Chatty Kathy thread for the week of November 19th 2007

I thought that I would start this thread by sharing one of our family traditions that go with the holiday season.

When I was little my mother and I would make holiday cheese balls and deliver them to all the neighbors so that when they had their celebrations with friends and family they had a little something special made from us.

I have started this with my children and each year we make cheese balls for our neighbors.

Every holiday season a group of my girlfriends get together to adopt a family that is less fortunate then us and provide them with a wonderful dinner and other holiday magic. It is exciting to see my children showing concern for someone else's holiday happiness instead of just their own.

What things do you do with your family during this time of year?

Miss Poi

Eat tons of oysters! Well, at least the men do.

That idea that you and your gfs do is a neat idea. I am not allowed to get into the holiday spirit (says the wife)!

Ok, so how many people here are named Charles, seems like a lot!!!!!!!

WOO-HOO!!!!

Nice holiday tradition miss POI. My wife and I always donate to Toys For Tots every holiday season and happy to do so!

I spent 8 yrs working in Yosemite National Park so missed many family Holiday celebrations. I decided since I could not be with my family, and at the time had no kids of my own, I would to go to one of the outlying communities and when I saw a needy family I would buy toys for the kids and just hand them over in the parking lot. I never gave my name and always walked away as soon as the deed was done. To this day I still go out alone one evening and continue my little tradition, once my kids are old enough to uinderstand I will start taking them along.

mourton, that's how he got started!

ML

i used to have a neighbor named Jack,
he used to bring us a Fruit Rum cake at Christmas,(all the neighbors) but he would tell me he started soaking it in rum at Holloween,
by time Christmas came ,,,,,,,boy that cake was strong.
Thats was the best Fruit cake i ever tasted.
Jack has passed,,,,,,,,boy i miss that cake..and..Jack too

for the last 7 years, we have bought fruit from a man that drives a truck up from Texas. He has nuts, apples, oranges, pomegranates and such in 20 lb bags.

We generally buy fruits and nuts and get some boxes from the local grocery store and decorate the box and fill it with fruit and nuts. On the top we put an envelope with a bit of money in it.

Then we take gather names of deserving people and deliver the boxes.

As a family, we don't do the traditional xmass in December... we do it on the first week in January.

Funny how traditions get started isn't it?

Has anyone thought of doing a treasure hunt?
If so how'd it turn out?
Sorry i was not following a post just had the thought and a short moment to post thanks!

After my recent changes in the family (read: divorce LOL!), I've started my own tradition.

I've made Thanksgiving feast fit enough for 10 people for the last three years, and I add one recipe every year.

I've prepared gifts to send to my kids. My daughter expects a "What Cats Teach Us" calendar every year.

I'll do the Christmas eve leg-of-lamb feast (fit enough for as many as Thanksgiving) again this year. My traditional Christmas dessert is a home-baked cheesecake. My kids come in late night on Christmas day, and they get to have my leftovers.

Just picked up my order for tomorrow and decided to test a few of them, boy they are good! Can't wait for tomorrow to finish them off.

Does anyone else eat oysters?

Love 'em!

Aside from the seafood kind, I've nicknamed one of my kid's friends an "Oy-ster" (as in someone who uses a Yiddish expletive). The young lady is Irish but still screams, "Oy!" all the time.

Living so close to the fish markets, we are blessed to have really fresh fish and oysters all year.

Coming from an Italian family we have many traditions. Mostly involve cooking, eating and spending time with family and going to Midnight Mass.

Other traditions; pick several names from a giving tree for children who are less fortunate and fill their "wish list".

Bake Italian goodies for my neighbors and friends.

Make cheesecakes for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Workout at the gym the rest of the year so I can enjoy the holidays without guilt.

Finding the Christmas Pickle (ornament) - whoever finds it, gets to open the first present.

Just got home last night from Vegas. The wedding in Colorado was great and the family get-together in Vegas donated enough cash to keep the lights going for a couple of days there! At least I didn't lose as much as my mother-in-law.

We don't have any real holiday traditions in our family yet. We had Thanksgiving dinner at a German restaurant in Las Vegas, but I don't thing we will make that a tradition (but the nurnberger sausage was excellent).

Now I have a few hundred emails and messages to get caught up on!