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My favorite family tradition is of course at Christmas time. (well it's christmas time at my mother's all year) but we all drive out to College Station to Tombstone Texas/Santa Wonderland. We alll pile into vehicles and go look at the lights and drink hot cocoa. We all take pictures with Santa and they have a bon fire there with a musician and we sit around and eat kernal corn. My mother and I always buy an old time sign like what used to eb up in the old saloons. They also have live impersonations of the Tombstone men. And the Val Kilmer on of Doc Holiday is absolutly awesome!

Posted by Snyder2007    Thursday, August 14, 2008 3:37 PM

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My favorite family tradition is getting together at Easter. It's crawfish season in Louisiana at that time, the weather is perfect, and all of the men in the family try to dethrone the current champion of horseshoes! There are so many things that tie into the gathering that are specific to our heritage as Louisianians. It's wonderful. :-)

Posted by goesbatty    Thursday, August 14, 2008 4:18 PM

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My favorite family tradition is one my husband and I started when we were dating. My birthday is right before Halloween - prime pumpkin-carving time. We pick out pumpkins and make jack-o-lanterns on my birthday every year. It's how he proposed to me (by cutting the bottom out of the pumpkin and hiding the ring inside, then using drywall putty to re-attach the bottom so I wouldn't know), and now we continue the tradition with our sons! It's fun for everyone and it's my favorite because we created it just for us - making it extra special.

Posted by chalmette    Thursday, August 14, 2008 5:36 PM

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My favorite family tradition is Cookie Day.  Around the end of Aug. we gather our calendars and select a day in November to get together and bake cookies all day long.  The tradition started about 30 years ago with my grandma, mom & aunt before I was even born.  It now includes all of them plus myself, my sister, my cousin, occassionally brother and his girlfriend and now my daughter.  4 generations included!  We bake approxiamtely 100 dozen cookies (about 20 different types) over the day while listening to Christmas music.  It gets us in the holiday spirit and prepares us for the parties and gift giving to come.  The recipes for the most part have stayed the same.  Occassionally we retire one of the lesser favorites and bring in a new recipe or two.  Of course at the end of the day, we always take a picture of us with all of the cookies.  The day is special to all of us and looked forward throughout the year.  I know it will be carried on through even more generations to come.

Posted by newPhxmommy    Thursday, August 14, 2008 5:33 PM

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My favorite family tradition is Christmas morning when all my family gets together to watch all the granchildren open presents and we can't wait until we have our baby to be able to watch him/her do the same!

Posted by Beasley05    Thursday, August 14, 2008 6:00 PM

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Its a family tradition that my Mom makes and hides our Easter baskets. Instead of hunting for eggs, we have to hunt for our baskets. Its so much fun and sometimes we get to hide each others. I will admit since there are 6 of us and now we're all grown, married and having our own children its getting a little difficult to find enough hiding spaces for 23 baskets and that number is still growing! Not to mention my family loves to invite people who have nowhere else to go like college friends who aren't going home or co-workers who live away from their families and so my Mom always has extra baskets on hand.

Posted by LisiLynn    Thursday, August 14, 2008 6:17 PM

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Playing cards together as a family.

Posted by HAB12345    Thursday, August 14, 2008 6:31 PM

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Of course my favorite family traadition comes at Christmas time.  I am not at all sure how it started, but we've done this for at least 4 generations.  On Christmas morning, we have the "Christmas Gift" race. Upon seeing each person for the first time that morning, we race to be the first person to say "Christmas Gift" to the other. Of course there are rules to the game, such as no waking people by saying "Christmas Gift". But all day long you can hear yelling from our home. And if you call our house, you are not greeted with "Hello". You will hear a resounding "CHRISTMAS GIFT".  You don't win anything. There is no reward. It is simply all of us having fun that morning!  

Posted by pie.bell    Thursday, August 14, 2008 7:08 PM

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my favorite family tradition is christmas eve. we call it noche buena, and the entire family gets together, we stay up the night before cooking dozens of dishes and brewing sweet hot punch. christmas eve we are up until midnight, at midnight we pray, prayer usually lead by my mom, then more   eating, chatting, open presents, and then continue celebrating  until 3am!

Posted by daisydog96    Thursday, August 14, 2008 7:33 PM

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A favorite tradition for me (their are many!) is having family nights. Having a special night every week where we gather for something fun -- just together time. We've created our own "theme song" for it -- and our kids talk about it all week. As soon as one is over they are already looking forward to the next week! Thanks so much for the chance to win this wonderful prize!

Posted by arbrashears    Thursday, August 14, 2008 7:25 PM

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My favorite tradition is also Christmas. My husband and I moved away from our home and families 4 years ago and had to make our own traditions to make the holiday's feel special. We spent far too much on decorations and make cookies every Saturday of December. We put up our tree first thing Thanksgiving morning, and on Christmas morning we make a large breakfast from a Paula Dean Christmas magazine, the same one every year.

For our wedding we didn't register for regular China, just Lenox Christmas plates. When our daughter was born 2 years into our move, Christmas felt complete finally. We had created a Christmas wonderland and established traditions for her. We have 3 different trees and buy a new ornament every Christmas. We spend every weekend in Christmas stores and listening to Christmas music.

And in July, I relive the entire Christmas when I put in new pages in our Christmas scrapbook. And in December we can reminisce every Christmas when we look at our family Christmas album.

So many people inherit their families traditions, we didnt' have that option being so far away from home. We had to make new traditions that are just our own, and will be special for the 3 of us and one day the 4 of us.

Posted by candylane    Thursday, August 14, 2008 7:52 PM

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Our favorite family tradition is to celebrate 1/2 birthdays.  Since each child love knowing that they are 3 1/2, 4 1/2, etc., we started to celebrate the 1/2 birthdays by cooking 1/2 a cake (l layer), we sing 1/2 the birthday song and just have fun.  The kids love it and look so forward to their 1/2 birthdays.

Posted by peg42    Thursday, August 14, 2008 8:25 PM

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My favorite family tradition is our traditional gigantic Christmas breakfast after we've all opened our presents.  My husband prepares everything, he usualy makes a strata the night before, and then pops it in the oven.

Posted by cdziuba    Thursday, August 14, 2008 8:23 PM

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My favorite family tradition was started on the first Christmas my husband (then boyfriend) and I spent together.  We went to buy our first Christmas tree, but had no ornaments.  We decided that every year from then on, we would both pick out a nice/fancy ornament to put on the tree.  Since that first year would have left us with only two ornaments, we decided to buy the cheap christmas balls to fill in the rest.  Now, we remove two of the cheap ornaments each year and replace them with two new ones.  This year we will add a third one for our new son.   Eventually we will have a tree full of nice ornaments that also bring happy memories.

Posted by sunshine723    Thursday, August 14, 2008 9:22 PM

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Once my sister and I were in college and out of the house, holidays and other family get-togethers became so much more special.  We lived a few hours apart after being in the same 2000 sqft house for our whole lives to that point.  The first Christmas when my sister came home, she decided to cook us all french toast with home made challah.  She topped it with vanilla yogurt and fresh berry compote.  We nearly needed a forklift to get us up from that table to go open gifts!  Since then, we've done the same thing every year, with all of the family chipping in now.  My husband and I drive over early Christmas morning just for the french toast feed, then head back home to get ready for other Christmas gatherings (we don't even change out of our pj's!).  This Christmas our son will be nearly two, and old enough to really enjoy the breakfast too.  It may have to morph into a brunch so we have time to create new family traditions in our little branch of the family.

Posted by mishyb    Thursday, August 14, 2008 9:45 PM

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My favorite family tradition is opening one present the night before Christmas. We all know that it is from my grandparents and it is pajamas but each year we pretend it's a surprise. My grandma likes it that way. We do, too.

Posted by maelli3    Thursday, August 14, 2008 9:47 PM

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My favorite family tradition is "Men Weekend". All the guys go out of town to snowmobile, ice fish and who knows what. That weekend my cousins, mom and Aunts come and sleepover at my house. We stay in our pjs and eat leftover Christmas cookie. I think the girls enjoy the weekend more then the guys, but we never tell.

Posted by BabyGolaski    Thursday, August 14, 2008 10:07 PM

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Growing up the Christmas Holidays didn't start until St. Nicholas Day on December 6th.  The night before we left our shoes out and that night St. Nicholas came to check on us (a 'naughty or nice' list check up).  If we were good he would leave chocolate coins, candy, and small gifts (usually ornaments and slippers).  If we were naughty it was rumored that he left coal.  During dinner on December 6th we always heard him flying back to the North Pole.  As he flew over our house we heard sleigh bells and candy fell through the ceiling onto the dinner table (due to some strategic coordination by my parents).

My mother, grandmother and great grandmother enjoyed this German tradition as children.  I can't wait to share it with our little one!

Posted by Ali080605    Thursday, August 14, 2008 10:19 PM

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My husband and I both have divorced parents who are remarried, so holidays are always hectic. We have 3 places to be on Christmas Eve and 3 places on Christmas day, so that doesn't leave much time for us as a family. Christmas last year was our son's first Christmas, and we really wanted some time to celebrate with him by ourselves, but it's not realistic that any of the other family events could be skipped. So we started a new tradition - we will celebrate Christmas as a family on December 23rd. It didn't seem quite the same at first, but we were so glad that we had that time for just the 3 of us. And as our kids get older (baby #2 is now on the way...), it's really important to us to have a time where we can celebrate Christmas as a family and won't feel rushed to get to the next event. And I'm sure our kids won't mind 3 straight days of presents!

Posted by MEL73104    Thursday, August 14, 2008 10:19 PM

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Would you like to inspire your children to be extra good?  Nothing works better than a phone call to Santa Claus!  We're fairly new on this "tradition" since my son is still quite young, but a few days before Christmas, we sit down with a telephone and make a phone call to Santa (who is sometimes my father-in-law and sometimes my dad).  My son tells Santa what he wants for Christmas and Santa reminds him to be a good boy.  Since "Santa" knows things about my son's behavior and recent actions, it has an extra powerful effect!

Posted by snickelfritz    Thursday, August 14, 2008 10:50 PM

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My favorite tradition is hiding the Easter baskets. Growing up, I thought everyone did this. Each year my Mom makes up and hides Easter baskets for all of us children, our spouses and the grandchildren. Its so much fun. Occasionally we'll hide each others which just adds to the excitement. We have a very large family. We're at 23 right now and still growing so we'll see how much longer we can do this before we simply run out of hiding spaces. Also each year one of us seems to bring along a friend or co-worker that doesn't have anywhere to go for the holiday and my Mom always makes baskets for the guests as well. They probably think our family is insane.

Posted by LisiLynn    Thursday, August 14, 2008 10:55 PM

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At the end of a sunny Florida day, our new family has a tradition of watching the sunset and then giving "sunset kisses" once the last glimpse of the sun falls below the horizon.  This is a sweet way to close out our days and start our evening rituals.

Posted by cavalletta    Friday, August 15, 2008 12:28 AM

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My favorite family tradition is on Christmas Eve, when my Dad, little brother, Hubby & I take food to homeless people in our area. My mom always goes to the grocery store & stocks up on roasted chicken, bread, sodas & other goodies, & throughout the year we collect blankets, shoes & clothing (the last few years neighbors & friends have found out about our tradition & will donate stuff for us to take, so there's usually a lot). Then we take the food & clothes & pile in my dad's truck & start driving through parts of town where we know homeless people usually hide out. We like finding them, rather than just going to homeless shelters, because they are completely surprised and grateful-many times they have thought we are with a church group or want to preach to them, but it's amazing when they realize that we just want to spread the Christmas cheer with them. We have been doing this for the past 12 years, & the remarkable people who we've met & stories that we've heard have made it such a heartwarming, rewarding experience. The best part about our tradition is that we keep finding more people each year, & we keep it to ourselves as our own little way to spread some joy & love on Christmas Eve.

Posted by MrsQtAvonLady    Friday, August 15, 2008 1:59 AM

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Family reunion each summer at a cabin where we break into two teams and compete!

Posted by agordon10    Friday, August 15, 2008 6:08 AM

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My favorite tradition with my family is Thanksgiving and Black Friday.  Everyone from my family comes in from out of town for Thanksgiving and we have a huge feast and get to spend LOTS of time together.  My very favorite part is our shopping trip on Black Friday.  It's a tradition - all of the women in our family spend the night with eachother and get up at like 3am the morning of Black Friday.  We get all of our Christmas shopping done in one day and we have a blast doing it!!!  I hope that if I have a little girl I can continue the tradition with her!  :)

Posted by nosbourne    Friday, August 15, 2008 6:37 AM

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My favorite family tradition is baby christenings.  I come from an Irish Catholic family, and ever since my older brother was born 30 years ago, every baby in my family has worn the same christening gown.  Now that I am expecting a baby in December, I have been given this gown to use for my own child.  It is such a precious thing to be able to tell my daughter that she was christened in the same gown that I was.

Posted by fairytate    Friday, August 15, 2008 7:25 AM

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Each summer my extended family gets together at the beach at a house that once belonged to my great grandmother. We do nothing in particular and just enjoy each others company. I'm thrilled this year to bring my son (the 5th generation) to this event!

Posted by itsmyturn2    Friday, August 15, 2008 8:07 AM

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My favorite family tradition is preparing the Christmas tree.  As a child, we'd  all pile into the car and drive to the tree farm, walking through miles of trees to select the perfect one.  Dad would saw it down, and strap it on the car.  After he put the tree in its stand and watered it, mom attached the tree skirt and brought out all the ornaments - we have special ones from our childhood that we all get to put on while reminiscing and listening to Christmas carols and tales of family Christmases past.  My husband and I have adopted this custom, and last year his mother gave me some of his childhood ornaments - a few that were his favorites growing up and a few he made.  I also have some "special" ornaments that I'd made or cherished as a child.  We always try and pick up a special ornament each year with significance to an event or place to add to the collection.  It really adds to the magic of  Christmas - a wonderful time of year.

Posted by mod-bride    Friday, August 15, 2008 9:21 AM

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My favorite is going to the lake ever summer for a while.

Posted by kygirlx2    Friday, August 15, 2008 9:52 AM

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My husband's family has been going to cabins on lake in WI for 50 years.  We're now on the fourth generation, and the tradition is going strong!

Posted by louiseb130    Friday, August 15, 2008 9:54 AM

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we all get together on christmas eve and open 1 present.

Posted by vboackle    Friday, August 15, 2008 10:18 AM

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Growing up my husband's family had a blessing book and each Christmas morning they would sit down as a family and write things they were thankful for that year.  When we got married my in-laws gave us a blessing book to start with our own family.  We enjoy the tradition but the real joy is spending Christmas Eve with his family and taking part in the blessing book that started it all.  We always read some of the old entries which make us smile and laugh.  Like the year my husband gave thanks for his first skateboard (he was about 7) or the year we gave birth to our first child.  This year I will be giving thanks for our third little miracle!

Posted by wtrdrps    Friday, August 15, 2008 10:25 AM

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My favorite family tradition is during Christmas.  My three sisters and I, and now my DH and DS (who is one) all gather at my parents house.  We spend a week baking cookies, watching movies, and decorating the tree together with ornaments my mom has collected since we were little girls.  She has four of each ornament so one day when she is gone we can decorate our trees with ornaments that remind us of her.   On Christmas day we all gather for coffee and sweet rolls in the kitchen and then we proceed to spend hours opening gifts one by one.  After the big gifts are opened we move into the family room and my mom hands out our stockings which she has stuffed with little treats like fancy chocolate, perfume, and make up for the girls and little golf accessories for my dad and DH.  I then make a huge dinner for the rest of the family while they hang out watching old movies.  The dinner features the now famouse "roast beast," a standing rib roast accompanied always by roasted carrots and potatoes and sauteed spinach.  Dessert is usually the cookies we spent the week baking.  We all sit down to eat and count our blessings and thank god that we were all able to celebrate the end of another year together.  

Posted by JessieSipes    Friday, August 15, 2008 11:43 AM

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Our favorite family tradition is getting together with our entire family on Thanksgiving and taking some time to reflect on what we are grateful for.  No matter if someone is 1 year old or 100, we each express gratitude for a year past.  My husband and I do this at home also each night before we go to bed.  We each say one thing that we are grateful for because it's so easy to get caught up in our day to day drama and problems, we think it is important to remain in state of gratitude.  We plan on passing on our Gratitude traditions to our baby boy that we are expecting in October!

Posted by dmcrat7    Friday, August 15, 2008 12:06 PM

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My favorite family tradition is picking out our christmas tree! I usually drag my dh and crew to pick one out the day after Thanksgiving.  In florida there are no snowy days to pick out a tree! We usually have shorts on and pick out a tree a lowes, but I love the smell of christmas trees! Just talking about it now gets me excited! only 3 months to go!

Posted by mom2nji    Friday, August 15, 2008 12:11 PM

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My absolute favorite family tradition is "date night".  I grew up with two sisters, and my Dad worked off shore (21 days off, 7 days home).  So, when he came in, he would give each of his girls (mom included) a date night.  We go out and do things we could only do with him like fishing or riding horses. It didn't matter if we were supposed to be grounded, or if anything was wrong.  All of that went away on Date Night!   It was so awesome, because all of his attention was on his "date" for a least two hours.

Now, my husband and I have adopted "date night".  We both work crazy hours, volunteer separately, and have individual commitments.  BUT we make sure that at least one night a week is completely devoted each other.  We can stay home, go out, whatever...but it is just us two for at least two hours.  I can not tell you how much it has helped our relationship.  It is stress free time that we take to talk about everything but our responsibilities.  It is a way for us to reconnect and remember why we love each other.

Once our little one gets here, I'm sure both of us will have a new date night as well.  A little slot of time for each of us to spend alone with our little miracle... new way of making unforgettable memories.

Posted by jimmieandseana    Friday, August 15, 2008 1:34 PM

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My absolute favorite family tradition is "date night".  I grew up with two sisters, and my Dad worked off shore (21 days off, 7 days home).  So, when he came in, he would give each of his girls (mom included) a date night.  We go out and do things we could only do with him like fishing or riding horses. It didn't matter if we were supposed to be grounded, or if anything was wrong.  All of that went away on Date Night!   It was so awesome, because all of his attention was on his "date" for a least two hours.

Now, my husband and I have adopted "date night".  We both work crazy hours, volunteer separately, and have individual commitments.  BUT we make sure that at least one night a week is completely devoted each other.  We can stay home, go out, whatever...but it is just us two for at least two hours.  I can not tell you how much it has helped our relationship.  It is stress free time that we take to talk about everything but our responsibilities.  It is a way for us to reconnect and remember why we love each other.

Once our little one gets here, I'm sure both of us will have a new date night as well.  A little slot of time for each of us to spend alone with our little miracle... new way of making unforgettable memories.

Posted by jimmieandseana    Friday, August 15, 2008 1:38 PM

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My favorite family tradition started 5 years ago when my husband and i started to 1st date and the 1st birthday of mine we celebrated Valentines Day happened to be his moms birthday too!! So that 1st time my family and his family all got together for the 1st time to meet we went to a nice restaurant for dinner and celebrated together both our bdays and valentines day! and we've done it every year since! and now we get to include our two little girls! they love it! and it just gets better and more romantic every year and so glad the family keeps growing so theres more to celebrate!

Posted by MegaliciousMommy    Friday, August 15, 2008 3:42 PM

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the family thanksgiving get together for old and new

Posted by mverno    Friday, August 15, 2008 7:19 PM

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everyone banging pots at midnight on new year's eve & my mom makes a big pot of blackeyed peas for the good luck in the coming year!

Posted by dmarina    Friday, August 15, 2008 7:53 PM

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Well here comes another Christmas one...sort of :) !  My favorite family tradition is making tamales.  I remember how much I hated shucking corn when I was little because I was always afraid there would be a worm or something waiting for me inside the corn husk.  Now it's one of my favorite memories and traditions.  My Mom is an awesome cook and she knows how to make the masa from fresh corn and would do everything from scratch.  I had the most fun shredding the beef since there was no possibility of any surprises jumping out at me.  She would make tons of tamales and freeze them and for Christmas we always had tamales instead of the traditional food normally served.  I have lived away from home for almost ten years now and besides missing my family I miss those times the most.  Now that we are pregnant with our first child I hope to fly back home more often so that our baby can learn about making tamales as well as the many other traditions our wonderful family has.

Posted by geppetto1056    Saturday, August 16, 2008 3:15 PM

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We celebrate my favorite family tradition on New Years Day starting exactly one year after my husband and I started dating.  My husband, kids, and myself all go eat dinner at the Mexican restaurant that my husband and I had our first dinner as a married couple.  Then we go home and watch 'Nacho Libre' because that's what we did for our "honeymoon".  To us it symbolizes the beginning of our family so we like to make sure that our children understand how much we care for each other.  The kids loved hearing the story on how we met and fell in love.  Plus, it's a ton of fun to relive our honeymoon every year!

Posted by JackieRod85    Saturday, August 16, 2008 8:58 PM

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We always go into the woods and chop down a Christmas tree.  It's been going strong for 25 years and now we are starting all over with the grandkids.

Posted by ps9906    Saturday, August 16, 2008 9:27 PM

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It's gotta be game night. I mean my whole block comes together and all the kids including all the adults come to a designated house with many types of games, not even just board games. We come up with new ones every week and bring food and endless entertainment and then we watch youtube videos.

Posted by spliffster    Sunday, August 17, 2008 1:57 AM

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Definitely one week before Halloween. We haven't done this in a couple of years since my family is all over the place now (and two of us in different countries!) but I can't wait to start it again with my husband and soon-to-be-born son. :)

We'd go out to a pumpkin patch out in the country, and just wander around, looking at the 'professional' pumpkin carvings, buying up pumpkin treats and candy apples... like a mini fair at a farm! As soon as we'd get home, all the kids would take care of the gutting of the pumpkins, with everyone throwing them at ME to carve! Not sure how that part started, probably when I first did one of my 3D sculptures by digging into the skin but not all the way through.

I miss it all! Maybe not the week of carving pumpkins for the whole family SO much, but everything else, for sure. :)

Posted by fauxbunny    Sunday, August 17, 2008 12:13 PM

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My favorite family tradition happens every time someone comes back in town or to visit.  We all get together and go to a great New Mexican food restauant.  We eat, talk, and have a great time.  This restaurant is where I told my family that we would be having a new addition in a few months.  No margaritas for me!

Posted by Katie55218    Sunday, August 17, 2008 12:27 PM

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A family tradition that me and my husband have during Christmas is to get 1 ornament each and something that signifiys the past year. Also my husband (even before he was my husband) takes me out to see the local MLB team around my birthday.

Posted by a003vp    Sunday, August 17, 2008 6:29 PM

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Probably everyone getting together to decorate the Christmas tree, we put on holiday music, make lots of great food and spiced cider and everyone has a great time.

Posted by Jessilyn82    Sunday, August 17, 2008 10:31 PM

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Christmas morning....everyone opens their presents in order from youngest to oldest. But the tradition part that I love is afterwards. We aren't allowed to open our stockings until after breakfast. So everyone, well mostly the kids, just sit there and stare wondering what Santa brought them. It makes Christmas morning last longer. The stocking presents are all from Santa and he usually brings the fun ones that you can play with right away.  

Posted by mommy100408    Monday, August 18, 2008 11:31 AM

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My husband and I have made our own family tradition the last few years.  Every winter, before Christmas, we spend a day together in downtown Chicago.  There's so much to see and experience!!  We just walk around and take great pictures!  We typically end the day with dinner at a great Italian restaurant.  We can't wait to expand this tradition by bringing our little one with us!!  I hope this goes on for years to come with all of our children.

Posted by hchatton    Monday, August 18, 2008 12:41 PM

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We have various family traditions. With his family it is hanging out with family, spending time together, singing, playing games and cards, such as Rook.  With my family, it is spending time together also; the group activities aren't emphasized as much since I am an only child.  My Mom and I like to have baked items and a special dinner to hang out around with family together. Being together is the focus.

Posted by nikkidutchgirl    Monday, August 18, 2008 8:14 PM

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One week every summer my dad's side of the family gathers in the Idaho mountains for a week of camping fun. The landscape is gorgeous and the antics are pretty hilarious. Each year we make up a contest and the winner gets the Horse's Heiney trophy. We've had chili cookoffs, wooden sculpture contests, swimming races, and poetry readings. My favorite times are those around the campfire telling the same old stories and watching shooting stars. There is no shortage of bragging and teasing, kids are always good dirty and full of sugar, and everyone belongs to everyone else's grandmas and grandpas. As more and more of us are married and new children born, there are so many new family members who become lifelong friends after this week in Idaho.

Posted by deemariegirlie    Tuesday, August 19, 2008 1:00 AM

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My favorite family tradition is one that my husband and I started back when we were dating.  Early December every year, we both go to the grocery store and buy random candies, frosting and graham crackers.  We build a different style "gingerbread" house with it.  It's lots of fun to see how creative we can get.  After we build it, including the outdoor scenery, we leave in in the middle of the table as our centerpiece for the rest of the month.  Of course, nieces and nephews steal the candies and it never quite looks the same at Christmas, but that's half the fun!!!  Now that we're pregnant, we're excited to have a little one to help build them!

Posted by jess&jake    Tuesday, August 19, 2008 9:32 AM

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My best friend of over 15 years lives in Alabama with her husband and two girls and I live in Kentucky with my husband and a baby on the way. Our favorite tradition is our once a year visit with each other for Thanksgiving. To ease the burden on all of us (it's a 13 hour drive!) we take turns each year driving. Luckily (since I am pregnant and getting uncomfortable) it's their turn to drive up, and this is year FOUR! I will have found out the sex of our baby the week before they arrive, so it will be extra special this year! On a bittersweet note, the reason we are best friends is through our mutual friend, Jennifer. She died in a car accident in over the Thanksgiving holidays in 1996, so my best friend and I have been glued to each other ever since. Jennifer brought us together, so we honor her memory by spending our Thanksgiving holiday together EVERY year!

Posted by emdania    Tuesday, August 19, 2008 11:28 AM

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One of my favourite family traditions takes place on Christmas morning. For as I can remember, we would always open our stockings before any presents, and there would always be a "Christmas" orange (mandarin) at the very toe of our stockings, which wouls be our pre-breakfast present opening snack. My husband and I decided to continue this tradition as it is one of my favourites, and I can't wait for the new addition to enjoy it with us.

Posted by nancypr    Tuesday, August 19, 2008 2:14 PM

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Aside from all of the holiday traditions we share with our wonderful family, my husband and I can't wait to introduce our little one to world of college football! We are huge University of South Carolina fans- co Gamecocks! Each year, we host a huge USC vs. Georgia party at our home. All of our family and friends come over, regardless of which team they support and enjoy the game, the food and the laughes! The children swim in the pool, my husband brings out the grill and the team bashing begins. Its a lot of fun seeing everyone I love dressed in their team colors yelling at the TV.  My dog even as a USC jersey she wears. I can't wait to add another little voice into the mix, screaming "USC!"

Posted by MH2B    Tuesday, August 19, 2008 2:44 PM

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My favorite family tradition starts on Christmas Eve.  My entire family gets together at my uncles house.  He and my aunt cooks a wonderful meal on most holidays the menu will be prime rib with delious sides.  After our delious dinner with laughs and story sharing we gather around the fire place by the Christmas tree together.  We waited for Santa to come when we were younger and now that we are older we play the dice game, this is a new tradition that my husband added when he joined the family.  But this last Christmas Eve santa came to hand out presents because we have little ones around again.  When all the games and gifts are done and everyone is tried, we leave for a good nights sleep.  My immediate family head to my parents house for our first gift given on Christmas Eve.  My sister and I also look forward to this one ever since we were young.  This tradition has not changed.  The gift is always a pair of pjs, usually matching so my sister and I wear them to bed that night and wake up with them to open the rest of the gift in the morning.  We still enjoy this tradition even as adults.  I will pass this tradition on to my children even when they are old enough to buy their own pjs.

Posted by RJT-MST    Tuesday, August 19, 2008 3:02 PM

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I think it's the annual candy cane hunt that we do. My oldest two kids are in college but even they still love it!

Posted by bluevioletof2    Wednesday, August 20, 2008 5:35 AM

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Well some people may not see this as a tradition but my favorite thing is sitting at the table with my family at dinner. It may be a daily ritual for some but to me its the one thing that brings me closest to my family. My family did not do this as a child but I always wanted it. I swore as a little girl that I would always sit at the table with my family. Im the stepmother of 3 beautiful children and we are expecting one of our own together and I can honestly say that is the best time I have with my family, and the children really enjoy that time with us. It just brings us closer and it helps us understand day by day what our children are facing in there little worlds.

Posted by vice_taram    Wednesday, August 20, 2008 12:01 PM

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Every Christmas we save the bottom part of the Christmas tree that is cut off to allow the waters to feed the tree.  We make it into an ornament with the year written on it.  It is fun and makes it easy to determine what year it is when we look back at pictures.

Posted by egreca    Wednesday, August 20, 2008 3:34 PM

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My favorite family tradition happens at Christmas.  When my younger brother and I were little, my parents had us sleep in the same room on Christmas Eve, to wait for Santa.  At about 3 in the morning, my parents came and woke us up, saying that Santa had arrived. They had gone to such extreme measures to make us believe - half eaten carrots on the front lawn that we had left out earlier that night,  as well as the usual cookies that had bites taken out of them and the glass of milk that had been consumed.  We got to open all our goodies right then and there.  To this day, even though my brother and I are now in our thirties, we still have to go in a room together while "Santa" prepares the gifts under the tree.  I even get butterflies in my stomach still!  And while we have moved up the festivities significantly (Santa now arrives much earlier, sometimes as early as 8pm!), it's still so amazingly special.  

Posted by kerrin104    Wednesday, August 20, 2008 3:41 PM

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My favorite family tradition is that one Sunday afternoon a month after church we all go to my grandmother's house for lunch. You can always count on a fullfilling and home cooked meal. It is such a tradition tht my cousins that are away in college about 5 hrs away even come home for this monthly get together. It is always a great time to catch up on family events and what is just going on until the next time we meet again!

Posted by PrimpeakMO    Wednesday, August 20, 2008 4:59 PM

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My favorite family tradition is when we're going on a trip, we always leave at "the butt crack of dawn".

cherylfrancisco@hotmail.com

Posted by LBSGONE    Wednesday, August 20, 2008 5:40 PM

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My favorite family tradition is our annual Memorial Day party. It's a time when both sides of our family gets together. It's different than Christmas or Thanksgiving because we don't have to split the time between two families and are able to enjoy the sunshine and good food (my husband is a great cook).

Posted by Jess&Greginlove    Wednesday, August 20, 2008 8:34 PM

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favorite family tradition is all of us together on Christmas Eve, at my parents house...Growing up, we had everyone gather at our home to celebrate the Polish vigilia. After dinner we bundled up and went Christmas caroling in the neighborhood, all my 4 siblings, parents, grandparents, cousins and all.

year after year we would do this and it was such a magical time!

Now we are all older and doing different things Christmas Eve, and my oldest sister died 6 mos. ago, but I will always have the memories of those magical nights as a child...plus now we all gather Christmas day at my aunt and uncles, and make new memories!

thanks for the contest, and reminding me of a very special family memory

Posted by abymom    Wednesday, August 20, 2008 9:05 PM

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Trips to Mount Rushmore :)

Posted by gkran    Thursday, August 21, 2008 1:16 AM

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My family gathers together at my grandparents house to eat breakfast at 8:30am Christmas morning.  It gives the grandparents, great grandparents and yes, even great-great grandparents a chance to spend time with the kids Christmas morning and gives us exhausted parents some time to eat, relax and recoop!

Posted by allysmama    Thursday, August 21, 2008 3:59 AM

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getting together with extended family on christmas eve :)

Posted by kathypease    Thursday, August 21, 2008 7:27 AM

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My favorite family tradition is receiving red envelopes for Chinese New Year. ;0P

Posted by mslilyk    Thursday, August 21, 2008 7:55 AM

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My favorite family tradion is that my entire mom's side (everyone that lives in our state) gets together for Christmas Eve.  It is a wonderful time of food, fellowship, giggles, singing, and just being together.  I love that day!

Posted by purehrt555    Thursday, August 21, 2008 11:06 AM

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My favorite family tradition is on christmas eve when we get to open only one present and it is always pjs. So with everyone in there new pjs we hang out and play games and drink hot coco. Its the best part of christmas.

Posted by clynn58    Thursday, August 21, 2008 11:32 AM

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On christmas eve we all get together and everyone makes an appetizer dish to share.  It is fun to have all the variety and everyone's participation.

Posted by jryamada    Thursday, August 21, 2008 12:01 PM

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I will be adopting my favorite family tradition from my husband's family.  While looking through his family photos I saw that for every year of his childhood he had a picture with him holding his homemade birthday cake in front of  a chalkboard.  On it was written his name and how old he was that day.  Once he was old enough to write it was in his own handwriting.  I love the idea that birthdays are really the one day of the year to celebrate the individual and what they mean to you.  I plan to carry on this tradition with my own children and place the pictures in their baby book each year so that they too can have such a special record of their childhood and to remind them that they are loved.

Posted by itstime2babride    Thursday, August 21, 2008 2:25 PM

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Every birthday is celebrated as an entire week!  My mom sends me a giant box full of prewrapped birthday presents that have each day of the week posted on them.  So, I have one present to open each day leading up to my birthday.  It is so much fun and something I look forward to each year!  We will continue the tradition when our baby Gavin arrives.

Posted by AmandaMaria    Thursday, August 21, 2008 3:33 PM

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Our favorite family tradition is opening one gift on Christmas Eve. Each person in the family gets to pick a gift from under the tree and open it. We still leave cookies out for Santa!

Posted by cream83    Thursday, August 21, 2008 3:42 PM

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My favorite family tradition is pictures with Santa. My youngest brother has autism and even though it was a great feat to bundle him up in his snowsuit, and even though he would often have a melt-down and cry though the whole experience, 20 years later those are the only family photos we have. Looking back I can appreciate how difficult is was for my mom as a single parent to manage the three of us on her own especially with one special needs child. I truly cherish those photos and made a special scrapbook page for each year that we were together. Once my children are born I plan to carry on the tradition of pictures with Santa and maybe someday we will be able to get my brother to come along to smile in one of them too.

Posted by wapapa    Thursday, August 21, 2008 7:58 PM

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our favorite holiday tradition is hanging out on the beach and being together

Posted by smatiritas    Thursday, August 21, 2008 9:51 PM

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My favorite tradition that we started several years ago is to "adopt" a less fortunate child at Christmas.   It does all of our hearts good to know that we have made a child happy at Christmas.  Thank you for the opportunity to win!

Posted by bndraldy    Thursday, August 21, 2008 9:55 PM

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We participate in the shoebox giveaway throught Samaritans purse.

Posted by donnak4    Thursday, August 21, 2008 11:00 PM

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My favorite family tradition is that on Christmas Day my husband and I spend the morning together sharing our gifts for eachother and eating monkey bread that I made that morning!

Posted by caitlincole    Friday, August 22, 2008 11:27 AM

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My favorite family tradition is Thanksgiving. This is because there are no stresses of buying everyone the perfect gift, or wearing the right clothes. This time is all about being a family and being together and most importantly being thankful for everyone.

Posted by MarieHulswit007    Saturday, August 23, 2008 12:44 PM

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My favorite family tradition is Christmas at my parent's house.  The kids always collect the animals and make the traditional walk down the stairs (with a pause for photos), then we open presents before having mom's Christmas breakfast casserole and then open stockings in front of the fireplace.  Dad always gets something that makes noises to scare the cats with.  I have enjoyed bringing my husband and in-laws into our family Christmas happenings and can't wait to start these same traditions with my kids.  First we need a house with stairs!

Posted by dvlish    Tuesday, August 26, 2008 2:25 PM

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My favorite tradition is using English Crackers at Christmas with my family.  It is a little tube that "pops" when you pull of the ends.  Inside is a paper crown, a fortune, and a "prize".  It is hilarious to eat dinner with the crowns and listen to everyone's fortune.  It is even funnier to watch everyone steal each other's prize.

Posted by Heather4200    Thursday, August 28, 2008 6:32 PM

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My favorite family (Its just My husband and Myself right now)tradition is Valentine's day. My husband and I order pizza and wings. After dinner we watch a movie and share "the best" time together. I hope to share "the best" simple times with our new baby. Whether its on christmas, birthday, or valentines day. Because it is not about gifts it is about the love, and the importance of family.  

Posted by reburgess28    Thursday, August 28, 2008 6:58 PM

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Every year my mother gets my sister and I a Ch.ristmas ornament for the tree.  It was always a special time when we decorated the tree and saw all our ornaments again.  I will be doing the same thing with my daughter.  I can't wait for her 1st Christmas!!!

Posted by anastasia_lorraine    Thursday, August 28, 2008 11:15 PM

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My favorite family tradition that my family has done since my brother and I were little is when there is an anniversary in the family we make it a family day. All of us hang out and give gifts. It's so much fun to hang out with the my parents, brother and his wife (and soon to be nephew) and my husband and DS.

Posted by dramaqueen21888    Tuesday, September 02, 2008 7:20 AM

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my favorite family tradition is our st. patty's day parade. 10 years ago my parents started a st. patty's day party and held a parade just on our street with floats and a boom box of irish music. (we live in a super small town, so they closed the street) now it has become a town-wide parade with cars, horses, floats and bagpipers.... it's so much fun, i can't wait for our 4 month old to partake in his first parade next year.

Posted by megjohnson2    Friday, September 05, 2008 12:49 PM

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My favorite tradition is scrapbooking with my mother. Everytime there is a new baby in the family, we collect pictures and make an album for their first birthday present. Another favorite tradition is that my grandmother knits a special blanket for all the new babies. I still have mine from when I was born and now a new one for my son!

Posted by kris10leigh    Friday, September 26, 2008 9:21 AM

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Turkey Day!......being with close family eating the great food , then all of us going to the living room to watch like 5 movies that we all want while eating dessert...then everyone falls asleep on the living room floor...just to wake up that nite and eat more LEFT OVERS....!

Posted by christy2lali    Friday, September 26, 2008 9:50 AM

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Turkey Day!......being with close family eating the great food , then all of us going to the living room to watch like 5 movies that we all want while eating dessert...then everyone falls asleep on the living room floor...just to wake up that nite and eat more LEFT OVERS....!

Posted by christy2lali    Friday, September 26, 2008 9:54 AM

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My favorite tradition is on Thanksgiving Day. We get up and  head to my mom's. We watch the parade, cook together, and spend hours playing board games with my parents and grandparents til the turkey is ready. Then we always go around the table and have to say what we're thankful for before we can eat. And, no one can say the same thing as someone else, and no one can repeat last yrs. Then later on my brother and I break the wish bone.

I love it. Best day of the year. So relaxed, fun, and such good quality time with the family.

Posted by achickylala    Saturday, September 27, 2008 11:03 AM

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Helping my mom put up all the X-mas lights inside and outside of the house,you can light up the whole block.

Posted by mimi980    Friday, May 08, 2009 7:24 PM