Halloween - We always find a haunted house somewhere to go to, but we make sure the proceeds are going to a charity. And, of course, I make a ton of things out of my favorite fruit . . . pumpkin!
Thanksgiving - My family has the usual meal, along with a couple of guys from the army base. I'm shy around people I don't know, so that happens to be a tradition I HATE, but I appreciate the thought behind it and know my family is doing a good thing. What I'd like to introduce as my own tradition later on, whenever we start doing more holidays at my house, is having a turkey butchering day. I know my family would find it fun.
Christmas - We have the typical christmas lunch, of course, then we do cheesy gifts. Everyone in the family has to get something really goofy, corny, or cheesy for under two dollars, and we vote on which is the absolute worst. Whoever wins gets a big block of cheese as a prize.
Then we do a treasure hunt . . . a couple people volunteer to write clues and hide them all over the property, and we go as a group to find all of them. The first clue is usually hidden in someone's hat or pocket, and you have to find the person with the clue. That clue leads you to the next, and so on. There are usually challenges with some of the clues, as well. Sometimes a clue is hidden on a sheep or chicken, and you have to catch it to get the clue. Last year a firing range was set up for one of the clues . . . everyone in the family had to take turns shooting at soda cans filled with water with a .22. One of the cans didn't have water in it when it was shot, and that was the can with a clue in it. Another clue led us to a deer blind, where we had to scan the hunting grounds for a "reindeer." The reindeer turned out to be a cardboard cut out nestled almost out of sight amongst the thorniest bushes you could imagine. And, of course, there's always the clue that leads to a tree that bears strange fruit . . . the fruit being my grandfather's underwear draped across whatever tree is chosen for the purpose that year. For the clues hidden far away from the house and barns we use my grandfather's tractor for a hayride . . . he never knows where the clues are hidden, so he has to rely on us giving him directions the whole way. The prize at the end of this treasure hunt is the fixings for a bonfire and a good hotdog roast, which is always a blast because we all crouch around the fire burning the hotdogs and telling stories. And now that everyone in my particular portion of the family tree is grown up, we don't have to have any simple clues for children, so the treasure hunt leading to the hotdog roast is is extra fun. Nothing commercial about that.
If you have children think of starting this tradition... We always have Thanksgiving and Christmas the Sunday before the actual holiday. This frees up the kids when they get older and start families of their own. It has taken so much of the stress off of my brother and I over the years of trying to figure out where to go when.
My family carries on with the CHristmas Eve gift. One gift that momma picks out for Christmas Eve and yes it is usually pajamas or slippers.. Oh, and you always have to leave cookies and milk for Santa..
Hallowe'en -- We carve pumpkins every year. I would like to start going to a corn maze and apple orchard every year but that hasn't started yet. Maybe we'll do that when we have kids.
Thanksgiving -- We have a huge feast at my parents' house with TONS of homemade pies (apple, pumpkin, cherry, and blueberry -- several of each). We watch the Macy's parade on TV while we're setting the table. I make the green bean casserole and a huge glazed ham with pineapples and cherries all over it. MMM. I stuff myself, and then I have a long nap. After Thanksgiving, we go to Bronner's in Frankenmuth (which is the world's largest Christmas store) and I buy some ornaments.
Christmas -- We put up the tree the DAY AFTER Thanksgiving. I play Christmas music in my car everywhere for like a month and a half. I hang lights all over our house and deck. We go to Christmas music concerts (this year, I am going to see Mannheim Steamroller, the Grand Rapids Symphony and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra -- w00t!). I make piles and piles of rock candy and tons of homemade cutout cookies from my Grandma's recipe. The cookies must be elaborately decorated; it takes hours. I always make chicken-shaped cookies even though they have nothing to do with Christmas.
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I love that one!! My girls are getting new jammies and we are starting that this year! I remember doing that when I was little now that you mentiioned it. I wonder why my mom stopped?
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Santa is lactose intolerant when he visits our house and prefers heavy hors' d'oeuvres and a dirty martini. It started as a joke between the sisters and brothers-in-law. It's great fun to see who gets to the "snacks" first after loading the stockings for each other. (At this point the kiddies have long been upstairs in bed and the original cookies & milk were quickly consumed by the grands.)
