Has a year really passed since last Thanksgiving? According to the calendar and the media it has. Halloween was only yesterday, or so it seems. Walk into any retail store and you'll think it's Christmas. Actually for many of us it might as well be. According to tradition I should drag out my Christmas tree on Thanksgiving or at least the weekend after that. Well, guess what? I didn't dismantle mine. I removed the decorations and shoved the tree in a corner.

Let's talk tradition. Got your turkey for Thanksgiving or does your family prefer ham?
Will you pull out strings of lights and test them, replacing the burned out bulbs? Will you go wild and decorate your house inside and out? Will you start addressing your Christmas cards to mail out while your still eating Thanksgiving left overs?

Since my parents are gone and my brother and sister and have married kids, we spend fewer holidays with our kids. We once divided our holiday time between our families and the in-laws. Now our kids have in-laws.

We'll share our kids again with their in-laws and their little families.

Will you give parties or meet friends for parties? Will you attend plays or be part of Christmas programs?

Tell us about the traditions you miss and the ones you are starting.

20 comments

  1. Barbara Monajem // November 22, 2009 at 9:19 AM  

    I'm not much into traditions - they're a lot of work - but... Butter tarts butter tarts butter tarts. (I blogged about them a while ago.) My mom used to make them at Christmas. I'll make them ANYTIME. Love love love them.

  2. Mary Marvella // November 22, 2009 at 10:07 AM  

    Thanks, Barbara. I'll head over to read your Harl blog this afternoon. Off to tutor in a very few.

  3. Scarlet Pumpernickel // November 22, 2009 at 3:03 PM  

    OMG! MM, I can't believe the season is upon us once more. What lovely pictures you've shared with us. Traditions from my family included family dinners with some of the best cooks in the southeast, tea cakes and sweet potato biscuits for breakfast. My Great-Aunt Dewey used to make the best tea cakes and the best sweet potato biscuits! Lovely warm memories. Thanks MM!

  4. Mary Marvella // November 22, 2009 at 4:02 PM  

    You're welcome, Scarlet. There are okay tea cakes and there are melt-in- your-mouth tea cakes!

  5. Author Roast and Toast // November 22, 2009 at 6:09 PM  

    I love the usual Christmas traditions, from all the cooking to all the decorating. It's so much work, but the tree mesmerizes me!

  6. Mary Marvella // November 22, 2009 at 6:36 PM  

    Hey, Mary R. I love the trees most of all. One year I decorated three trees. It gave me reasons to smile in three rooms, at least.

  7. Scarlet Pumpernickel // November 22, 2009 at 7:55 PM  

    LOL! MM what a wonderful way to put it! Reasons to smile in three rooms! You trees are lovely!

  8. Autumn Jordon // November 22, 2009 at 8:33 PM  

    The years do go faster, or so it seems. We'll start decorating the outside of the house next weekend. Then I'll crank up the caroles and decorate inside for like a week. Cookies and pumpkin and nut rolls will be baked. 10 days out, we'll search the tree farm (The past years the President's tree has come from our area) for the lucky tree--it's has a bird's nest. Christmas eve is spent at church. Christmas all the kids come home for feasting. It all goes by so fast. Enjoy the moments.

  9. Mary Marvella // November 23, 2009 at 12:33 AM  

    Autumn, I want to see photos, since I can't join you. Sing a carol for me, but you'll need to hit high notes that would make dogs bark in pain. Eat cookies for me. Let me know how much I enjoyed them. That will make them no calorie cooks for me.

  10. Mary Marvella // November 23, 2009 at 12:34 AM  

    Thanks for your comments, ladies!

  11. Judith Keim // November 23, 2009 at 7:27 AM  

    Christmas seems to creep up on me every year but it's a season I love. I'll put up the decorations this weekend and my husband will put up the lights, which is fun in Florida. The trunks of palm trees are wound with little white lights making it a "winter" wonderland. The one thing I don't do anymore is cookies...but all the rest, yes!

  12. Mary Marvella // November 23, 2009 at 11:32 AM  

    Go, Judy! The decorations make me feel like a kid. The shopping and gift giving is at a minimum with no so few little kids.

  13. Beth Trissel // November 23, 2009 at 7:43 PM  

    I cant believe we are talking Christmas already again. Whew, where did the time go? But hey, I'm one of the authors in the new Christmas anthology, An American Rose Christmas, so it works for me.
    We cut our own tree here, a vital tradition. Everyone troops off to a local family run tree farm and has hot chocolate in the old time spring house near a lovely fire in the hearth. Wonderful family, so hospitable.

  14. Nightingale // November 23, 2009 at 7:52 PM  

    My family began small, an only child with a few cousins and aunts and uncles. Now it is smaller. My parents are gone, and one of my sons lives in England. The other will be here for Thanksgiving (command performance) to eat fried turkey (delicious), ham and a myriad of vegetables and pies. I'm posting a pie recipe on the 26th that is yummy.

  15. Mary Marvella // November 23, 2009 at 7:56 PM  

    Beth, I'd love to watch your family celebrate. My parents cut live trees many years ago.

  16. Mary Marvella // November 23, 2009 at 8:00 PM  

    Linda, I am so glad my family ne near, what there is left of it. My brother's son is Colorado and he is lucky if he gets to see his grand babies more than once a year. That boy in England needs to get a job here and move his little family to live with the Yanks in Texas. Now that sounded odd.

  17. Josie // November 23, 2009 at 8:19 PM  

    We are very into traditions here in SC. My pilgrims are decorating my kitchen, soon to be taken down so the whole house can be decorated for Christmas. Can we say...real tree, outdoor lights, Christmas cookies...and so on?

  18. Mona Risk // November 23, 2009 at 9:09 PM  

    Hey, we are not even at Thanksgiving!!!!!!For 25 years we celebrated Thanksgiving at my aunt's in New York. She gathered forty people, her children, nephews and nieces, sisters and brothers and of course spouses and in-laws. She cooked everything herself, including the incredible creme brulee, her specialty. My aunt died two years ago. Now my husband and I go to visit my son. That computer engineer who never boiled an egg or warmed his own food, cooks a killer turkey. Apparently he got his recipee from the Internet. He gives the turkey. Raw-bird-ta...Last year she was Bird-tina...

  19. Mary Marvella // November 23, 2009 at 11:43 PM  

    Joanne, I'll head your way soon, too, in spirit!

  20. Mary Marvella // November 23, 2009 at 11:46 PM  

    Mona, changing traditions can be painful but liberating. They can be sad and bittersweet. Now when there's a grand baby for me my daughter and her DH will invite folks south. At least that's what they say. his folks are in Virginia, near DC. Not if they'd just get busy and make me a granny!