Because I'm a high school music teacher, AND a freelance musician, this is probably the most concert-heavy time of year for me. This week I am busy for 6 nights straight doing concerts (and this is in addition to teaching every day). Next week I get a little bit of a break, so hopefully I can decorate my tree and put up Christmas decorations.. I just haven't had time yet!
Anyway... On to FUN! I am not the "Blog Candy" type of person, but I think I will have to make an exception because 10, 000 hits is a pretty big number and I need to celebrate! I would like you to leave a comment IN THIS POST and let me know what your favourite Christmas tradition is. I will post a pic of what the blog candy will be in a couple of days...
I will tell you my favourite tradition:
My family is Catholic (I'm not practicing anymore) but I still cherish the wonderful tradition of going to midnight mass. I gather up all of my presents (and clothes etc) and head over to my parents on Christmas eve. We usually have a nap around 9:00 (although of late, my brother and I usually stay up playing poker and drinking.. hahahaha) and around 11:00 we all put on our Sunday best, my best friend comes over, and we head to midnight mass... My brother, best friend and I sing at the top of our lungs during the service (usually drowning out the octogenarian choir) and breathe in frankinsense. We get home around 1:30, bring out all the presents from Santa, and head to bed for a well-deserved sleep.
I will post a pic of the Candy over the weekend, but I will make the draw on Sunday night! Feel free to let anyone know about the blog candy, and thank you all for reading my blog. And have a merry Christmas!!
34 comments
Congratulations on hitting the 10k mark. My 6-year old niece and I have a fun tradition. Every year, we drive down to a street that goes all out with their outdoor decorations. We bring hot chocolate and walk around light looking. We usually take the long way home so we can see more lights.
ReplyDeleteI have four children (and a soon to be son in law). I wrap each child's gift in a specific paper, but I don't label the gifts so they never know which presents are theirs. Then on Christmas morning I give them an envelope with this "wrapping paper" in it, so they can figure out which ones are theirs! They love it too.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the success of your blog Tobi! You're one talented girl!
ReplyDeleteHope all the concerts go well too!
As for Christmas traditions, I often enjoy the before Christmas stuff even more than Christmas day. I love going to the Stanley Park train and a tour of all the houses with great lights around here!
You name it, I am so there! I can't remember the last time I slept in my house on Christmas Eve. Whether it be my mom's house, or the in-laws, we always like to share the mornings esp. now with little ones!
ReplyDeleteTraditions for me are hard because this will be the first year I'm spending Christmas away from the house that I grew up in. My biggest holiday tradition though is that I have to get a new pair of pj's on Christmas Eve. Since it's just me and my boyfriend on Christmas Eve I told him he has to get them for me!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, hope the concert season settles down for you, and congrats on the 10,000 blog hits!
Congratulations on that many hits! It's always nice to see that other people are interested in what we write/blog about. My favorite tradition is opening presents on Christmas EVE. Yes, we do open the Christmas EVE. Christmas Day is reserved for celebrating the true meaning of the season. The wonderful gift of our Lord and Savior Jesus.
ReplyDeletewow Congrats on all the hits !!! My fav Christmas tradition is My mom always has a big supper for the whole family and we all gather there and Have a good time playing games telling stories ....One game is We each buy a present and wrap it then we pick wich one we want ...One year I got stuck with tools the box was wrapped sooo nice !!!! lol Its just great to spend time together
ReplyDeleteYou have a great blog, congratulations. Our favorite tradition is each of us buying some stocking stuffers for everyone and on Christmas Eve we take turns opening the gifts from our stockings.
ReplyDeleteClaudia
scfranson@charter.net
Congrat's on the hits and thanks for sharing blog candy with us all.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite tradition is Christmas eve one of the male family members dresses up as Santa and hands out Christmas presents to all the kids. It is so cute to watch. We sing and have such a fun time!
my favorite tradition is christmas eve worship. :)
ReplyDeletethis is my first time on your blog and i love your style! i have subscribed.
Congrats on 10,000 hits! Great blog and just love your creative artwork! One of our traditions is to get together one night and go cruisin to look at all the light displays. One I started and didn't even realize it, was to buy wrapping paper that my kids didn't see so only Santa presents were wrapped in it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a chance at your mystery celebration candy.
cmeyers@hughes.net
Wow Tobi, congrats on the hits! I know how busy you must be at this time of year! We are only in an elementary school and the concert stuff is keeping us super busy! Hope you get some downtime soon and can get all your Christmas stuff in order! I haven't done our tree yet either, maybe this weekend ;)
ReplyDeleteAs for a favourite holiday tradition...I had many as a child but since my husband and I married 13 years ago, we started one of our own. Each Christmas eve we sit down and watch A Christmas Story about Ralphie and his Red Ryder Gun....haha!
Hope you have a very happy holiday!
My husband and I snuggle up together and watch Home for the Holidays and Saturday Night Live Christmas.
ReplyDeleteHow do you practice being Catholic? Having spent my younger years doing just that, I am so glad I decided on a different hobby. Anywho, I no longer do the whole crazy Christmas thing because its just a greedy day for most. I will do what I do every year-watch a Christmas Story over and over and over and write out my end of year checks to local childrens charities.
ReplyDeleteFavorite tradition is baking Christmas cookies!!! :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Tobi!
ReplyDeleteMy family chooses a movie matinee and we all watch it together.
We also assemble a Christmas themed jigsaw puzzle or two or three during the the lead up days until Christmas.
Keep on being creative. I sure enjoy your blog and cards.
Merry Christmas!
Hi there, I'm also a musician and high school teacher - nice to meet another!
ReplyDeleteI'm also fairly carol-led out and have many concerts next week.
One of the things we do is to go to the big church in our town (not a cathedral, but equivalent) for the 9 lessons and carols service. It's good to let someone else do the work!
Happy Christmas,
Ros
Congratulations on all the hits. I'm not surprised. You're very talented. Thanks for sharing. My favorite tradition is on Christmas morning. We have a Happy Birthday, Jesus cake and my three boys get to eat chocolate cake for breakfast. Have a wonderful Christmas.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on this huge milestone!! My favorite tradition is getting up way too early and gathering around the tree to open gifts. We always take turns so we can see what everyone gets. Our 9 year old cat always seems to know the tradition too, as she loves it!!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Cheryl KVD
My favorite tradition is Christmas Eve. We all get dressed up for church, attend the Christmas Eve service and then come home and treat ourselves to a table full of hors d' oeuvres. My dad reads the Bible story of the birth of Jesus and we spend the evening enjoying our family. Love it!
ReplyDeleteHaving one of us adults sneak out and come back in the house fully dressed as Santa with a present for all the little children on Christmas Eve. And, going to midnight mass.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the hits!
((((((((((((((((((((hugs))))))))
Hooray for 10K!!
ReplyDeleteHmm, no traditions really. I do love Christmas music at church.
Have a very Merry Christmas and God Bless!!
Christmas eve's are lonely as both my kids spend it with their in-laws. So I spend it cooking & preparing for Christmas dinner the next day. If I'm not too tired, I'll go to Midnight Mass. Christmas is so wonderful with my kids and my 3 little grandchildren. We put on Christmas music, have a big dinner, open presents, & take lots of photos. In spite of all the fun family time, I always want to focus on the reason for the season - Our Savior's birth! Wishing you and your family a very happy & Holy Christmas.
ReplyDeletespeaking of "candy" - my husband and i visit the local candy cane lane - neighborhoods all decked out in more christmas lights than one would care to count - every year. people walk through the neighborhood, singing carols, others - perfect strangers - joining in at random. it's all perfectly romantic!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite family tradition is to go to the candlelight service. :o)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on hitting 10K!!
10,000 is a special occasion for anyone! Congratulations! I was in high school and college band (played the flute) and had two band directors that were the best teachers I ever had (and one that was the worst). The kids whose lives you touch will remember you always! What a wonderful thing that is! Thanks for sharing your work with us.
ReplyDeleteDuring the Christmas hollidays, we
Wow I'm not sure I could stay up that long with out taking a nap. I'm usually in bed by 12. My favorite Christmas tradition is opening presents Christmas Eve with the family. It's the only time of year that the whole family is together and in the house by 7 pm. It's a fun night and I do have to say I'm up till 1 and I'm so tiered by then that I don't know what's happening around me.
ReplyDeletebrenmarie
Unfortunately we have in laws that live on the other side of the state, so our traditions are just to try to get to see each side of the family around Christmas time! We worked it out fine when they lived in Florida as we just traded out years. One year we'd spend Tday in Florida and Christmas in KY, then switch for the next year. Not so simple anymore! Thanks for the chance to win, and congrats on hitting the 10K mark!
ReplyDeleteWowzer on all your hits!!!! We started a tradition 2 yrs ago which is going to walmart and picking a name on a tree for a needy child. They list the child's 1st name and some items he or she would like for xmas. Usually it's for the Children's Aid Society.So we make someone happy!Thanks for the chance to win!!
ReplyDeleteI wish I could come to your Copic marker class! Sounds like you are busy, but fun! I always enjoy shopping for the little needy kids for our toy drive at work. It has been a tradition for the last 5 years and I always look forward to it. Plus being with family!
ReplyDeleteWE take our family of three adult sons and their girlfriends (girls in 1 room boys in another!!) to Rehoboth Beach DE for the weekend. We stay at a lovely hotel with a great lodge atmosphere, an indoor pool and sauna. We shop the outlets for their Christmas presents, go to a movie, eat pizza at Grotto's (a local favorite spot) for lunch and dinner at another restaurant (changes every year!!)We take pictures at the beach (windy and cold) but still part of the fun...It is a hectic, relaxed time made special by our love for one another. We usually share our favorite Christmas memories over dinner.
ReplyDeleteblessings
patti moffett
Our tradition started many years ago 35 when the kids we small, our nedighbours had 3 we had 2. Our tradition was having our Christmas pot luck meal together. Since then we each lost a child which was devastating our families were crushed and hurting bad. Along comes Christmas a very sad time for both families, we made the decision to make it a double celebration, the birth of our Lord and a remembrance celebration for our own little angels. We started the tradition 35 years ago and we still get together each year.
ReplyDeleteNow our families are growing and we each have grandchilren who are adding joy to our lives.
It is also my birthday and I celebrate each and every year and am happy to do so....live is short and age is only a number.
Merry Christmas to all your families and hug those little ones they are precious.
My husband and I dont' have kids yet but our Christmas tradition is on Christmas we get into our jammies and watch A Christmas Story. The we have a mid night feast of cheese, shrimp ring and Tuna sandwichs.
ReplyDeleteWe've seen this movie so many times but it's such a classic at Christmas time.
Wendy
Our family tradition is pretty much all my family coming over on Christmas Eve to eat a big dinner. Then we all open our gifts one at a time. My mom hates that I do that, but I love to see people open their gifts up! Congrats on all the blog hits. You have a great blog!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting!