Blog Challenge: Day 1

So my friend Brooke posted a list of blog themes for the upcoming holiday season. Something about the 12 days of blogging of Christmas. I don't know. I messed that up. The point is, I like this kind of thing, so I'm going to post on those themes as well. Today is the first day of posting, and the theme is:

Christmas/Holiday Traditions

Since this is our first Thanksgiving and Christmas as a married couple, we have to try harder this year to go to all these different places for Christmas and Thanksgiving. I'm still not 100% sure how it will work out, but I think I'll post what I used to do for the first 22 years of my life, and how those traditions will change now that Brandon and I have to go everywhere together. :)

Thanksgiving

Normally for Thanksgiving we would only do lunch at my dad's parents' house. For the past few years, my parents have cooked something as well. One year some of mom's coworkers came over for dinner. I think we usually try to stop by and see my other set of grandparents, too. I don't know how I'm going to make Thanksgiving work, but so far we are planning to go to Mammaw's for lunch (as usual), then go by Brandon's mom's parents' house for a bit, maybe? Then off to wherever the other side of his family is gathering (I think it will be his aunt's house) for dinner. Mom is planning on making hot browns for Thanksgiving. Since there are only so many meals I can eat in a day, I think I'm going to miss out on them. Which isn't really fair because is there anything better than a hot brown? The answer is no. For the past few years I've gone out shopping with my dad on "Black Friday", but this year I'll have to work and I don't want to get up early to shop and then work. Plus I don't have any money and there's not really anything I'm dying to have that's on sale.

Christmas

My family has always been big on Christmas. I think we could fill a small house with all the Christmas decorations we've had over the years. Sometimes mom has made us advent baskets, and we usually have advent calendars with candy in them. We've always listened to lots of Christmas music and have several movies we watch every year (these include: A Muppet Christmas Carol, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, The Santa Clause, and Elf.) My mom, dad, brother and I would exchange some gifts Christmas Eve (like dad's presents for mom, my presents for them, etc.) and then Christmas morning, mom's parents would come over and we'd open the "Santa" gifts. Then it would be off to lunch at Mammaw's (my paternal grandparents') for lunch of fried oysters- the only time of year we get this treat! We'd open presents there, then everyone would stop by our house to see our presents before going to my aunt's to see my cousin's presents and eat dinner there. The past few years Brandon has picked me up from there to go see his family.

I think that this year we will be spending Christmas Eve with his family (after I go to church with mine) and Christmas morning with my family. I think. Then lunch at Mammaw's, and after that either we will visit the big Jones family gathering, then Dia's house, or the other way around. So far that's the best plan I've come up with. It will be hectic, but one thing I've noticed over the past few years is that Christmas is ALWAYS hectic. You don't really notice it when you're a little kid, but the planning and preparation can be stressful, it costs too much money sometimes, and then boom, it's all over, and you're depressed that the fun is gone but a little bit relieved at the same time.

So there's my first post for the blog challenge. I'm looking forward to having things to write about for the next few days!