traditions

Happy Tuesday, friends! I thought I'd share about a few traditions I love at this time of year. Some are ones that I participate in even now, and some are things I loved doing when the boys were young. 

When they were younger, we loved going to visit Santa at The Enchanted Forrest. This is now at The Pink Palace and the Santa that you see in this picture below is my mom-in-love's cousin. We always did this first, then we'd end the night by getting Chick Fil A for dinner. We went to this every year with my in-love's and it was something we always looked forward to. 

Were they not the cutest?! In some ways, this seems like it was just yesterday. 

We also loved going to our local zoo for something they call Zoo Lights. This is still happening today, though we no longer go to this. If you do this, I would suggest going on a weeknight. The weekends get crazy and seats are almost impossible to find on the free tram.

We always did this with Dad and Sandy, and Trish and I loved this tradition. We all did, really.

We always help my in-love's with their tree and with getting the heavy boxes out of their attic. 

Todd and I have been hanging close on the tree branches since 1995. We always start off with eating dinner before jumping in to pull the boxes out and putting the tree together. Phyllis does the rest, but we help do that stuff, then she and I end up decorating the tree. I love that she tells me stories about each ornament. I have ornaments like that as well, ones that are very meaningful for a particular reason. 

The boys, Trish and me used to do Dad's outdoor lights every year at his house, which started back in 2010 or 2011. It started dwindling down by one of my sons each year and the last year they helped was probably three years ago. This was the third year we did his lights by ourselves. I always make her take a picture with me when we do this and we usually get Dad in on it as well, but I forgot to do that this year.

Trish and I have fun doing anything together. We have a movie night planned soon and maybe even a night for driving around to look at Christmas lights.

Speaking of that, my friend Christa and I did something new to us and fun last year.

We walked around the town square and admired all the Christmas lights together. I think we got coffee as well, either before or after, but it was one of the most fun nights we've ever had together. I hope to do that again this year, but we also have something planned for one Monday in the next week or two. I'll share about that then, though.

Every year the worship ministry is responsible for decking the church halls and we did this last night. I love our church all decorated for the holidays! This year I was promoted from a Christmas tree fluffer to a garland hanger. Joshua (our worship leader/pastor) fed us Chick Fil A first, then we jumped in. It was a fun night! My friend T picked me up and we may have snuck out afterward to grab peppermint milkshakes from Chick Fil A!

Last but not least is one of my favorite events of the year—Tablescapes is our most anticipated and well attended women's event each year. We are so excited about this tonight, because we couldn't have it last year! Stupid covid.

Here's a sneak peak of my table this year. I'll share more about this later in the week. Other traditions I love but that are not pictured are as follows:

Our annual Christmas parade is Friday night! I can't wait. I love a good marching band!

Every year our town tree lighting is comparable to the Rockefeller tree lighting. (Kidding, but our tree is planted in the ground and is still living!)

I love our Christmas church services and events, like the Jingle Jam that's coming up Sunday night. It'll be a jazz concert put on by our orchestra. I also love the messages that are preached and the choir program we'll do in two weeks. We're singing with the Getty's as well this year, on December 22nd, for their Irish Christmas event.

What are some traditions you love? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all. ❤