win this yummy book! (I probably already put on 5 lbs during this blog hop just looking at the sweets! hehehe)

  11. We have several things that we like to do but the one that ALWAYS happens is lots of baking. We bake all manner of cookies, quick breads, and treats, and always give out plates of goodies to everyone at church, the mailman, UPS man, etc. Thanks for the chance to win!

  12. Our family’s tradition is to watch the Chevy Chase Christmas movie every year…….we never get bored from it and it makes us laugh as much every season. It’s timeless!
    thanks for the chance! :O)

  13. I’ve begun following you on Pinterest and about to FB follow you too……got stuck on all your Pinboards….some gorgeous stuff there…..I better go make me a cuppa!!!!
    xo hugs :O)

  14. Our belief is that Jesus is the reason for the season and spending time with the family and lots of food!!!

  15. We don’t have any original ideas but ChristmasEve for immediate family with good food, candles and the only electricity used is to light the tree.

  16. The one tradition I’ve passed onto my own children is to visit our local family owned Christmas Tree Farm each year. It is something they all really love doing because over the years my own children have grown with the children of the owners at that Tree Farm. They also think it’s pretty cool that their own Mom (ME :) ) has gone to the very same farm when she/I was a small child. The farm is still owned by that same family and now those children mine grew up with are running the farm. I believe they are the 4th generation now running the farm. Gosh, I feel SO old when I write this as I’ve been going to that same farm since 1959. ACK. OH wait ~ I am old considering my oldest son is now 29yrs old. LOL

    Great recipe. And your quilt is awesome. I have a friend who is Jewish but lives a very long way from us. She came a few years ago during the holiday season and one morning we made Latkes although she didn’t use the Matzo meal in hers so I wonder what that ingredient adds to the recipe. We made the mistake of using about 10 potatoes though. oops. I’m sure you can imagine just how many Latkes we had to make. LOL

  17. We’ve got a mixed bag, religiously speaking, in my household. So every year my family gets together and decorates the Christmas tree and then play dreidel and eat latkes (nom).

  18. I would have to say my favorite tradition is the whole family going to church on Christmas Eve (us, 5 children and 11 grandchildren) for the Christmas eve childrens service. My grandchildren are all too old to participate but it is the most fun to see each year. Then it is back to our house for a nice dinner and gift exchange.

  19. As a family with 2 young kids, we are still trying to adopt some traditions that are just ares. But one I grew up with that I will continue is our Christmas breakfast. My mom makes the most wonderful monkey bread and sausage egg cheese casserole thing (we just call this our Christmas casserole)

  20. I always bake a crazy number of Christmas cookies (sometimes my family helps!) and pass them out to friends and relatives. Several of them say they look forward to it for the whole month of December.

  21. Thanks for the recipe and giveaway! I LOVE the quilt! My favorite tradition is heading back to Ohio from whatever random state we currently live (ahh, the military life!) to spend time with family. No matter where we are my husband makes sure we make it home so he can eat his grandma’s very delicious, and very traditional German, Christmas eve meal!

  22. Since my kids were little, we had them deliver a check to the local soup kitchen and to the homeless shelter. They both learned that Christmas is about giving, not just taking.

  23. We have family movie night on Christmas Eve. We used to go to the theater, but once we started to have kids, we just do it at home to a video, but there is always popcorn nonetheless.

  24. I am Scandinavian and we always celebrate St. Lucia’s Day – Dec 13 -exchange little gifts with each other and have cinn. rolls and hot cocoa or coffee! great way to wave in the holiday season. I love your blue star quilt – very lovely! I do not do other social media platforms, but I will follow your blog! thank you.

  25. I made a tradition for my son and my father (my son’s only grandfather). Every year a few weeks before Christmas I buy a Gingerbread House Kit and, pack up all the uneaten Halloween candy to bring to my parents house with my son. They spend the day making a beautiful Gingerbread House and use all the candy that my son hoards but doesn’t eat. They have a great day, wonderful memories and a work of art to display for the holidays. ;-> Toni Anne

  26. Thanks so much for a chance at the give-away. Since our boys were small, we always allowed them to open one gift before going to Christmas Eve church service. Of course, we were careful of what we put under the tree for that moment so they didn’t opent that “special” gift!

  27. I don’t know think we have anything “original” that we do, but we always leave cookies for Santa on a special plate. We also leave him chocolate milk instead of plain. The kids got the idea from watching Max and Ruby and thought we should switch to chocolate milk too.

  28. Can’t think of anything uniquely ours, but we did enjoy putting out the milk and cookies when the kids were little

  29. First…I was wondering whose pattern that was in the box with the Happy Hanukkah tag. I love, love, love the pattern and the turquoise and gray fabric you used. Are family tradition is mittons. Grandma started it back when I was a kid. She knitted mittons or gloves for everyone in the family and hung them on the Christmas tree. We weren’t allowed to get them or open gifts until after dinner and the dishes were done. But all my cousins & I would stand on our toes, straining to see the tags, so we could find our own. My mother continues the tradition for her grandchildren and I would do the same if I had any.

  30. My husband grew up with German grandparents and had potato salad for every holiday. I have continued that tradition, even though I considered it a summer dish. We started a new tradition with my children (now grown) of having homemade pizza on Christmas eve after church. They now each spend Christmas eve with their in-laws but we still find a time to make and share pizza during the holiday. I wonder what traditions they will start with the grandchildren.

  31. One tradition is going to the movies on Christmas day and getting the huge sized popcorn. It’s nice because no one else is there and my kids don’t have to be told a hundred times to whisper.

  32. we bake dozens & dozens of cookies and box them up to mail to all of our out of town friends and family (not so unique, but it’s one of my favorite things about the holidays)!!

  33. We alway have chicken and noodles on Christmas Eve and invite friends over for a relaxing night of games before the big day.

  34. My mom loves Christmas Eve. So, every year my sister and her family and my family get together at Moms for a potluck dinner, have a glass of wine, share stories and exchange gifts. This makes Mom so happy and this is what she wants to do every year. How can you not make your mother happy? This is our family tradition and we are proudly sticking with it. Well, chef, you have done it again by your creative ideas and designs. I so want to win a copy of this book. How can you not want a copy of any fabric or book by Moda? Thank you for the chance to win. Thank you for the recipe. It’s a keeper.

    Sandi T.
    sandit1@sbcglobal.net

  35. We go to the midnight service on Christmas eve at our local church then back home for mulled wine and mince pies!

  36. In my family Christmas morning breakfast is a bigger deal than the turkey dinner! Scrambled eggs, fresh baked croissants, lots of fruit … and its even better since one of my brothers worked at a diner through college (he is our chef now, and everything is always ready and hot at the same time).

    When I was little, we would have to wait for dad to “check if santa came” before going downstairs to open our stockings. (usually wearing new pyjamas that were a Christmas Eve present / sneaky way to make sure the kids look nice in early morning pictures strategy).

    Then, breakfast, dressed up, and often church (now, we tend to go for a Christmas Eve carol service instead) before opening gifts one at a time from youngest to oldest.

  37. We have had traditions of how we celebrate the various holidays but since my daughter got married and moved 6.5 hours away our traditions are needing to be tweeked a little.

  38. We go to late church on Christmas eve, and drive around town to take
    in all the holiday lights that are light up for the holiday, and then open
    presents in the morning and spend the rest of the day with family, sharing good food and gifts.

  39. Thank you for the giveaway. I am from Germay so we celebrate Christmas on christmas eve and there are a few traditions in our house all day. Starting with putting up and decorating the tree, music all over the house, a nice lunch break and church. after church we have a lovely big dinner (ech year something different) and then we open presents. the next two holidays are full of visting family members and friends!

  40. I have been following your blog, as I don’t do all the other things, beyond by realm of socializing. Love the entries. Thanks for sharing
    your recipe and thanks for a chance to win.

  41. I grew up in the same environment as you are raising your children. My father was raised in a Jewish household, later converted and we continued some of the Jewish traditions–it was a wonderful way to grow up! Loved lighting the menorah and the readings and 8 days of presents!

  42. It been happening for as long as I can remember. On Christmas eve we would all gather at Mom and Dad’s house. It didn’t matter what time you got there because NOTHING happened until 6:00! At that time Christmas started! Then you could eat dinner, the candies we all made, fruits and then the presents!

  43. My husband and I carried a tradition forward from my family – presents are opened Christmas morning BUT you could open one on Christmas Eve. Was that so we would go to sleep and not think about what will be under the tree the next morning?? (It didn’t work). But it is still fun to tease each other with one gift. Thanks for the give away!

  44. We’re still newlyweds (married less than two years) so we don’t yet have any of our own traditions. Growing up, my parents would allow us to each open one gift on Christmas Eve (which I loved), but the husband will NOT let us do the same. :)

  45. The tradition we have i started 12 years ago when i started dating my husband. We each had 1 grandchild. So i started making mini chocolate chip cookies and putting them in the little bucket christmas tins. They have handles on them and the kids looked cute with them slung over there arms walking around. Now we have 11 that live close enough that i still do that for. I guess handmade is still the best cause the kid don’t say where’s my present they say where’s the cookies!

  46. The last couple of years, we’ve put a small tree in our kitchen and decorated it with candy, cookies and treats. We ask everyone who visits over the holidays to take something from the tree when they leave. Thanks for the recipe and the chance to win this cool book. Take care….

  47. We have a favorite cranberry salad we make for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It wouldn’t be the holidays without it!

  48. I don’t think it’s particularly unique, but in my family we always bought a new Christmas Tree decoration each year, one for each member of the family. Funnily enough, when I married my husband, he had the same tradition so we’ve carried it on. Our tree is pretty full!

  49. Our tradition is that my daughter always gets one gift with a duck on it for Christmas. Her nickname is Duckie and now that she just turned 21 we are thinking of bathroom accessories for her hope chest. It has been lots of fun over the years finding or making things for her.

  50. A tradition that I’m just starting with my little family is that we each make a gift for someone in our immediate family. Got to teach those kids creativity and hard work!d

  51. Last year we wrapped 24 Christmas books and opened one each night to read together. Was a nice countdown for my 4 year old and I loved the snuggling time while him and I and my 1 year old daughter read. Can’t wait to do it again this year! Thanks for the giveaway chance!

  52. It is traditional to do no work while the Hanukkah candles are burning. The children receive a small present each night and chocolate coins for playing the dredel game. We have some Hanukkah decorations that we put out for the week. I’d love to see your Hanukkah quilt.

  53. I went, I saw, I ‘liked’, I want to win. LOL In other words I “Liked” you on FB.

  54. On the morning of Christmas Eve, we always listen to Lessons and Carols from Kings College, Cambridge, England live on the radio. That evening, we usually drive to Christ Church Cathedral in Montreal (only an hour from our house in Vermont) for their service – weather permitting, of course!

  55. We really don’t have many tracitions for any holiday, but one we pretty much do every year is we get together to carve pumpkins and them we set them all on a staircase and takes pictures with the buring candle inside. So much fun.

  56. I am now a Pinterest follower.

    Your Hanukkah quilt is beautiful! I’d love to make one just like it. Wondering what fabric line you used…

  57. I love the blue fabric you used to make your quil. We have many family traditions, one is a yearly camping trip together. My Dad, sisters, and brother, all our kids,and our kids kids. We enjoy two or three nights of being togeather and getting to know eachother better.

  58. One of my family’s favorite newer traditions is that I make Paula Deen’s French toast casserole for Christmas morning breakfast. It’s SO decadent (definitely not an everyday recipe), and everyone loves it. It’s prepared the day before, so I can just put it in the oven when I get up and it’s ready when we’re done exchanging gifts.

  59. one of my favorite traditions involves our Christmas tree ornaments. We get our ornaments from places we travel, or things we do and turn keychains, charms, tickets, etc. into ornaments! Each one has a story & a memory and it’s so fun to put them on each year and share that.

  60. I can’t think of any tradition, etc. that is uniquely ours. We do all the “traditional” things that so many others do…….Christmas parade, stockings, cookies for Santa, decorating the tree, etc. but it’s special to us because we’re doing it together! Thanks for chance!

  61. When my whole family is together for Christmas we have an ornament exchange. Everyone really gets into stealing from each other & we have so many great memories from this. My mother’s maiden name was Rosenthal, so I really like your quilt & would love to make it.

  62. Growing up we had many unique family traditions. Several stand out clearly but one favorite was the first family watermelon of the summer could not be enjoyed until the evening of July 4! We so looked forward to that first bite of ice-cold juicy fruit! My grandfather would tease and tempt us with the melon when he brought it home and placed it in the cold water in the old cooler. After dark we would shoot fireworks and slice the watermelon. After July 4, we could eat all the melons we wanted, but we always waited to eat the first that day.

  63. Our family goes to the New Year’s Day Rose Parade in Pasadena, CA every year. My brothers and I even marched in the parade a few times with our respective college bands. Yes, it really is 5 1/2 miles long!

  64. My mom started having a raffle at Xmas for a quilt she made. Since she had eight children she wouldn’t know who to give the quilt to so a raffle was the answer. The last name pulled out of the can was the winner and all the other siblings received a loser prize. After mom died, I continue to make the Xmas raffle quilt which at first was finishing a UFO of her’s every year and then making a quilt using her scraps.

  65. We have a HUGE family Christmas Eve dinner. It is almost bigger than Thanksgiving. Then after everyone is sick to their stomachs we open one present each while drinking egg nog.

  66. Here is a little secret, your project is my favorite! I love the pattern, the colors and the quilting, it is lovely!
    My favorite family tradition is waking up at the crack of dawn and hiding behind the sofa to watch Santa bring in all the presents. It truly is magical through the eyes of my children. My parents have been waking us up to watch for 45 years! We only scared Santa once, with a sneeze!

  67. I really like your Hanukkah quilt. A favourite tradition is my mom’s angel food cake at birthdays.

  68. Tradition in our family is that my youngest daughter (19) get to pick where everyone sits to open presents, then she hands out all the presents. She loves Christmas!
    lisamcgriff (at) hotmail (dot) com

  69. We always try to go to a special local restaurant for Christmas Eve breakfast! Thanks for a chance to win!

  70. This tradition is not unique to my family, but I do LOVE going to the Christmas Eve candle-light service at our church every year. Beautiful music, candle-lighting ceremony and a Christmas message are the perfect way to spend Christmas Eve!! Thanks for participating in this. So FUN!!!

  71. When my kids were still living at home, we would find a nativity set with 12 pieces and anonymously deliver it, piece by piece, on the 12 days before Christmas to a neighbor family.The Baby would be delivered on Christmas Eve. Each piece had a scripture reference attached and the kids were very sly with the delivery. Good memories.

  72. I am now following you on facebook and I am on my way over to pinterest to follow you there. By the way, I LOVE your Hanukkah quilt! What a BEAUTIFUL pattern!! Can’t wait to make one for myself!

  73. I love this star quilt – in etchings – so beautiful. Can’t wait to get my hands on this book! My kids are young so we are still adding some traditions. One being the Elf on the Shelf the last few years. We also head out and see lights sometime in December and of course PJs on Christmas Eve.

  74. My husband’s family’s tradition is to do a big family Christmas gathering the weekend after Christmas–less stressful, and gives everyone a little breathing space in the hectic holiday season!

  75. Our Family has a real old-fashioned Christmas Day dinner together; then fun outdoors in the snow, followed by a light supper and gifts and reading of the Christmas Story!

  76. It’s silly, but my MIL always made this special vegetable dip for all the holidays. Even though she’s gone now, we still make her dip recipe. It wouldn’t be a holiday without it!

  77. I’ve been following your blog, but now I’ve liked you on FB, too! Thanks for the chances to win some goodies!

  78. We stay up until midnight on Christmas Eve and open 1 present. The next morning, we read the Christmas story and then open the rest of the presents.

  79. Thanks for participating in the Moda blog. I am so looking forward to having a copy of Sweet Celebrations after reading all the designer blogs.

    We do not celebrate Hanukkah but a fond memory of this holiday comes from an office mate I once had. He would bring a honey cake to share at the holiday party we had each year. Delicious!

  80. We don’t really have any traditions except that on Christmas Eve my mom, me and my husband and my oldest brother and his family get together to exchange our presents. Holidays are very hectic for my family. We see my moms side of the family, my dad and a few from his side, my husbands mom’s side and my husbands dads side, and my brother has to see his inlaw side as well. Things can get quite hectic for all of us!

  81. I absolutely love your quilt. Beautiful. When I was a child, my brother and I would go out and cut our Christmas tree together. I was the youngest of six and it was so much fun going out just my big brother and me looking for that perfect tree. :)

  82. On Thanksgiving break we make gingerbread houses. Everyone gets their own board, box of Graham crackers, frosting and of course the basket of candy to decorate with. It is a lot of fun.

  83. I love taking in as many church Christmas programs as I can during the holiday season. It always puts me in such a good mood.

  84. Christmas tradition – a gifts for Jesus box. Everyone writes down kind deeds they see others do all month long and then we read them on Christmas morning.

  85. I love being all together on Christmas morning. After opening presents, we have Puffed Pancakes with lots of fruit!

  86. We have a special recipe I always made for breakfast on Christmas and only on Christmas. None of the kids got the recipe from me until they were married!

  87. We have the tradition of celebrating half-birthdays. There are no presents involved, but the birthday girl gets to choose the dinner menu, and for dessert we have half a cake (her flavor choice) and sing “happy half birthday”. Silly fun, but they look forward to it every year! Thanks for sharing your recipe!

  88. I like you on Facebook now. Thanks for a fun blog hop posting! Looking forward to seeing this wonderful book!

  89. Hmm, I’m not sure if we have any tradition uniquely ours as a family. Well, here is something of a tradition I myself have begun, together with my mom though, of giving all of my nieces and nephews a twin size quilt on their fourth birthday. It represents their favorite character or design, like princesses, froggies, cars, ect… and their favorite color. I have completed three so far, and have the tops made for two more and then as of now four more will be coming up in the next couple years.
    I’m loving it.

  90. My husband and I watch Phantom of the Opera every year on Valentine’s Day. ;)

    Your Hanukkah quilt is beautiful! I can see why you love it so much.

  91. We have a tradition of eating chocolate waffles with whipping cream and puree strawberries topped with chocolate syrup! Best part of Christmas :) Well one of many!

  92. We have a tradition that almost every Saturday we eat banana chocolate chip pancakes. It’s a fun thing that we like to do.

  93. Our family tradition that probably isn’t that common either is to have kolachy at Christmas. Kolachy are a filled pastry that originated in Czechoslovakia where my grandparents were born. Most of my family favor the prune filling, but my favorite is the poppy seed filling.

  94. Our family tradition is our annual Christmas Eve “program” given by the kids in our living room for just our family. Everyone anticipates it every year with much excitement to see what songs, readings, and music they’ve arranged. Fun!

  95. Oh my, I do love latkes, too! My dad was from Pennsylvania and must’ve picked it up in the neighborhood, since he was a Lithuanian Catholic. These always bring back the sweet memories of childhood for me…
    Probably not a unique tradition, but we always got new pj’s from my grandparents and so I still give my grown sons (and daughter in law!) new lounge pants, sometimes even home sewn if I get on the stick early enough!

  96. 1. My family always goes to a Christmas Eve services at our church and then me and my sister were allowed to open our presents from each other.

    2. I now follow you on Pinterest. Thanks!

  97. Not with my immediate family, but with my friends from high school (almost family!) — we have a secret santa gift exchange every year (since high school), but now we have changed the rules (we don’t need any more things!). So we donate money to our secret santa’s choice charity, and then with a limited budget ($5-$10) we hand create a gift for them. It brings out a lot of creativity, and shows much more than buying a gift. Its a lot more personal, and we look forward to it every year!

  98. One of my favorite traditions is folding German paper stars to hang on the Christmas tree.
    Your Hanukkah quilt is beautiful. Thanks for the chance to win.

  99. As a tradition, my whole family goes to my sister’s house for a Christmas dinner and fun-filled evening watching all the little one’s open their presents.

  100. We have a fun tradition of making all kinds of different flavored caramels, like root beer, cinnamon, licorice, peppermint, butterscotch, etc. etc. and then we wrap them all and take them to friends and family for Christmas.

    Thanks for the giveaway!

  101. I make all six of my kids flannel PJs every year – and that’s the one present they get to open on Christmas eve…..they all know what’s in the package, but the big surprise is that I hunt all year for crazy flannel that matches each kiddos current “thing”…..it’s so fun!

  102. Our tradition is that we make a fire in our garden (in our fire hole) on October 31. We all light candles and then we say on turn each a name of someone who is no longer with us. In this way we remember those who left our world, but they will be forever in our hearts and we will never forget them. It is a special night for all of us.

  103. I guess my favorite tradition is listening to the Christmas story out of Luke chapter 2. As soon as our boys could read, we had them read it and I think it has always set the tone for our celebration—that it’s not about us or the gifts. It’s about God’s great gift and the redemption He provided. Thanks for the giveaway!

  104. I like to get up early on Christmas morning and listen to Christmas Carols while having a peaceful cup of coffee!
    Congrats on the book and thanks for the giveaway :)

  105. I don’t think we have any unique holiday traditions. We just enjoy being together as a family and sharing great food. Thanks for the recipe and the chance to win!

  106. One of my favorite traditions is that we always have chili and cinnamon rolls on Halloween before trick-or-treating. It warms you up before heading out in the cold.

  107. I’m now a friend on Pinterest. I’m sure I’ll be looking through all your posts very soon.

  108. I used to make carrot/pineapple/coconut bread to give away at Christmas. I haven’t made it for a few years, but I was thinking this year I will. Thanks!

  109. Our favorite tradition is to go shopping the day after Christmas and get all the good deals on decorations. Now this year when we start decorating we can get out all the new stuff we got last year. Thanks for the chance to win!

  110. My uniquely different tradition is to address Christmas cards the week between Christmas and New Years when we have more time to write little “catch-me-ups” and less waiting in line to buy stamps and mail them. Now if only I could find cards that say “Hope your Christmas was wonderful, and we wish you a wonderful New Year.” would be just perfect. Wonderful and very generous giveaway and I so want to win this book – I really am trying. Judy C in NC

  111. We attend midnight mass on Christmas Eve and then come home and make a huge breakfast and open gifts – then we crash!

  112. I don’t know if this is unique to our family but my husbands mother used to make chili and homemade rolls on Christmas Eve, so I am keeping the tradition going.

  113. One tradition that is uniquely ours is the annual cookout and hayride in October that my brother organizes for “the littles” ages infant to 7. As the kids go on the hayride, there is a stop at our house for a candy bag, apple, and my mother/I howl and create lots of noise. We’re all card carrying AARP members so you can imagine how silly it looks. The kids like to see the horses, cows, deer, and other night wildlife during their ride through the farm. It’s so much fun!

  114. Our family has a tradition of serving cookies at weddings ! It is an Italian thing, but I find that not so many American-Italians still do it.

  115. We’ve already liked your FB page Prairie Grass Patterns as Margaret Wright (my mom and I share).

  116. For Thanksgiving my birth family always tries to get together even more so than Christmas. That way those with small kids can stay home on Christmas Day and let the smaller kids enjoy the Santa things they recieved. Those that don’t have smaller kids may stop by and visit but this way the smaller kids aren’t rushed from place to place when they just want to play. Christmas Day is either leftovers or finger foods. Makes it easier for everyone.

  117. when our son was little and we started traveling with him, we told him fairies came to the room and cleaned it while we were out! Even to this day (he is 30!) we still call hotel staff room fairies and sometimes wish we could have a room fairy of our own at home!

  118. We have a Christmas breakfast of stuffed French toast and fruit that we have been doing since our sons were little. They are grown men now and the tradition continues!

  119. We have Chinese Steamboat (Google helps if the word fails you :P) for dinner every Chinese New Year’s eve when the whole extended family goes back to my grandpa’s house for a reunion gathering. It’s a lovely tradition growing up and I have sadly missed this for the last 6 years since I now live abroad. I have started this tradition with my husband and hopefully continue it in the future with our kids!

    And I’m now following you on Facebook and Pinterest.

  120. Thanks for the Hanukkah quilt pattern! I have made my own Hanukkah and Passover designs in the past – we do seem to be a minority among quilters to be sure!

  121. When my daughter was 16 (she’s in her 30’s now), she usually had to work Christmas Eve delivering pizza. We would order take out Chinese for dinner and she would eat hers when she came home. Although she now lives in another state, my husband and I still get take out Chinese and have a nice quiet evening.

  122. My family has a favorite way to celebrate Christmas. We gat together and make chocolate covered peanut butter balls. We end upwith chocolate everywhere, but we have a wonderful time. We use these as gifts for friends and neighbors.

  123. Oops, forgot to say that I liked your FB page ages ago :) and that our favorite holiday tradition is to do the Hanukkah prayers every night of the holiday with a really cheesy, hokey Three Bears-themed menorah that my late mother-in-law gave us when the kids were little! It makes us smile and remember Sandi while we say the ancient prayers :)

  124. We go to a local park near a beach for Christmas to have a picnic; but our Christmas is in summer which makes a difference. If not a picnic it’s a bar-be-que at home, either way there isn’t that big cooked meal in the middle of the day which is really nice!

  125. Once my kids were too old to trick or treat we started the tradition of opening every bag of candy bought on the Saturday evening before Halloween and getting one piece from each bag for ourselves. Since we have many, many trick or treaters our candy stash is large and I make sure to have everybody’s favorite on hand. Thanks for the chance to win this giveaway.

  126. We have a cardboard cone angel with a styrofoam head that my oldest son made in grade school about 20 years ago. My youngest son couldn’t resist adding a smiley face in marker, much to his brother’s irritation. We put it on our tree every year and it makes us smile.

  127. I make Christmas cookies with my daughter every year since she was three and she’s now 23. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

  128. Since the kids were school age we always opened the gifts they bought at the school’s Santa Shop on Christmas Eve. Then when they got older the gifts they bought at the store for each other. This year it will be just our immediate family for Christmas Eve and we’re looking forward to start a new tradition. Thanks for the chance.

  129. We are also a Christmas/Hanukkah house and we love sharing all traditions with our friends and family. For the last few years we’ve had all of our friends over on Christmas Eve to celebrate it cajun-style with gumbo and boudin and all the fun southern Louisiana goodies.

  130. Your recipe sounds great! We open our presents on Christmas eve, and while I was growing up, we always had a Chrismas eve dinner of boiled potatoes and cold fish (salmon, locks, creamed herring, whitefish, etc…). (Considering that I don’t like fish at all, that was one tradition I did not continue… :-) )

  131. My favourite Christmas tradition is Christmas Jammie’s, ever since I was a little girl my parents gave my brother and I Christmas pj’s to wear that night for when Santa came. I have continued this with my four children and they loved it. I never expected this memory to continue to be so important to me. Would love to win a copy of the book, the projects look so gorgeous.

  132. My husband has family from Denmark and every year we get together and make a little pastry type thing, Pippeners. A tradition passed down from his grandma. It’s quite the process and the kids love it.

  133. I follow your blog and follow you on Facebook and sometimes follow you across the street ;)

  134. mother-in-law’s tradition is to have breakfast/brunch Christmas morning and before we open presents, we read the story of Jesus’ birth. when we have kids, we will do the same and have a birthday cake for Jesus.

  135. I’m following you on Pintrest, it took me a while to figure out how to do that, I’m not really that techy and still new to Pintrest.

  136. sew sad, traditions went out the window when our last child left the nest and we’d scattered across the country several decades ago, so i guess our tradition is a round robin of phone calls across 5 times zones and 4 generations.

  137. We used to have many traditions and the holidays were so busy and festive but family members have passed on (my mom) and our children have moved to other states – so our holidays are very calm – so our Christmas day is watching our grandson on skype and talking to our daughters on skype. Our daughters are in the retail industry, so coming home is out of the question until after Jan 1, so we usually have our celebration after then.

    I love your quilt – it is beautiful.

    Thank you

    sandyb720 at gmail dot com

  138. Oooh, my family loves to play games. Once someone wins, then we must keep playing until someone wins second, and then someone wins third, etc. It’s our version of “everyone is a winner!”

  139. Every Christmas Eve is spent with my husbands family. It is alway potluck and Grandpa makes everyone sing Christmas Carols before the opening of gifts can start.

  140. I think that it’s become a tradition to watch Home Alone every Christmas Season… We love it!! Thanks for the chance to win!

  141. Christmas morning our family gathers at my house for gift giving. But first we have a big breakfast. After that THE KIDS DO THE DISHES (they get done really fast) while the adults sip their coffee. Then we play Christmas music & open gifts. I love this tradition & look forward to it every yera!

  142. I started something last year that will now become a tradition in our family as everyone loved it last year. Someone told me about hiding the green pickle in the Christmas tree and then have everyone go to the tree and find it. I went out and purchased a green pickle and hid it. My sons, ages 24 and 26 (last year), and their girlfriends loved this. They said they hope I will continue doing this every year and I do plan on doing this.

  143. I’m sorry to say but I do not do Facebook or Twitter. I do look at Pinterest but I cannot log in, etc because I do not have Facebook or Twitter. But I have added you to my favorites and will be following your blog.

  144. We have lasagna every Christmas Eve for dinner. When my Grandpa was alive, my Grandma would make the noodles from scratch and the sausage came from the local italian butcher. We now use store bought noodles :)

  145. I love having crumpets for breakfast on Christmas morning, and opening presents in our pajamas.

  146. Grandkids love to find the green pickle on the Christmas tree. We also had the “elf on the shelf” keeping an eye on our kids to make sure they were being good, when they were young.

  147. The first unique tradition that comes to mind is something we do on a cold winter night. We have pj night and get ready for bed early, so we can relax by reading or watching tv. I used to warm the towels in the dryer for my kids, like a spa, timing it so they were ready when they finished their showers. Last year I invested in a towel warmer, to make it easier, and available any time.

  148. I don’t think we have any unique traditions as such, but I have a collection of kids Christmas books and so on Christmas Eve we try to read many of them to the grandkids. Really enjoyed hearing other people’s traditions. sharoncolburn@gmail.com

  149. I don’t really have any unique traditions. But I do enjoy some Christmas Cheese every year! Nothing screams of the Christmas season like cheesy Christmas movies on Hallmark & Lifetime!

  150. One tradition that our family has is to join in on the Black Friday shopping craze! It’s fun to get up before sunrise, grab a cup of coffee and join my sisters and Mom to hit the stores and grab a few bargains.. Then we always put up the Christmas tree the next day- and play Christmas music almost non-stop from then until Christmas. :-)

  151. I like you on Facebook! Thanks so much for the chance to win and for taking part in the blog tour! :-)

  152. We always go to a friend’s tree farm to cut our Christmas Tree and we set it up with the lights on only for a few days, then get out the ornaments one night and decorate it all together. We always play the Charlie Brown Christmas music while decorating. Some of the ornaments are real antiques that my parents had on their first Christmas tree.

  153. and now I’m following you on twitter :) I really like your quilt pattern. Thanks for the chance to win!

  154. Something we do, which my family thinks is weird, is that even though we have ham for Christmas, I always make stuffing too. I don’t stuff the ham though…

  155. When we were little, my grandparents had a special bell ornament on the Christmas tree. Christmas officially started when my grandfather rung the bell. That bell is still a special ornament on my folks tree. Love your quilt. It is a great idea for multi-faith families.

  156. Even though my children are grown, we still do Christmas stocking for each one of us. It’s always fun to open the stockings last on Christmas morning. You never know what little treasure you might find inside :-)

  157. Not exactly uniquely ours but we make mince pies and cheese straws on Christmas Eve and leave some out for Father Christmas along with a cup of tea (which I am sure is pretty cold by the time he would arrive!)!

  158. We go to our churches candle light service on Christmas Eve. It is so moving and a great time to see college and married kids that return for Christmas with their families.

  159. For Christmas my mum makes the same really wintery food that my grandmother used to have in Italy, where she grew, but my family lives in Argentina, so you can imagine eating all that warm winter food at 40C in summer! Thanks for the chance to win

  160. My parents always made us wait up in our rooms on Christmas morning until they turned on all the Christmas lights, arranged the presents and decorations on the Christmas tree, turned on mannheim steamroller Deck the Halls, hot chocolate was ready, and everything was perfect… then we got to come downstairs and experience the magic. I remember hating to wait for everything but it was quickly forgotten once I left my room. I have continued that tradition with my own kids.

  161. Beautiful quilt and thank you for a great receipe. It’s not original but I like our family to open gifts Christmas morning at our house. I just love seeing the kids come to see what Santa left them.

    Thank you for a great giveaway and a chance to win.

    usairdoll(at)gmail(dot)com

  162. I Liked you on FB and left some comment love as well.

    Thank you again for a chance to win.

    usairdoll(at)gmail(dot)com

  163. We bake cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve and leave a little note for him. We also love watching Charlie Brown’s Christmas.

  164. Our fun, silly tradition is to designate someone in the family with the annual gag gift. My hubby and I do this every year and it is a secret right up until the last moment. We pay close attention all year for someone to do something totally whacky and then we gift them something totally appropriate to remember the event. Like the time my youngest sister fell backwards over her dog because she wasn’t paying attention to where she was and broke her ankle. So that Christmas every member of her household, even their hampster, got bell collars to wear.

  165. We always go to church on Christmas Eve and then come home and give the kids a gift, always pajamas. They are 20 and 15; they still look forward to this, although they do give hints now as to the ones they want!

  166. Unique traditions, none come to mind. We gather on Christmas Eve for dinner and gift opening.

  167. One tradition which is uniquely my family’s . One year I was going to through away and old bent up Christmas tree away that had been in my attic when we moved into our house. Instead I was inspired to spray paint it black and make a Halloween tree. Over the years I have found some nifty Halloween ornaments (not too scary, most kinda cute). When we have visitors or my kids’ friends see it I can tell they think it’s ahem – unique.

  168. I can’t think of a single unique christmas tradition that we have. Every Christmas, we head up to my aunt’s house and eat until we can’t eat any more, then PRESENTS and we sit at the dining table and chat until late into the evening!

  169. Our family motto – especially true at the holdiays – is:

    We’re not leavin’ until we’re heavin’ !!

    We tend to stuff ourselves to maximum capacity and then moanfully make our way to some soft surface to complain about about how full we are, how great the food was, and what we will eat next when finally able :-) Bacon should be involved in this sad spectacle as much as possible!

  170. One tradition that our family has always done is after all the food and other family have left on Thanksgiving Day, our family would watch the movie, “Christmas Vacation”. Even now, with the 4 children having their own homes, we all watch the movie. We may not physically be in the same place but we are all watching the movie. Thanks for the great giveaway.

  171. Christmas morning we (adults) have Mimosas and eat sausage and cream cheese roll-ups in crescent rolls! Yum yum!

  172. I am going to start a new tradition at Christmas. I am going to use your potato latke recipe. Thanks for sharing.

  173. When the kids were little, and terribly excited on Christmas Eve, I would give them homemade gingerbread men to decorate. This kept them busy and out from under my feet while I prepared the feast. Now that they are older (22, 16, 13) they still decorate gingerbread men on Dec 24.

  174. I am a follower on Instagram. Thank you for the bonus entry, and especially for the latke recipe. My family background is Ukrainian, potato pancakes are a favourite.

  175. Our favorite holiday tradition is giving ugly gifts. It started 40 years ago when our children were small and had little money to spend. Ugly can be almost anything — inappropriate colors, strange, you know all those items left after the holiday (Halloween, Valentines, etc.) and on sale for really reduced prices cuz they just had no appeal. My favorite is a kitchen timer shaped like a can of tomatoes that I’ve had for mor than 30 years. We’re on the lookout all year and our kids, their spouses, and the grands all get in the act.

  176. Opening the gifts from my brothers and sisters on Christmas eve is something I did with my parents and now my husband and I have our kids open there gift for each other. Love your project! Thanks for the chance to win!

  177. Our family have a special Christmas tradition (well several actually) but the one in particular is My Late Grandmothers Frozen Christmas Pudding. It is hot in Australia at Christmas (Most years) so it can be a relief to have cool dessert rather than boiled pudding. It is only allowed to be made in the period of Advent and once it is all gone it is all gone… I usually can stretch mine out to mid to late January with rationing. A family member can only get the recipe if they can be trusted to follow the rules and it is the taste of Christmas to me more than any other food.

  178. My family makes these dumplings at Christmas – it’s apparently an Italian thing, but I don’t know anyone else who does it!

  179. Our family has numbers – 14 and 187. We use those with our boys as a way of saying – howdy, thinking about you, love you. There are many traditions throughout the holidays, but the numbers go all year. The boys know that for Easter, we have steak for lunch – about as non-traditional for other families, but it’s our tradition.

  180. Just liked you on FB! We live in a small mountain town in the Rockies that does the 4th of July in a big way – 5K race, parade, bbq, bucket brigade, and fireworks to top off the day. I am one of the “bean ladies” at the bbq and my husband and I serve strawberry shortcake on our deck between the bbq and the bucket brigade to any friends and neighbors who drop by.

  181. Our family tradition is on the first Saturday in December we go to the tree farm and choose a tree. This includes aunts uncles, cousins etc. We come back to my house for a big brunch, have an ornament exchange game, then spend a couple of hours creating new ornaments for our trees. We date each ornament so we have a collection from years past.

  182. I always have to make Spinach au gratin for Thanksgiving and Christmas…I can taste the deliciousness now! Lisa in Texas

  183. We always read The Polar Express on Christmas Eve…and tease my mom about tearing up every single year.

  184. I make a deliciouse gooey christmas bread. I like to get up early on Christmas and think about my family while I’m making it.

  185. Christmas morning breakfast- my mother in law’s Sticky Rolls and fresh cut oranges and grapefruit- every year. Yum.

  186. Homemade pizza every Sunday is definitely one of our favorite family traditions! It has been so fun to have something the whole family looks forward to every week.

  187. The whole family gets together for Christmas lunch, then we play lucky dip. A washing basket filled with small parcels in brown paper bags goes round the room till all the parcels are gone, then we try to negotiate with each other to swap gifts.

  188. Our favorite Christmas morning tradition is a breakfast casserole that we only have that one day of the year. We open the majority of our presents on Christmas Eve but we always have our Santa presents to open on Christmas morning after our breakfast.

  189. my family does a gift exchange every year, there are 4 siblings and their spouses so it is pretty fun and interesting to see who gets what gifts. Sometimes I wonder if these siblings know each other at all…lol.

  190. Mom’s “Virginia Ham”. I am the only one left in the family that can make it and make it taste like Mom’s. I have tried to teach them all, have personally supervised their making one and it just never turns out right. Must be a technique. Must teach my son’s wife’s to make it, or at a least a close recipe. I take VH to all family gatherings.

  191. My favorite tradition is having carrot cake with cream cheese icing for Christmas. For several years Mom kept the recipe secret, then published it in her apartment building’s cookbook!

  192. In our family we left cookies and a bottle of Pepsi for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer. As a funny side of this, about 20 years ago I happened to be at my parents home on Christmas eve–the nieces were asleep. My sister took a big bite out of a cookie, and then my brother put some nibble/teeth marks on the carrot. I asked if I needed to drink the Pepsi, but they explained that all we really needed to do was swap it out for an empty bottle from the carton in the garage. That idea had never occured to me!

  193. The tradition that we’re doing is having my girls put their hand and foot prints on a sheet each birthday. the sheet is used as a table cloth or picnic blanket.

  194. As for tradition, I have no idea how this one started, but when we are with our boys ( the’re adults now) for christmas eve dinner we make Tex-Mex. Mom’s home made salsa and guacamole ( a lg bowl of each) and then dad’s nachos till everyone has had quite enough.
    The boys love it because then for the next day or so they raid the leftover salsa and quacomole to their delight.
    Can’t wait to try your recipe and thanks for the chance at the giveaways. We all like our treats:)

  195. As for tradition, I have no idea how this one started, but when we are with our boys ( the’re adults now) for christmas eve dinner we make Tex-Mex. Mom’s home made salsa and guacamole ( a lg bowl of each) and then dad’s nachos till everyone has had quite enough.
    The boys love it because then for the next day or so they raid the leftover salsa and quacomole to their delight.
    Can’t wait to try your recipe and thanks for the chance at the giveaways. We all like our treats:)

  196. I’m not much of a Christmas person, but my mother was. I helped her decorate her home on the Saturday & Sunday after Thanksgiving. It took us 2 days to put everything up. We always had a little joke when we put decorations away about who would be the first to find a Christmas object we forgot to put away.

  197. We love waking up on Christmas morning and reading the story of Christ’s birth then drinking coffee and eating a Cheesy Ham Loaf that my mum used to make when we were children. Thanks for sharing your pattern pics.

  198. We always were allowed one gift to open Christmas Eve and it was always a pair of P.J.s. When we had our 4 girls we did the same thing with them and even though they are not at home any longer I still buy them P.J.s as a gift.They now do the same thing with their children.

  199. We have a tradition on Christmas Eve the family gets together for an appetizer only meal. It’s really cool to try a lot of different foods in one meal. :) Thanks for a chance to win! :)

  200. When I was growing up, my family went on a ski trip with another family during the week between Christmas and New Years. We’d get home on New Year’s Day and eat homemade chili and watch football. I still make chili to eat on New Year’s Day.

  201. Happy (very early) Hanukkah!
    We still don’t have traditions of our own, but I believe that when we have children we’ll see the traditions even more than now.
    When we were little we used to have Latke eating contests with all our cousins, it was definitely something to look forward to!
    Your quilt is stunning! I love the blues!

  202. On Christmas eve one of the items on our supper menu is oyster soup made with fresh oysters! I’m not sure where this one came from but my parents did it and I have carried on the tradition with my own family. I hated it as a child and can remember my Dad telling me that I had to eat an oyster if I wanted Santa to come?! I learned to really like it at as i grew older and now some of my older children are learning to like it too!!!(with no cohersion on my part!!)

  203. My family gathers at my parents for Christmas Eve dinner. After dinner, the children in each family perorm a song or a skit that they created! No presents are exchanged but it is my favorite night of the year!

  204. Traditions…we have a pickle ornament that Santa hides on the Christmas tree in a different spot each year. The lucky boy or girl to find it gets a little extra gift on Christmas morning!

    I try to never give up on my friends. Even after we moved, I tried to stay in contact with my dear friends through text, emails and phone calls since we couldn’t see each. miss them :(

  205. We always do a big jigsaw puzzle throughout the holiday season. It’s a great way to spend some time together and take a break from the busy preparations.

  206. Our unique family tradition started by my grandma making fruit salad for Christmas (and Thanksgiving) dinner. The salad has to have heavy cream (no cool whip allowed) and pomegranates with the apples and pineapple. The pomegranates have to come from southern Utah where she was from. We had to have someone bring them up to Washington or ship them to us. I am now the maker of the salad each year.

  207. My favorite tradition is picking the apples from the trees at The Milk Pail farm to make the apple pies for Thanksgiving, and then all the other baking I do for Thanksgiving and Christmas, too.

  208. Our traditions are like many and always include family, scripture reading, lots of food and music and singing with chimes. I love the colors and design in your Hanukkah quilt. Thanks for the chance to win

  209. I don’t know if this is uniquely our feeling, but ever since my son was young I’ve tried to teach him that the real gifts of any season, day or time is being present in the moment and feeling it. He’s 20 now and we still talk about this being the most talked about aspect of living.

  210. We don’t have any traditions really other than getting together with family on Christmas day. Our family is changing, the kids are getting older and starting to go in different directions and so that leaves us older folks alone at the adult table now – remember when you so wanted to be at the adult table…I would give anything to be back at the kids table now.

  211. No special unique family tradtions but everyone DOES try to make it to the family farm each year for the holidays if they can.

  212. One tradition we have is that my kids get a book on each of the twelve days of Christmas. They love it!

  213. When I was a child in my hometown there was a tradition: every year on the night between the 12th and the 13th of december St.Lucia passed with her donkey, leaving gifts for the children in every home. That night the children prepared bread for St.Lucia and water for the donkey, then were sent to bed. After a while we listened a bell ringing (and a big confusion around the building, it was the “grown-ups” having more fun than us!!): we knew it was “her”. The morning after there was no bread and no water but lots of gifts.
    I still prepare water and bread with my children on that night, even if I’m not living in my hometown anymore…

  214. I put up a tree just to feature all the ornaments my 4 kids made for me throughout the years. It is in the foyer and everyone admires its sweetness.

  215. We always have 2 stews for Xmas eve… Chicken stew for the girls and a rabbit stew(yack) for the boys….

  216. Our favorite tradition is to host a holiday meal for our friends locally who live too far to go home. It’s usually ON the holiday as it’s too hard for other family members to get around in laws. :) We live too far to see my family on holidays… so on actual holidays, Christmas and Thanksgiving, we have HUGE dinners and invite our friends from work or what not who ALSO can’t get home or who live alone.

    No one should be alone for the holidays. My friends look forward to the dinners here every year. :)

  217. We really don’t have any traditions that are unique to us for any holiday. I guess you could say that I always have to watch The Santa Clause on Thanksgiving after we are stuffed to the brim! That’s like the green light for my family to start getting ready for the Christmas season.

  218. When I was a kid I used to go to the hospital on the afternoon on Christmas Eve where my mom worked to attend the church service held for the patients. The patients enjoyed seeing us kids dance around the Christmas tree afterwards and hand out treats to them.

  219. I’m sure it’s NOT uniquely our tradition, but on Christmas eve we always got to open one gift and guess what?! It was always cute, new pajamas! How does that happen… year after year? I’ve carried this tradition on with my daughter. I love that she has new cute pj’s for Christmas morning pictures! :) Yeah!

  220. Even though she’s long gone, someone always has to comment on how nobody can make turkey dressing like my grandmother could. It’s become a Christmas dinner tradition. Really, it was kind of dry!

  221. I have loved reading other traditions! (and found some I thought were uniquely ours, but other have them, too!) Our family goes sledding on New Year’s Day. That’s a fun one ;)

  222. Wegather each year to celebrate St Nicholas…..Dutch food, Dutch songs and heartfelt gifts!!!!

  223. Growing up we always had pizza on Christmas Eve, so my Mom had a little bit of a break before the all day cooking affair that was Christmas day. Now that I have little ones, we are doing that in my house, too.

  224. We have the tradition in our family to make paperstars for the windows on the first of Advent. And during the crafting time chatting,laughing and eating caramelised almonds.
    Love your quilt, so sweet!

  225. We are starting a family tradition this year with the Jesse Tree – counting down the days to Jesus Birthday with Bible stories and special Bible ornaments. So excited about this!

  226. Well…. I grew up waking on Christmas morning ( before the rooster crows) to the amazing smell of roasting turkey!!!! Yep …. I said turkey roasting at 6:00 AM. Our stockings were put on our beds by Santa in the night and we would wake up , grab the stocking ( surely peeking into it first), meet my sisters in my parents room. After the stocking hoopla we raced downstairs to Christmas. When the room was full of presents and wrapping paper we then could not wait to enjoy a hot turkey sandwich with lettuce and mayo, little salt and pepper. Mmmmmmm. It still only seems like Christmas Day if I can smell turkey roasting,,, I know it seems crazy to everyone but my 3 sisters, we all share the same memories and it is now a tradition. I can almost smell it cooking now.

  227. I am the only one of 6 kids to have moved away from my home town area. And by over 1000 miles! So my favorite tradition has always been with my own kids.

    Usually the very day after Thanksgiving, we get our Xmas tree, make a big pot of eggnog and all decorate it together. Tradition is for me to unpack the ornaments and hand them to the kids and they get to hang them as they see fit. They each get to hang any that are special to them. ie: they may have made them in school or they were given to them as babies or from friends, etc. Then there is always the fun rivalry of whose turn it is when certain favorites are unwrapped. It’s so much fun!! My kids are grown now and I’m so going to miss that tradition so my plan is to try and incorporate my future grandkids into their previous roles. :)

  228. Our tradition since I can remember is on Christmas morning the kids are allowed to open one present prior to having breakfast. Afterwards we all gathered by the tree to open the remaining gifts. Hated it as a child but once I had my own children kept up the tradition.

    Also, I follow you on Facebook and Twitter. Thank you for offering this fabulous giveaway.

  229. A tradition we started when the kids were young was to make pea soup in bread bowls for Christmas Eve, and think about the shepherds in the nativity story the night that Christ was born , what it would have been like that night. Love your quilt. Liked you on Facebook!

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