Holiday Cheer...or Not

This begins the season of holiday parties, and you know all the good things they include.  I'll steer away from the dangerous topics of casseroles and desserts and chocolate—although really, those are some of my favorite subjects for discussion at any time of the year!

Instead, let's talk about gifts. 

Not the kind you love to give.  The kind you love to give away.  You know, in those grab bags and games you play where everyone receives a gift from an anonymous giver.

One year I participated in a "Silly Santa" grab bag and received a pair of fuzzy animal slippers.  Envision this:  they were purple, with red eyes and long black claws, and—I'm not kidding—from front to back, they were two feet long.

Let's just say I found them...

Umm...

Spectacular! 

The slippers received a lot of attention at that particular Christmas party.  And you'd better believe they went right into the very next grab bag I could find.  (grin)  The winner absolutely loved them and wore them the rest of the night. 

Obviously, one person's "umm...spectacular" is another person's favorite gift.

To be fair, these games—and gifts—aren't all bad.  I'll admit I've been lucky, too.  At another party, I received a pair of holiday earrings that I still wear during the Christmas season every year.

Got any grab-bag stories, either for the best or worst gift ever?

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who will celebrate it later this week!

All my best to you,

Barbara

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Barbara White Daille

http://www.barbarawhitedaille.com

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August 2012

Christmas Traditions

My husband and I were married on December 22nd many years ago, in a church decorated with greenery and poinsettias. We spent our first Christmas together on our honeymoon. To me, Christmas has always been the most romantic time of year, one filled with tradition and memories.

That first Christmas, we exchanged gifts with my husband’s parents a few days before the wedding. They gave us camping equipment, which we’d wanted. (We got engaged on a camping trip.) Then his mother presented me with a small wrapped box. In it was one of those Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments — Our First Christmas Together. That started the tradition of buying a new ornament each year. If the ornament isn’t already marked with the year, I mark it. We have a ceramic ornament I purchased at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. I was thrilled to find one marked 1997 — that particular year. Only when we unwrapped it later to hang on the tree did we realized the stylized script actually read 1907. We always make jokes about remembering that as a very good year. A wooden plane commemorates the year my husband took flying lessons. Others mark new houses. All the milestone years are also celebrated with special ornaments — 10, 15, 20 and 25th anniversaries.

There are other special ornaments on our tree. Ornaments purchased in different places we’ve visited. Ornaments given to us by friends. And pictures of our beloved dogs, both past and present. Decorating the tree is a trip down memory lane for us, and a special way to start the holiday season.

I try to make time during the holidays for listening to special music (the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Garibaldi), watching holiday movies (While You Were Sleeping, A Christmas Story and Love, Actually are three must-sees) and reading Christmas books. I love Christmas-themed short story collections and just finished The Perfect Tree by Roz Denny Fox, Ann DeFee and Tanya Michaels. I highly recommend it!

Not all my traditions are old. When we moved to Colorado, we added the tradition of going out into the National Forest near our home to cut our tree. We take the dogs and tramp around in the snow for an hour or so until we find just the right tree. Then we cut it, haul it to the truck, and toast our choice with hot cocoa.

A girlfriend and I have made it a tradition these past three years to get together one afternoon after the decorations are up and treat ourselves to tea at Denver’s elegant Brown Palace Hotel.

Traditions help set this time of year apart from ‘ordinary time,’ help us to get into the right frame of mind and enrich the holidays. They can be as elaborate as a holiday feast and as simple as a cup of eggnog. And they can be adapted, discarded, or re-created as it suits our needs. So what are your holiday traditions? What traditions have you added recently? Which ones have you discarded in favor of something else?

Whatever your traditions or celebrations, I wish you much peace and happiness in the coming year — and many wonderful books to read!