Tradition!

  A week or so ago I sat down to read through some recipe magazines, anticipating and planning for the big gathering my boyfriend and I will be hosting this Thanksgiving. As I thumbed through, I came to an article about family holiday traditions. I have always found this to be an interesting subject and find it fascinating to hear how traditions that others share have come to be.



*Ornament Exchanges
* Fabulous light displays
*Saving the stump from every Christmas tree for 30 years
*Certain dishes that are made

 Of course, my family has some traditions around the holidays but not many. Friday Pie-day at Aunt Cathy's after Thanksgiving. Extended family gets together on Christmas Eve for a potluck and small gift exchange. Christmas morning just for the immediate family (even this has shifted in the few years since my parents divorced and my brother married...immediate family has gotten much larger and spread out). A few years ago I started a pre-Christmas girls night celebration, just in time to move out of state.

 After reading the article on tradition, my boyfriend and I had a long discussion about our respective family customs. I then realized that now that I am here in Colorado, I'd like to create some holiday habits here, especially since I cannot always make it home to participate. But...what to do?? If it's to be a tradition, I suppose I'd better like it. If it's to be a tradition with my fella, we should probably BOTH enjoy it. After some discussion, we came up with some options:

* I've always liked my friend, Sarah's, family tradition of a Christmas morning walk through the park. A perfect option for Colorado.
* A staff dinner. We have a huge number of international and seasonal staff that work here, most of whom work over the holiday. It would be nice to have an event to host those staffers. I'm not exactly sure how this would look, but I like the idea
* Taking the walk up a notch, we could cross country ski or snowshoe. We'd still be able to include the dog, which is important.
* This year we have family visiting for Thanksgiving and I think we may ask them to join us in the woods to find our Christmas tree. This is another tradition that is ideal for Colorado but it would be nice to find a tradition that could move...in the event that I ever do.
* It's tradition for a lot of people in Omaha to see A Christmas Carol around the holidays. Every year. I wouldn't mind some sort of cultural exposure. We don't get enough of that up in the mountains anyway

 SO there are a few of the practices up for consideration but let me ask my ladies for a little guidance here. I know you all have great family traditions this time of year.

What are they? Would you be willing to share them? Do you have other cool ideas you've heard and think could work for me? I'd love to hear them!