I know how busy everyone will be with Thanksgiving but I wondered if it would be fun to share some of our favorite holiday traditions or foods that we look forward to. Maybe you have a favorite holiday memory or story that you would like to share?
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
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Hello everyone! This Thanksgiving I will be traveling to NH to visit with my family. We have a big family and I am excited to be with everyone. Living so far away from everyone makes me appreciate the times that I have with my family even more. I come from a family that prides themselves on making everything from scratch. I am grateful for all of the delicious recipes that we have within our family and always look forward to homemade cardimon bread and sticky buns that my Aunt Bernie makes. My sister Tina is known for her "worth the calories" cheesecake and my cousin Suzy makes an amazing pecan pie to name a few of the many delicious foods that I look forward to and make me feel "at home".
Growing up my siblings and I were known for the "Voveris plate" which was a "white" plate consisting of turkey breast, homemade bread and potatos. My mother could get us to eat raw carrots if she was lucky but we all looked forward to dessert even though there were always enough caseroles and other foods to feed an army. My dad was and still is known for his turkey, often cooking two to make sure that everyone had enough food (we ALWAYS had more than enough). If we were lucky there was enough turkey leftover for my mom to make her famous turkey soup. I can smell it now....Happy Day to you all! I am grateful to have each of you in my life and I appreciate you all.
Smiles & love, Laura
We all sat around the table laughing..remembering and realizing that things are changing whether we like it or not!
We all realized that next year may be the year for real change to occur just because of the kids getting older...and two of the thee cousins are probably not going to be there!! There was conversation around skiing somewhere as a large family or doing something completely out of the ordinary.
This year I actually even had fish for my dinner...yes change is in the air and although I have always been SO rooted in those traditions, I also wonder at the possibilites of creating new traditions!!
I love your list of traditions Laura and laugh when I think of the boys, whose latest tradition is to make their cloth napkins into the shape of a bra, compliments of my father who taught it to them!!
For me, when we went around and said what we were thankful for my father was thankful to still be here and I found that I was most thankful for laughter.
I hope you all had holidays filled with laughter!!
Tomasen
Happy Holidays everyone! This year has certainly been a change for me since I am no longer with extended family. However, like Tomasen mentioned, our family will be starting new traditions- where the "kids" will be hosting the holidays and a new generatation will bring new traditions.
For the past several years, I have spent Thanksgiving with Mike's family, and Christmas with mine. I was always thankful that Mike agreed to this, as I have been very spoiled to spend every Christmas morning since I was born waking up at my mom's house with my siblings.
This year new traditions will begin. I had a quiet Thanksgiving- just Mike and I with a few friends stopping over later. We started the day with a hike and cooked up the whole meal for the 2 of us. I will be thankful that my parents are moving out here, as I hated spending the holiday alone.
I am, however, looking forward to Christmas. My sister and I will be hosting Christmas and Christmas Eve, and my parents, brother and my sister's in laws will be our guests. Our family has such great memories of Christmas eve- a friend of the family came dressed in a Santa suit every year, and my parents home was always filled with great food, great friends and family. I am hoping to keep the same holiday cheer- while at the same time creating new and wonderful traditions in our new homes!
Tomasen - your quote "remembering and realizing that things are changing whether we like it or not" really resinated with me. Growing up and for all of my life until the past few years, my holidays were spent surrounded by lots of family and lots of food (much like yours, Laura!). Then a series of events spread led my family to spots throughout the country including California, New Hampshire, and Florida (can't get much more opposite points than that!). For the past 3 years, I turned from a person who loved the holiday season into a person who dreaded it. There were so many sad memories for me in that we were all no longer together and that so much had changed. They were very difficult years.
This year, though, I am happy to feel my holiday cheer return. I feel as though I have made it through the valleys of change, and I am now on the peak where I can look back and realize that I can remember the past fondly, but it's what I do with the future that is important. For the first time in two years we will be celebrating Christmas at home, instead of traveling. I have gone all out with the decorating and am truly enjoying sitting it my home filled with the twinkling of Christmas lights. And perhaps what I am most excited about is the chance to start new Christmas traditions with my daughter and ones that our family will celebrate for years to come. I have always feared change, but I am learning to embrace it as an inevitable and necessary part of life. A stagnant life would not help us grow to our fullest potential.
Happy Holidays to you all & I hope the cheer of the season will find you too!
Peace & Happiness - Liz
Liz~
I am so glad to hear how you are embracing change. As you know this is something that is hard for me as well and Christmas was especially hard last year being somewhat split between the cottage and my CT home. It seemed silly to get a tree or do anything at the cottage, when half of my belonings were in CT, which made me so sad and yearning to be back there. The cottage always seemed so magical at Christmas.
You could imagine the surprise that Brett and I felt when we arrived at the cottage for Christmas expecting it to be cold, dark and half empty only to find that it was all deocorated with lights, roping, a wreath and the most beautiful short, full, tree completly decorated! My mother and sister had come over while we were away and had done all of this. They even left us snacks and a homemade bread! We were so deeply moved by there thoughtfulness and can only wish to pay it forward in some way this year.
I too have realized that I will have to start new traditions with Brett and hope to embrace them as you and Danielle have.
When you said, "I have always feared change, but I am learning to embrace it as an inevitable and necessary part of life. A stagnant life would not help us grow to our fullest potential." resonated with me. I wrote it in my journal and will keep it in mind as all of the things around me are changing as well. Thanks to all of you for sharing! xoLaura
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