family traditions . . .

This time of year . . . what I like to refer to as the holiday season . . . seems to be a time of enjoying family traditions, or starting new ones, as the case may be, for a lot of folks. It's no different in my family. We enjoy reliving past Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings and introducing new family members (either by marriage or birth) to our 'ways'. But one of my absolute favorite NEW traditions (and I say new because it's just been the past five years) is the annual Merkel Santa photo.

Jocelyn and Jason take the girls, and with a gathering of their friends--and their friends' children--do the walking trail through the Galaxy of Lights at the Botanical Gardens. (Just FYI, I wait until we can drive through). And at the end of the trail, there's Santa Claus. And the children happily, even eagerly, climb in Santa's lap and share their list of Christmas wishes.

Well, all children but the Merkel children, that is.  Without further ado, I share our family's funniest tradition:

Ellie and Santa 2012

Ellie (with Sawyer) and Santa 2013
Love Sawyer's holding his ears!

Merkel Girls and Santa 2014

Merkel Girls and Santa 2015

Merkel Girls and Santa 2016

Oh gracious, I love these girls! And the Santa is precious -- I'm sure he's had years of practice. Maybe next year we'll have our happy, smiling picture?!?  Or maybe not . . .

It occurred to me this morning that I'd like to make some kind of special ornament for each of the grands.  Hmmmm.  I need to get busy on that. I didn't make a whole lot of poinsettia ornament progress -- I finished two big ones and one little one:

I do love these! I have two or three more cut out that will be a good, slow project for some Sunday afternoon stitching!

Ellie, on the other hand, made FORTY ornaments this past week (with the help of her mama). She crafted these darling little Christmas trees . . . and then sold them for $5 a piece.  She made this one especially for me (it has an extra bead on it, because she knows how much I love beads).

Her mama posted them on facebook and instagram, and Ellie's sold *all* of them. With her proceeds, she's going to go through one of the organizations that helps families in need in third world countries, and send goats and chickens and water wells.  Pretty smart thinking on the part of that mama, is what I'm thinking!  :)

The grandbabies (and their mommies and daddies) are all together in California this week . . .

Look how grown they all are!  The only one missing is Evey.  It may have only been 7 o'clock local time, but it was 9 o'clock Evey time!

My stash report remains an unchanged melody . . .

Same song, second (or twenty-second) verse. A little bit louder and a little bit worse!

I'll be linking up with Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts today.

Enjoy this beautiful day that the Lord has made; rejoice and be glad in it!

:)

holiday traditions part 1 . . .

Over at Charming Chatter, the home of the Charming Girls' Quilt Club, the theme for the next two months is:

(Click on the button to see the post, and check out
others' holiday traditions!)

A lot of folks are sharing their combined holiday traditions, or just their Christmas traditions, but I wanted to break my traditions down to two separate posts, one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. I *love* Thanksgiving and as a genuine Mayflower descendant, I rightfully wanted it to have it's own limelight!

Since I was a little girl, the table setting has always been important.

Between pretty serving dishes and full place settings . . . there's never an inch of free space on our Thanksgiving table!

I love arranging flowers, so I make sure we have fun and pretty table center!

Grandpa's fudge has been a must at every Thanksgiving I can remember! In my thirties, the job of making the official Thanksgiving fudge was passed on to me. I've faithfully made it each year, until two years ago, when my daughter decided she wanted to be the official maker-of-the-fudge. This is the best homemade fudge I've ever had -- an old BH&G recipe, tweaked by my grandpa!

Rarely does a piece of fudge make it past Thanksgiving day!

Growing up there were always at least two tables, and invariably one was a kid's table. I always wanted to sit at the adult's table -- I thought the kids' table was unfair! Then when I was finally able to sit at the adult's table, I missed the hilarity of the kids' table! I resolved when I was younger that I'd do my best to work tables so that everyone sat together!

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade is a must. It will always be a must, just like football is a must for a lot of the men in my family. I've always pulled dinner together to the happy sounds of the parade!

As my sisters and I got older, we watched The Sound of Music on Thanksgiving evening. I've not ever been able to quite get my family to jump on that particular bandwagon, but we always do watch something! The last few years it's been The Santa Clause, which is another of my favorites and seems like an appropriate way to ease into the Christmas season.

When Todd and I first married and the kids and I moved to Alabama (1996), it was the first time I'd been responsible for Thanksgiving dinner (and the turkey) on my own! In fact, there had only been three other times I'd missed Thanksgiving dinner with my folks and family! One thing that quickly became a tradition for our new family Thanksgiving dinners was that everyone got their favorite pie! Joc's was blueberry glace, James wanted apple, Todd always asked for pecan, and I made a pumpkin for myself and Todd's dad. The desserts were nearly as important as the turkey!

Another family tradition was the playing of spoons . . . this actually happens pretty much whenever members of my expanded family get together! We've been playing for years and years, and the game has made it into the next generation! It's fun because it's a game easily played by folks of *all* ages!

I think spoons were being grabbed up in this photo!

Last year was the last time for us to have Thanksgiving in our home; this year new traditions begin and our darling daughter will host the family Thanksgiving gathering! If I were going to give her tips on making it less stressful, I'd share the following things:

Write a list of the things you need to do and to cook. Stuff is less likely to be forgotten in the hustle/bustle of the day if you've got a list to go by!

Set the table the day before and put a sheet over it (to keep out dust and cats).

Put your serving dishes out and label them so you remember what goes where!

Don't feel bad asking for help; both in getting your home ready and in food preparation.

Don't sweat the small stuff!

Don't feel compelled to rush to the kitchen to clean up after dinner! Spend time with your guests, allow your food to settle, and enjoy the day!

Know how you're going to handle leftovers!

My last tradition regarding Thanksgiving? I keep up my fall/harvest decorations up until the first Saturday past November 30th. Then I switch out to Christmas!

Gobble, gobble!

:)