UPDATE: THANK YOU SO MUCH, THE GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED!!!!
a few months ago i stumbled across this wonderful website,
the Brave Girls Club was created by two beautiful sisters,
Melody Ross & Kathy Wilkins
in 2009 {you can read about their journey here}
the brave girls club encourages you to SOAR higher than you could possibly imagine,
thru blog posts, retreats, & online workshops, melody and kathy encourage you to love & except yourself thru creativity.
” we combine art + life to help each other create the phenomenal life that our hearts are screaming for. We believe art heals…whether it is painting or cooking or sewing or gardening or creating music.”wwc
i signed up for their daily truths e-mails and let me tell you that there is nothing better than opening an e-mail,{ especially after a rough morning of getting the kids off to school} then to read their beautiful, & encouraging words.
“Dear Terrific Girl..have a cup cake, or take a hot bath. Do something kind for yourself. Remember that it is ok to give yourself a break sometimes…” {you can sign up for the daily truths here}& they are always signed…
“YOU ARE SO LOVED”
So i decided to give myself a little christmas gift…
the gift of creative beauty
not only that, but i have decided to give one lucky person the gift of soul restoration. the Soul Restoration online workshop begins January 11, 2011. and i believe it is a great way to ring in the new year.
all you have to do is leave a comment telling me what is your favorite Christmas or Holiday tradition?
{the give away will end on wednesday, dec. 22 & the winner will be announced on thursday dec. 23}
xoxxo,
amy
*** if you do not have a blog, then please make sure you leave your e-mail address
thegypsychic.wordpress.com 
{Amy, I am taking a big breath here, and entering your very generous giveaway, and being BRAVE… because honestly, I really need this workshop. And I never win anything… but it’s about being brave and taking chances and believing in ourselves, right? OK!!}
My favorite Christmas tradition is something we call ‘The GREAT Cookie Bake’. We gather as a family (four kids, now grown with spouses & kids of their own) to bake hundreds of sugar cutout cookies in one day, and lay them all out on my seven-foot long pine dining table to cool. That evening, we frost and decorate them all, then create plates/trays full for each family to take home and enjoy. When the kids were young and lived at home, we’d deliver plates of cookies to the neighbors.
It’s an irreplaceable part of our family holiday celebrations – made a little more difficult by distance now, but we host it in two states simultaneously and share via text, phoneshots, and facebook! ;0)
Hi Amy
what an amazing giveaway, an opportunity that I’m sure most of us gals would love.
My favorite Christmas tradition is every year the week before Christmas we bundle and take my mom & the my kids to Brea where there is an entire community that goes all out with the Christmas lights and displays in front of their homes. I was so blessed that I could still take my mom this year. We listen and sing Christmas songs and grab hot chocolate from the local Starbucks!!
Happy Holiday season to you
xo’
Kate
Oh, pick me, pick me!!!! I would so love to get this workshop, it sound absolutely wonderful!!!! Thank you for such generous offer!!
Isabel
Love your blog! Workshop looks wonderful! Our favorite holiday tradition we started was hiding the pickle ornament on the tree. Whoever finds it gets a special gift (gift card, cash, etc).
Our Christmas Traditions are, lets keep it simple. Everyone get their favorite dish,and dessert. But more importantly we have to watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. That is the one thing that NEVER changes. Have a Merry Christmas!
What a beautiful giveaway, and how thoughtful of you to think of others!
My favorite Christmas memory or memories always center around time spent with my grandparents in Waco. They have both been gone so many years, but they were the heart and soul of our entire family.
Have a happy week, my friend!
Hugs,
Anne
~*~*Love your blog Amy!! Great giveaway too! 😉 ~*~Our favorite Christmas tradition is waking up Christmas morning all in our pjs and taking turns from youngest to oldest opening up presents..eating a deliciouse breakfast and laughing and just enjoying the moment!!~*~*Hugs, Rachel 🙂
Amy,
There are so many, but I love sausage balls and carmel pecan rolls on Christmas morning. My “new” tradition began 8 years ago with the birth of Graycie. She is always with me for the whole day of the 24th. We cook, wrap, sing and I look forward to this time with her and hope to continue it with little Bella. Simple…but it makes me so happy.
Debbie
Heya GORGEOUS Amy….!
I hope this note finds you & your Mum well….!! I’ve been thinking about you this last week & wondering why I hadn’t seen a post from you in a while….When I was looking at my reading list just now I discovered a BUNCH of blogs I follow are MISSING from my list….How that even happened I DON’T KNOW & it means I’ll spend the better of the afternoon going through my old posts to see who I need to re-add….Anyways I’m GLAD I’ve found you again as I wanted to wish you a MERRY & SAFE Christmas before the ‘fat man’ arrives….!
The Brave Girls club sounds VERY empowering & I LOVE hearing about women supporting women….!
Well Lovey I must away….So GLAD to have found you safe & sound….!
Cheers from Oz,
Tamarah :o)
Oh Amy, what a WONDERFUL giveaway!!!!!! Oh my….let’s see….the tradition I love the most is our family’s Christmas eve gathering ~ the excitement that day is always so wonderful!!!! We gather together, have a delicious meal and then exchange our gifts to one another ~ but the most wonderful thing is just being together…….wishing YOU a very Merry Christmas!!! xxoo, Dawn
Hi Amy,
What a great give-away. I personally know and love these two ladies. I was one of the first Brave Girl’s and attended the very first camp. It was amazing on so many levels. Don’t throw my name in the pot. Leave it for someone else to experience. Just had to add my two cents worth:) I look forward to the emails everyday. Don’t know how in the world they come up with the perfect thing to say…day after day!
I’m new to your blog and just wanted say thank you for such a generous chance to win. I know all about these ladies and would love to try their class.
My favorite Christmas traditon is making cookies with my boys. We have such a good time and it really feels like Christmas when were eating them and admiring our tree.
Happy holiday!
Denni
what an amazing workshop…
as to a holiday tradition, we’re making new ones, finding what works for us.
I really want to participate in this class. Like so many others, my soul needs restored. I hope I’m lucky, I’ll double cross my fingers. Thanks!
What a fabulous giveaway, it looks like an amazing workshop! My fav tradition has been decorating the tree while drinking hot cocoa with a candy cane in it!
First, thank you for having this giveaway!
Second, my all-time favorite Christmas tradition is getting together with my family and singing Christmas songs. In years past, it might have been caroling or singing at church. Now a days, we live in different states, so we do it via Skype or mobile phone (for those without Skype. I cry every time.
What a fabulous giveaway! My favorite tradition is making all my holiday cards and mailing them out. It’s such a sense of accomplishment to put them in the mail box.
I wish we had “traditions”. We don’t. Sure we do open gifts and such but their aren’t any specific things we always do. Kinda sad. Maybe it’s time to create some.
Shelly
WOW! How generous and KIND of you.
May you be Bessed over & over!
Favorite Christmas Tradition here sinc I have 3 out of 4 kids at home still are simple homey ones.. My favorite must be snuggling together Christmas Eve and tellign Stories, reading books and whispering our hopes and dreams for Christmas Morning and our Many Blessings to one anoher!
My favorite Christmas tradition has to be prepraing special little dinners and taking them around my small community for the families who are in need or elderly folks who don’t have any family to be with this time of year. They are always so appreciative and I couldn’t ask for a better blessing than to know that I might have made a difference for them at Christmas time.
Thank you for being so sweet and doing this give away! I pray that the most needy of us all wins!
Traditions ….???
My grandma and i were very close. She loved snow soooo much. But,being in a east Texas town we don’t get very much snow at all. I would buy grandma those snow globes that you shake to make the snow fall. One time she told me that each and every snowflake that falls are all angel kisses. So,My tradition is that ANY time it snows,I stop what I’m doing,go outside and look up and get my Angel snow kisses knowing that most of them are from my grandma!
She lives with God now,but she also will live in my heart forever !
Please pick me….. please pick me… please pick me…. I am so sad that I do not get to be in this workshop…. I had been saving for this, but needed the money for my girls… I hope you choose me, but if not, you are a beautiful soul for giving a workshop like this away to another soul who needs it. Blessings to you! And Merry Christmas!
I love their “daily truth” emails, too!
Around the holidays, I love to just hang out with family and spend time with them. Nothing makes me happier than this “tradition”… well, sipping eggnog with them makes it even better. 🙂
Thanks for the giveaway chance! Merry Christmas!
On Christmas Day we give our employees the day off, so we head to our feedlot, feed the cattle & ride pens. Once we’re done we head to the local Shari’s for breakfast. Then it is off to a movie (of course a romantic comedy is the best!). And then it is back to the feedlot for the afternooon chores and feedings. When we get home our dinner is leftovers from our Christmas Eve feast.
One of my favorite traditions is bringing out the glitter and the sprinkles. Our house just sparkles with color at Christmastime because everything we do gets coated in glitter or sprinkles. Letters to St. Nick, snowflakes, reindeer, tree decorations, homemade bows, nail polish…cookies, gingerbread houses, cupcakes. Everything deserves to sparkle! Have a sparkly Christmas!
Yes, the Brave Girls Daily Truths are wonderful…I look forward to each and every one…they really make me think.
As for Christmas traditions…we have a few but I guess one of my favs is gathering for Christmas movies, the whole family, before a roaring fire and the lights of the tree.
Ohhh what a great give away! Crossing my fingers to win!!!
There are soo many traditions we celebrate…
I’d say the one that gives me the most giggles is our “white elephant” family gift exchange…. I love coming up with the most insane impractical gifts for this…Guaranteed giggles for the night!!! 🙂 xoxo – Kim
Love your site 😉 Our favorite holiday tradition is picking & putting up our real Christmas tree…its so simple but my kids absolutley love it and don’t ever want a fake tree!!!
My favorite Christmas memory is walking down the staircase with my two younger sisters, in our new P.J.’s to see the Christmas tree in the living room.
My side of the family lives all over the place, there are 10 little cousins who don’t get to see each other during the holidays so we do “The Great Cousin Swap” where each cousin sends a homemade gift to another cousin. This year my son is whittling a wand and making a book of spells for his younger cousin and my daughter is making a shrinky dink necklace for her older teenage cousin.
By the way, Brave girls “A Little Birdie Told Me” daily emails keep me GOING STRONG every day
xoxo
Amy first let me say I love your website!!!! Secondly – I can’t believe that you are giving such a wonderful gift to some lucky person. A gift of soul. Of finding one and perhaps, helping someone find theirs. Finding your soul is so important if ones life is to be a journey worth taking. My soul was taken from me a long time ago. I have tried for years to take control of it, and something always keeps trying to steal it back. When I came upon Brave Girls, I knew I had found my soul mates!!! I am so in tune with Melody, that it scares me sometimes. It’s as if we are soul sisters. Two women with one soul. Anyway…… When I was a little girl, my Mom and I started baking on Thanksgiving and didn’t stop until right around the week of Christmas. Some times we baked right up until Christmas eve. Although she never let us have any of the baked goods until Christmas eve, except for my Dad, he could have all the burnt cookies he wanted!!!!! We would wrap our cookies in shoeboxes lined with wax paper and they would last and last. Of course, in our house, nothing really lasted that long. That’s why still today, I am known as the cookie monster, I love cookies. This year I am saddened at the fact that my mother has stage 2 alzheimers and she won’t remember these times for much longer. She is living 3 states away from me now, and I can’t get to her this year. It saddens my heart to go through having to lose my Mom twice. Once to this disease and then when the time comes…once more to her passing. But my memories will always be with me. And I can tell her about those times when she or I feel sad. Thank you Amy for sharing some soul restoration with someone that is in need.
Amy, you are so generous to give this away! Your blog is always beautiful and so inspiring.
My favorite holiday traditions is “Operation Peirogis” making handmade from scratch with my mom, 3 sisters and all the grandchildren. (There are 10 grandkids from teen-25 years old, 9 boys, 1 girls) It is so labor intensive and we cook all day. Imagine 15 people in a kitchen mixing mounds of dough, rolling and cutting it in little circles, filling them and pinching them closed. Then we boil them all and laugh all day! This year we made 500 pieces, or 41 dozen!!! The kids had a ball, and it is such a selfless Christmas tradition now that they love and look forward to. It’s something i did with MY polish grandmother, that i’m sure she did with hers.
We now have the “Pierogi tradition” to pass to yet another generation. That’s my favorite.
What a wonderful give-a-way, and I would LOVE to win this! My husband and I are keeping it extra small with gifts to each other this year, with the kids having the big ones, and so felt I couldn’t indulge in taking this course even though I have looked at the videos and read about it multiple times…drooling and feeling like I needed it so much right now. My favorite tradition beside watching the kids open presents in pj’s is decorating our house for the holiday~my favorite decoration being the little village set that I grew up with as a child. They are the little cardboard houses with the film windows (which most have torn)…there are houses, a church, and Santa’s workshop, little plastic trees, and deer. I set them up on our mantle with lights in each. It makes our fireplace look so retro and warm. I treaure them.
I need want and really really have to win!!!!!!!!! LOVE you!
omg I got so excited I forgot about my tradidtion……well it has to be filling the stockings to the brim!
Favorite holiday tradition is having Christmas Eve at my grandparents first my dads parents Then my moms parents have done it since I was a kid and my kids have enjoyed it since they were born.
My favorite Christmas tradition; Every year my husband, whom I lost last October, and I spend Christmas with either his family, my family, or both. On Christmas Eve, we would sneak away from all the craziness and have breakfast at Cracker Barrel. It was a quiet, peaceful time for just the two of us. We would sit and hold hands, talking quietly and just enjoying being with each other at such a special time of year.
Happy Holidays Amy,
Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to win. My favorite part of Christmas is singing Christmas carols and going to see all the Christmas lights. So fun and pretty.
Have a great Christmas
Karlene
Honestly, I don’t deserve to win your giveaway and I’m too scared to be a brave girl. I can’t even bear to read the daily truth most days – how pathetic is that?
When I was younger, we ALL went to my grandparents’ house for Christmas. They co-owned a two-family house in the Bronx, NY (where my entire family was born!) with my grandpa’s brother and his wife. My mom and her three siblings grew up with their cousins in the same house. On Christmas day, all seven of them, and the twelve of us who make up the nest generation, would head to 286 Calhoun Ave. The older generation would put on black and white movies from a million years ago, and the kids would go down to the cellar (Grandpa never called it a basement) and hang out. People stopped by. In the apartment upstairs, someone would be playing the piano. They had a fake fireplace that Grandpa made and they would put up a stocking for each of us kids with little foil-wrapped chocolate Santas inside. Grandma always made our favorite family snacks – chocolate cake with orange icing, hot dogs and wine jelly, chocolate chip cookies. I guess our “tradition” was just being together! We hung out all the time during the years, we’re a very close family, but it was special to be ALL together on Christmas.
I’m already signed up for the course (YEAH!!!), so this is for a friend who I know needs it, but can’t afford it 🙂 Thanks for the opportunity!
We have many Christmas traditions, but one of my kid’s favorites is… instead of putting a gift in their stockings, we put the first clue to several that they need to decipher and follow in order to find their gift hidden somewhere in the house!!!
Blessings,
Allison
What a fabulous giveaway. My favorite tradition is on Christmas Eve. We open a few presents, usually those that have been mailed from friends. We then read the story of Jesus’ birth from the Bible and then watch a short video presentation of the birth as well. Then we just all enjoy the glow of the tree while drinking hot chocolate.
I love playing secret Santa to family and friends but no one knows who secret Santa is! Santa really does exist and I love that feeling!!!
I would LOVE to be able to do this!
My favorite holiday tradition is having a big Christmas Eve dinner with family! Afterwards, I take my kids on a walk to see the lights in our neighborhood and the ‘Elves’ leave pajamas and a small gift for them while we are gone. The ‘Elf’ tradition is a new one since my divorce but it’s really magical because they truly believe in it!
What a beautifully written and thought provoking post!! The Brave Girls Club really makes me want to get reacquainted with “me” again!
Our favorite Christmas tradition is decorating the tree and ice skating on Christmas day.
My favorite christmas traditions are making yummy marshmallow frosted molasses cookies with my mom, getting new pj’s christmas eve, playing games with the family christmas eve, and most importantly, seeing my kid’s faces when they see the christmas lights 🙂
love Brave Girls Camp and would LOVE to have this soul restoration!
xoxo
Laci
I too love the Daily Truths, some days (when things are bad) the email arriving is the best part of the day!
Our family has always listened to Christmas Carols sat around the Christmas tree opening our presents after we’ve had breakfast – this means the kids were occupied whilst mum cooked the lunch later on. I did it with my kids and she will do it with hers when they are older (when we are too old and go to hers for lunch LOL!)
Thanks for the opportunity, Pippa x
pippa.gore@virgin.net
My favorite tradition is now going in it’s third year. Year before last, my youngest daughter Emma (now 6) got a glow-in-the-dark skeleton from her trick-or-treat bucket. She loved that silly little rubbery skeleton and played with it all the time. When we were decorating our Christmas tree that year, you could see she suddenly had a bright idea. She got super excited and ran to her room. She came back with that little skeleton and announced that she wanted to hang it on the tree. We tried telling her no, that you don’t put skeletons on Christmas trees but she insisted. She said that Santa would be “flabbergasted” when he saw it. She wanted him to have a surprise and wanted to make him laugh. So we obliged. That little skeleton hung there and glowed among the lights and ornaments and gave us each a giggle as we walked past.
When Emma went to check out the tree on Christmas morning she was surprised to find a note from Santa telling her how flabbergasted he was. She was delighted and so proud that she could surprise Santa and make him laugh. When it was time to pack the tree away, she insisted the skeleton be put away with the ornaments, that Santa would expect to see him on our tree next year. And so last year when it came time to decorate the tree, the little glow-in-the-dark skeleton took his place front and center among the more traditional ornaments and again, we all giggled at the sight of it there.
Today we will be decorating our tree and will once again place the skeleton on the tree. I think even more than what it means to Emma to give Santa a good laugh, it means a little something more to us. It is about the magic in a little girls heart in wanting to give something back to Santa and that we should all take the time to be flabbergasted and to laugh and enjoy the season more. Sometimes it takes something simple like a little rubber skeleton to remind you of that.
thank you for a chance to win!!!
my favorite christmas tradition is having a posada on christmas eve, everyone comes over to my moms house and then we all attend the midnite mass.
Your blog is awesome…amazing giveaway too!!!
One of my favorite traditions is making my grandmothers fudge…she gave me the recipe when I moved away to college…this year my girls are really old enough to help with everything, so it was so fun to share my memories of eating this treat at the holidays and making it with my girls…since it takes about an hour from start to finish it was fun to have some girl time in the kitchen!!!
My favorite tradition is placing our “angel” on our tree. When my son was very young, he found a starfish somewhere in Florida — I dont even remember where, however, he said we had to have it for the tree. So every year, he gets the honor of placing the “star”(fish) on the tree. This year, my husband did it, because he is now an Army Ranger and is away for the holidays.
I, like many others would love a chance to be involved with this wonderful Brave Girl soul Restoration. My favorite tradition is to make Christmas Stockings for each family member, like the one’s my Mom made for us.
rthank you for giving us this opportunity 😉
My favorite tradition started when I was a child. We would all get dressed up- velvet dresses etc- and go to my great-grandmother’s house, where we would breathlessly await Santa, who was hitting the hosue early. We each received gifts. When they passed on, my grandmother continued the tradition. Her spin on it was a catered dinner- complete with “steak sandwiches” which consistred of sliced filet mignon and brie on croissants! YUM. The tradition changed again when she passed, and we go to my mom’s now. This year will be different for us, we moved 500 miles away to my husband’s home state. But, we’ll contnue part of the traditin, and head to his father’s house on Christmas Eve. Too bad about those steak sandwiches, though!!
What a thoughtful gift! I am already signed up…my Mom’s Christmas gift!! Just wanted to say how kind you are for doing this!! Wow!!
Love the Brave Girls! This is a wonderful giveaway. The gift of restoring the self!
One of my favorite times of the season is going out to find and cut the christmas tree! My birthday is in early december and going to get the tree is always part of the celebration.
Happy Holidays to you!
I’m so glad to have found your blog. What a generous and thoughtful giveaway. My favorite Christmas tradition with my family is a new (4 years going) tradition for us. We like to to go the Mission Inn Festival of Lights. It’s a beautiful easy night out for my family of 6. Hoping to create more traditions, focus less on the material things and more on the spiritual things of Christmas.
What an amazing opportunity! These ladies and their workshop has intrigued me from the moment I stumbled across them. The idea that ladies would take the time to care for and minister to other women is amazing! Too often we allow ourselves to be drawn into the idea that we (women) are all competitors in the “game of life” rather than “soul sisters” who can help and support each other through our many journeys.
My favorite holiday tradition happens on Christmas Eve. My stepfather creates a manger scene in his barn and we all walk through the pasture to the barn. Above the door he puts a large star that is lit and it guides us on our journey. Once we reach the barn, one of the children reads the Christmas story and my stepfather gives a short devotional. We all tell one thing we’re thankful for this year and then we sing Christmas carols. Once this is done, we all rush back inside to enjoy our Christmas Feast! It’s an amazing time that helps us reconnect with the true purpose of Christmas and a great time to show the youngest children what is truly the most important thing of the season.
Thanks so much for this opportunity!
Amy!
What a wonderful gift…
my favorite Christmas tradition- every Christmas Eve after church we come home, have a wonderful dinner and a birthday party for Jesus! the children and I bake and decorate a birthday cake for Jesus! we even sing “happy birthday” too! I take pictures of our cakes each year…such a special night!
(and I’m so excited about your building too!!!- did you decide on the country? or city?- hope you share your progress too!)
Many, many Blessings!
Jill
my favorite holiday tradition.
Christmas morning.
Smelling the coffee brewing…the kids running into our bedroom, climbing into bed, and opening their stockings while we laugh and giggle. They are 20 and 17 now and we still have this tradition on Christmas morning.
Hi,
My husband’s and my extended families live two states away so we’ve had to be creative with our traditions because we travel there for the holidays. I guess you could call the traveling and opening presents at grandma and grandpa’s with cousins a tradition. But, I like that we have our own Christmas at home before we go, we video tape, drink cocoa and take pictures in front of the fireplace. Having those videos is a source of enjoyment. Another tradition we have that is just us, is caroling at a nursing home with our church and passing out bears and candy canes.
Deborah
Let’s see… I love the scavenger hunts that usually happen at my grandparents house. My grandparents have also been giving each of us $50 at Thanksgiving and we have to buy what we want for ourselves, wrap it up anonymously, and then each of us unwraps one randomly and we all have to try and guess who bought what for themselves.
I could so use this after Christmas. I need some recharging for sure in January as we get ready for the Spring season once more. Thanks so much for letting me know. Love your blog!
x
Carole
ps..opps almost forgot…..my latest new tradition is to wear the” ugly red knit hat” while decorating the tree and house! No really…. it’s really bad!
Reading the Christmas story as a family on Christmas Eve.
A tradition that has seen us through every Christmas since my children were old enough to toddle and speak has been “Christmas stockings”. It never mattered/matters what the rest of the exchanges are, if the stockings aren’t filled with a small personal items, then it isn’t the same. My kids are grown now and the stockings are still what they anticipate. Proof in the pudding that it doesn’t have to be big and expensive…just thoughtful and wrapped with love.
What a lovely gesture, Amy. Your photography is just beautiful. 🙂 The one Christmas tradition that stands out to my mind is Santa putting an orange in the toe of each of my children’s stockings. My kids are adults now and, when my son was on a mission in Mexico, he said the thing he missed most at Christmas was an orange in his stocking. He is in Iraq right now, so there will not be an orange this year. I’m pretty sure that Santa will remember this and bring him two next Christmas when he is home. It’s funny how the seemingly trivial things are the ones that we hold close to our hearts.
My favourite christmas tradition in the here & now is taking a ride on a Santa Train. Our oldest son is getting to the stage where I’m not quite sure how much longer he’ll believe for, but luckily our daughter’s only 2 so we should get a few more Santa Train trips in yet… 😀 The kids are so in awe of getting to see Santa but they also love the fact that they’re on a train AND it’s a steam train. This year, we had snow & very low temperatures, so the trip was really picturesque & doubly special.
I discovered the Brave Girls Club last year & it’s just the thing to help get me through a difficult day 🙂
It has been a tradition throughout the years that I make homemade fudge, that is package in Holiday tins , carefully tied with a satin ribbon & a handmade ornament, attached… with love :]
I never thought my family & friends paid much attention to how much time, effort, and love I put into my homemade gifts.
One Christmas year I became very ill, and I had no effort to “gift giving”. I started receiving calls from family and friends worried about me, because they had not received their beautiful homemade gifts and they know there had to be something wrong. Before I knew it… my kitchen was filled with people I love. We were baking, making crafts, cutting ribbon… sharing friendship and love.
THE BEST GIFT EVER, IT BROUGHT EVERYBODY TOGETHER!! Now we set a date ever year at Christmas time… to bake, make crafts, laugh, and share love.
Our favorite holiday tradition is giving our daughter a new Christmas ornament every year. We find something that she had done or been involved in that year and try to find her an ornament that relates to it. That way when she moves out of the house at least she will have ornaments to put on a tree and ones that remind of things in her life. This year she is in dance so we got an ornament with ballet shoes, and she saw her first movie in the theather which was “Sherk” so we bought a Sherk ornament.
When my kids were little bitty I started the tradition of making and decorating Christmas cookies, during the week before Christmas. My sister, my mom, and now my sister-in-law joins us every year. I can’t wait for some little cousins to come along to join in the fun. Even my husband and brother and brother-in-law join in the decorating (a little until football pulls them away)! Some years we make gingerbread cookies, some years sugar cookies and some years both! The best part is taking the cookies with us to share at all the family gatherings.
I’ve been eyeing this workshop but I just can’t swing it now…so to win would be a great thing! My favorite Christmas tradition is breakfast on Christmas morning after all the hubbub is over. I try to plan something new each year that is easy to do ahead of time so that I won’t be stuck alone in the kitchen. Still searching for that RIGHT dish for this year….
And our new tradition that we are starting this year is something I heard on KLOVE. Christmas morning, before opening presents we wil gather around our nativity, and each member of the family will pick a person or animal from the scene and tell the story of the birth of Jesus from their perspective. Hopefully it will help the kids and adults remember the real meaning of Christmas, and put the importance on Jesus and not on the presents.
My fav tradition is making my mothers coffee cake with my son! its a little like monkey bread and take time and lots of hands so we get to sit together and make it and talk just the two of us I was worried he would not want to do it once he was older but he knows I won’t make it alone and if he wants to eat it he has to help so even though he is 20 now I still get that time with him for christmas and for easter! I love it!!
What a fabulous giveaway!!! My favourite tradition is just a simple one – my girls get new pyjamas on Christmas Eve! Thanks for the chance to win a spot in this fabulous workshop.
my grandfather was a concert piano player and on christmas eve we would gather around the piano for hours and sing christmas carols.
my favorite christmas tradition is eating christmas cookies, manily the sugar cookies, yum!
I would love to be able to participate in this. Truthfully as lame as it sounds- Our tradition is simply to be together. We have never really lived around family so we just close our doors and hang out together.
I love going to my Mom’s house for Christmas dinner. It’s not the traditional dinner one might expect. From the time we were little we would have a hors dourves meal for dinner. She always makes ramaki, (my favorite), chicken wings, cocktail meatballs, pizza rolls and so much more finger food. As we got older we got to drink champage and for dessert egg nog was served in special mugs with her home made Christmas cookies.
Love how the little things mean so much. ❤
My holiday traditions are different every year…so does that make it traditional? Since my children are adults I always mail them fun gifts, and OK, let’s be honest…I buy a pint of whiskey to mix with Soy Nog!! So there… I’m in. Love this new blog Amy…really…so I have been under a rock!
Such a sweet gift! My favorite Christmas tradition is having this red and green layered jello on Christmas Eve and putting off opening presents until my mom can hardly stand it. She has always been the one to ask if we can open gifts yet.
Wonderful! My favorite Holiday tradition starts at Thanksgiving. I cut strips of paper, construction paper, decorated paper, whatever; and we write what we are thankful for on the strips and make a paper chain of gratitude. I hang it up in the living room as part of the Christmas decorations. I leave the paper strips and markers out all month so the chain continues to grow all month. Visitors are invited to join in. One year we had a chain going all the way around the room! So much to be thankful for.
My favorite family tradition would have to be when 4 generations of my family get together for a day of cookie making. We make all kinds of goodies and have so, so much fun! Thank you so much for the chance at this wonderful giveaway!!
I love to be standing outside….looking at the forest on Christmas eve. When everything is still and quiet (AND cold!) And then sing Silent Night. It completes me.
Oh my, what a wonderful give-away!!! Gosh, to pick one fav isn’t possible, lol… decorating the tree with Awesome Blossom daughter; traditionally I’d put on the lights & she’d help me decorate. The past couple years the lights ritual is passing on to her & we do it together with Celtic Christmas CDs playing :). Christmas day diet of sausage rolls, champagne, and strong coffee – and an antacid for me LOL, as we take turns opening gifts… it takes ages ‘cos we stop every couple ones and enjoy each gift & each other… Actually doing little & RELAXING for a day, something I don’t have the luxury of doing very often!!!! … think about all the small blessings in my life that help keep my head above water and be so grateful!! Thanks for doing this!! I SO want to participate 🙂 Merry Christmas to everybody!!!! ❤
Thank you for this most generous gift for a lucky recipient!
My favorite times at Christmas are early mornings by my tree with
my journal and coffee…quietude and solitude…and Christmas beauty.
Reading the Best Christmas Pageant Ever aloud to my children. Every year. Wonderful!
What a beautiful give away. I love The Brave Girl’s Club! I’m hoping to have enough money before the end of the year to sign up for their workshop. I would be over joyed to win! I so need some soul restoration. It’s been a very, very rough year!
Wow, what an awesome opportunity for some lucky soul out there:) (I hope its me) thank you
Anyways, traditions, I have two 1- my kids each get to pick out a special ornament every year. My plan is when they have their own place they will receive a collection of ornaments to share with their families. 2- I have a collection of 10 stacking boxes and each of the 10 days before Christmas they open a box and there are things like “do a Christmas craft” a cookie mix, a special Christmas book, a Christmas legend story of some sort etc…. My daughter loves to open the boxes each day
We have always tried to make Christmas special at our house and have many special traditions that we still carry on today even though my girls are all young women now. My sister and I live 500 miles away from each other and it is difficult to see each other with our families scattered across the miles – for the past 5 years we have given each other special ornaments for our trees. Each one hold a memory of the year and as I look at those ornaments hanging on my tree and think of my sister and feel I’m getting a long distance hug.
Enjoy your holidays and take time to breath in the experience!
I have to be honest that since I left my husband 4 years ago two days before Christmas I haven’t had very many Christmas traditions. This year I was talking to someone and they said to be grateful for the answers that came (during Christmas). So that is my tradition now I think. To be grateful for the answers that came to me — that I have to take care of myself, be kind and gentle with myself, connect with God and Love in my life and continue to seek that even when it seems so scary.
Thanks!!!
Too many to count!! One I have come to really enjoy is my cousin (who is an only child) and my sister and I get together before Christmas to exchange gifts. We call it Cousin Christmas and we buy each other a bunch of little fun gifts, watch a movie, eat good food. It’s a really nice relaxing evening before the craziness of Christmas Day.
Good for you for treating yourself!
I can’t wait for the course to start. I just know it’s going to be great!
Merry Christmas!
Thanks for sharing this with so many.:) What a great gift to win!!
Our favorite tradition is that we think about funny things that happen during the year and when do. Share those but we also make a hand made gift for each family member like a gag gift. One year I got a clown wig with a tiara…because of something about being the queen of my domain…IT was all good cause I had lost my hair..to chemo..And I wore it all day Christmas…Other really funny things have been passed around so much so that now my granddaughter wants to get in on it now. So its sharing the laughter when times were lean with those we love. Its like a round robin but in a with a funny twist!
Will be back to take a look around!!
Hi Amy
Just stopping by to wish you a very blessed Christmas week and to thank you for your birthday wishes.
Our family really does not hold true to steadfast traditions, but we do make sure we are all gathered together at Christmas … we have a large family and we are spread out all across the states. My father is gone now 2 years and he always sang in German Away in a Manger and then we read the 2nd chapter of Luke. We center our Christmas around Jesus….
Blessings to you and yours
Rebecca
So glad to have found your blog! My favorite tradition is baking cookies with my niece and nephews. We have a great time in the kitchen together!