Closed Cookie's Celebratory Compositions

[Mr.Fox]

This is probably going to sound morbid to most people...

My dad (aka Pap or Pappy) absolutely loved Christmas, because it was one of the only days of the year he got to spend with his entire family (there were 7 of us kids in total.) Everyone had high spirits, the jokes were flying, it was a great time.

In 2010 he became ill. Around the end of November of that year, he kept asking me to go out and get a Christmas tree. I told him it was far too early to get one. He kept on me day after day, night after night..."Just go grab a Christmas tree.", "Did you get a tree yet?", "When are you grabbing the tree?". So I finally broke and went and got a Christmas tree, and set it up in his man cave which is typically where we always put it. I then went and helped him down the stairs (he could no longer navigate them alone) and lit the tree for him...and he was ecstatic! After gazing at the tree for a couple minutes he suggested we watch a movie while we're down there, so I helped him into his La-Z-Boy, grabbed him some popcorn that he loved, and we watched a movie.
That was unfortunately the last thing we did together.

He passed away on December 2nd, and only reflecting on the situation afterwards did I realize that he was bugging me to get the Christmas tree because he probably knew he wasn't going to make it to Christmas.

Now, every December 2nd, I go out and get a tree and decorate it. I then get his ashes out (when he passed all of his children received pendants containing some) and set them in his chair. I then pop a bowl of popcorn, put a small bowl on his side table for him, and watch a movie he liked.

With the exception of the pendant box being on the end table as opposed to in his chair, this is a fairly accurate representation of the layout.

 

[Aliya]

Every Christmas my family and I decorate our Christmas trees prior to Thanksgiving as we host that and everyone likes to come see our trees. We have 5 Christmas trees throughout our house and all of them have a theme.

The picture I chose to recreate in ACNH is a picture of my bunny, Bubs looking at our basement tree. We have a fence around it as he has been known to eat everything and destroy stuff. It is quite cute when he does that but we do get upset at him. This picture is also special to me as it was his first Christmas with us after being rescued. it is also funny to note that shortly after this picture was taken, he stuck his head through the fence and took out one of the decorations to show us he can get back there but will honor the fence.

For family time, every Christmas we go to both sides of the family and then spend Christmas day just our immediate family. This year we are relaxing and watching movies while traveling to family on Christmas eve and earlier dates. I am looking forward to spending the holidays with my family this year after COVID.

Spoiler: acnh

Spoiler: real life pic of bunbun

 

[Heyden]

Spoiler

In my family we usually celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve rather than on actual Christmas day, which is just something we’ve done for as long as I can remember. Usually by the time Christmas rolls over me and my brother are off school, and my parents usually have time off to celebrate the holidays. Most Christmases we have a family dinner with relatives coming over, having a barbeque (because we celebrate Christmas in summer), as well as gift exchanging and alike. However in recent years we’ve done our dinners early, and for the 24th, we drive to my cousins house out in the country. While the heat can be scorching, I enjoy utilizing the holiday season to get away from the city which I spend basically 365 days a year in, to just enjoy the country (very cliché but it’s true).

Some things we do is also have another Christmas dinner, but also fun activities during the day, like fruit picking, visiting the local wineries, swimming, visiting farms. My favorite is definitely orange picking, and while I’m not a huge fan of oranges in general, I will happily eat the ones picked straight from the tree (after they’ve been refrigerated, since the sun heats them up). So I decided to draw a picture of us orange picking:

 

[Milleram]

One of my favourite Christmas traditions takes place on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve, my older sister, her husband and my niece join my younger siblings and I for Christmas dinner. Although many families have a turkey dinner on Christmas, for as long as I can remember, my family has always had a buffet-style dinner on Christmas Eve. Any food we have leftover (because we always have leftovers) gets eaten on Christmas Day. We buy a bunch of hors d'oeuvres, I make several different salads, we put out a few different dips, a cheese platter, etc. We try to include something that everyone in the family will enjoy. After dinner, we take a bit of time to digest, and then we enjoy homemade desserts. No matter how full we are, we always leave a bit of room for dessert.

Because the hors d'oeuvres packs are usually so big, we usually heat up half on Christmas Eve, and then half again on New Year's Eve. Also, we usually end up making so many different desserts, that we end up having enough to last us all through the holidays. So again, we have something to enjoy up until the New Year. It's certainly not the healthiest tradition, but it's only once a year, so it's something we all look forward to.

I tried to recreate the special dinner we have the best I could in ACNH:

 

[Mairmalade]

Many years ago, Christmas was I time which I joyously spent with family. I was a middle child in a decently large family of four children, with a sister who was twelve years older than me. I was reasonably closer to my older and younger brother who were much closer in age. And as a Christmas tradition, we would always watch a family Christmas movie together (myself, my brothers, and my parents) on Christmas eve and enjoy mom's amazing homemade pork pies. As kids, my brothers and I could hardly ever fall asleep from the excitement of Christmas. We had a gaming system moved into the biggest room that two us shared and as per a tradition we started, we would play video games together into the wee hours of the morning. It was usually Secret of Mana or Final Fantasy Tactics that we would play and it was always a great time. It kept us occupied and gave us a way to channel the excitement while also spending time together and having fun.

We've all grown up in many years since. My siblings are all married and all moved very far away. We're scattered across the USA now. Such old memories can no longer be revisited from those times past. It's just not realistic when they live so far away and some even have families of their own to take care of now.

But... we have a new tradition. Last year, my older brother suggested that we get together on Animal Crossing, jump in the family Discord voice channel, and spend time together talking, taking pictures, and visiting each other's islands for a little Christmas get-together. It was a really good time. And it's surreal to think now that I was not only hanging out with my brother, his wife, my other brother's wife... but also now my older brother's two children who also play Animal Crossing, as well. It has been a fun little thing to bring us all together from even far away and something I have grown to treasure even after just a single year that we've done it. I look forward to it again this year. It may not be exactly the same as being there in person, but it's still a way to connect and share the warmth of the holiday spirit with family.

I hope that everyone can remember that the space between us doesn't dictate that we can't be together in one form or another if we're willing to look for a way to achieve it. Years ago in those times I spent with my family, the connections we have possible today would never have been possible. Now you can reach family easily with video calls, games, and so much more. And it's something that I treasure and won't take for granted. I can still see and speak with family members far away and still share the joy of Christmas with a family that is ever-growing bigger as we age and have families and endure life changes of our own.

[ Pictured below is a shot of us on my older brother's island last Christmas---my older brother on the right, his wife next to him, his two sons (my nephews) across the table on the left, and my younger brother's wife next to me in the middle.]

View attachment 420171

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p.s.: I used to try and convince family members every year to pick up Animal Crossing, but no luck! Glad to hear you all have fun in-game.

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There's a little under one week left to submit if you haven't yet and plan to. Looking forward to them!

 

[Amissapanda]

Hello! Your entry is a touch outside our 200-500 word limit. We're using this word counter tool so you're able to ensure it's within the limit. You're welcome to adjust your text within your post so I may accept your entry.

p.s.: I used to try and convince family members every year to pick up Animal Crossing, but no luck! Glad to hear you all have fun in-game.

---

Annnddd we're all caught up once more! All entries up to this point have been viewed and accepted unless you have a message from me. Please let me know if I missed you!

There's a little under one week left to submit if you haven't yet and plan to. Looking forward to them!

Ahh, my apologies! I've edited it down a little so it fits. Thank you for the head's up!

And yeah, it has been a nice little way to get together, especially after everything that happened last year. Travel was nigh impossible.

 

[roseflower]

Back when we were young children, our family would do many of the typical traditions associated with celebrating christmas, but as we grew up, that faded along with all sorts of life changes and it became more of a good and relaxing time that we spend together, without stress. Just spending time together and talking, eating and maybe playing some board and card games, and calling with family members who live far away.
However, I have a lot of fond memories of those past holiday seasons, especially of decorating our home and setting up the christmas tree, which would sometimes be chaotic, and then decorating the tree. We had so many pretty ornaments, made of different materials, like wood, glass, paper, cloth, metallic elements and tinsel, baubles, stars, bells, candles, fairy lights and maybe it looked messy but it was a lot of fun. I remember those adorable sparrow ornaments handmade of glass, which were my favourite. Putting it all back after the holidays was a lot of work, haha! Then I also very much loved when we got together and baked christmas themed cookies and gingerbread, we used cinnamon, vanilla, chocolate chips, and we would decorate with sugary or chocolate icing, sprinkles or almond.

Drawing of baking a gingerbread man:

 

[S.J.]

Everybody knew, you could only put up your Christmas decorations after the Christmas pageant had ended. Every year, Dad hung the Christmas lights on our house. Handy at building things, atop our house sat a metal star he had made, lined with bright lights that shone brilliantly at night. Christmas lights were big in our house. Each year there was a public Christmas lights display, about a hundred miles away. Fairytale scenes with lights and sounds, moving displays, and vendors selling food and all kinds of merchandise. Not every year, but sometimes, Mum and Dad would take me. I think Dad might have loved Christmas just as much as I do!

On Christmas Eve night, just as it was getting dark, we would all hop in the car. Mum in the passenger seat, us kids in the back, and Dad would drive us around the towns, searching for all the best Christmas lights. When we approached a house, Dad would slow the car down, and we’d all point out the different lights we saw.

When Christmas morning came, the presents couldn’t be opened until everybody was awake. When you have an older brother, it was always late morning. Dad would let me hand out all the gifts; that was my job. One year, we’d been at a department store shopping months before Christmas, and I spied a bear I loved, but I didn’t mention it. Receiving that bear at Christmas, I couldn’t believe my parents had noticed and remembered! At six, I received roller skates, which I had never used before. They were pink and purple, and came with a helmet, and elbow and knee guards. After all the presents were handed out, I went outside and put my roller skates on. “You better go and help her.”, I remember Mum saying. With one older sister on each side, each holding an arm, they rolled me down the path in front of our house.

What we ate at even one Christmas meal is a mystery to me (though I assume it was delicious, because my parents were both fantastic cooks). I know for sure though that us kids would have been in the kitchen with Mum after dinner, while she supervised us washing and drying the dishes.

My favourite thing about Christmas is the love and kindness we share, and the fond memories we create! When I moved into my own house, I made sure that I too had a star to sit atop our house. Not quite as good as Dad’s, but pretty good!

Dad's Star

Spoiler: Details

Our house was really wide front-facing, which would have made for an awkward picture, so I drew an AC-inspired house, but included references to our house. We had two-pane windows that slid upwards, and garden beds of shrubs running along the front of our house. The Christmas tree was displayed in the front window. Light-up reindeers were always a favourite of mine, but most importantly I put Dad's star atop the house (though much less impressive)!

 

[Chibi.Hoshi]

Spoiler: Entry 🎄

Almost every year near Christmas time, friends and family involved in the Filipino community in my area would gather together to celebrate Christmas. This party would usually have around 100+ people attending, and we would all pitch in and help however we could. Organizing festivities and events like the food we will be serving. Such as lechon and traditional pot luck dishes and platters. We would even hold dancing and singing contests, raffles and giveaways, and games for all the kids with prizes, and so on. I have one memory I would like to share, due to how ridiculous it sounds. It is one of my earliest memories of these parties.

I was no older than five at the time. I had decided to enter one of the games. The announcer would pull a word or phrase out of a hat. The goal was to find something that matches said word or phrase and be the first to bring it to the stage. This time, "something shiny" was pulled out. My baby brain, for whatever reason, grabbed the necktie of my neighbour and dragged the poor man attached to it onto the stage. Now, what makes this "shiny"? Well, he happened to have a shiny bald head... Everyone got a good laugh out of it, and he walked away with only a slightly bruised ego. For my efforts, I was awarded a stuffed cat, later named "Boots". To this day, my parents still have that plush and get a good kick out of it.

That aside, when it came time to celebrate with just the family. My mother and I would spend hours in the kitchen preparing a feast. This would usually involve a roast lamb from our family farm, along with many other dishes such as roasted vegetables, Filipino sweet spaghetti, Filipino sweet macaroni salad, cassava, leche flan, and the list goes on. We always have a tenancy to make way too much food, and it would last us until the new year, where we would cook even more just for the heck of it.



I've included a drawing of the plush, alongside a photo from one of the parties.

 

[Mimi Cheems]

Every Christmas, my parents and I (along with my siblings), would decorate the tree and as they wrapped presents in the basement... My siblings and I would sleep in the living room with the tree being lit. Sometimes our mom would join us! I know Santa usually comes to deliver presents wherever the tree is, but we slept peacefully while Santa Claus dropped off the presents. Here is a photo of my AC:NH representative sleeping on a futon mattress beside the Christmas tree, next to all of the presents! As I got older, we grew out of that tradition, but it remains to be a bittersweet memory of mine. My parents are divorced and I live with my father now, but last year, I slept with my dog on this little hope-chest next to the Christmas tree. I woke up and saw so many wonderful presents! It reminded me of simpler times. Christmas is my favorite holiday because spending time with family is incredibly important to me. One year I'd like to do this again, but all of my siblings and I are grown and don't really see our mom as often anymore. This year we decorated the tree and watched the Polar Express. That's another tradition we like to do, and we've stuck to it for many years. But sleeping next to the tree on the futon is my favorite memory.

Spoiler: Username Picture

 

[Airysuit]

Every year we celebrate Christmas a little bit different from before. We aren't a very traditional family, but we love to get together each year. Because lots of us get bored of doing the same thing or staying in the same place, we tend to travel around and find new adventures for ourselves (for example, new jobs, completely new careers, new cities, new countries, new lifestyles...). We also tend to have a lot of expansion within our family. Every year there are new friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, partners, children... We already had a big family to begin with, with four siblings, three dogs and two cats. But nowadays we have had multiple foster brothers and sisters, much of whom we see a lot and still celebrate the holidays with.

And therefor we change the way we celebrate the holidays every year, to accommodate the new people and new situations that we have let in our lives along the way, and I absolutely love that.

Some years we have gone with the whole family to a hotel or cottage, some years we stayed at home and made big and messy and loud dinners. Some years we only spend time with each other during the day, playing secret santa and exchanging presents. Some years we didn't celebrate with each other all at the same time, but divided our visits over three days (where I live we have christmas eve, 1st christmas day and 2nd christmas day). Last year we celebrated by video calling with the whole family. My sister made specials packets with gifts and food and snacks and a list with questions, so we could all eat, open gifts and do quizes with each other on the video call. We spend 3 hours on that call last year.

This year it will be similar, since our country just had to go into full lockdown again, but with and new baby, a new boyfriend, and my parent will be calling from the house of my grandma, since she can't go anywhere anymore because she gets confused and scared being away from home. These aren't the best times, but they are still great times and great memories, and we will always stick together as a family <3

Here a pixelated and illustrated screenshot of our videocall last year!

 

[Meadows]

Every year on Christmas eve I'd go up to my grandparents and open presents and spend time with the family. It would typically just be my mother, aunts, cousions, and I who would be up there. We would also eat dinner which would typically either be spaghetti or lasagna. Although not every year was a great memory, it was tradition. Some years we'd put up a Christmas tree, some years not. We probably won't this year.

The last several years on Christmas day, my mother and I would open up presents in the early afternoon and then go up and have a ham dinner with mashed potatoes, and corn at my grandparents house. It's more of a relaxing dinner and was better company.

However, this year is going to be a bit different, I'm not exactly sure how this year will turn out as my grandmother passed away on the 10th of December. From what I gather, our plans for Christmas eve are no more, but there will still be a ham dinner on Christmas day, after we open presents in the early afternoon. It's going to be rough, but we will get through.

My mother and I may go to a church service on Christmas eve after my shift at work, we're not sure exactly what our plans are, I just know we want to do something instead of just sitting at home.

Spoiler: not part of entry, just bonus text

Eunice represents my grandma, Dobie represents my grandfather.

I hope everyone's has a good Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate!

 

[oceanchild8]

Before my dad passed away several years ago, the holidays were my favorite time of year as I got to double down on the same meals for Thanksgiving AND Christmas. My dad ran a steakhouse and was an excellent cook. He always cooked the perfect prime rib (with au jus) and made the best turkey gravy that was so good I'd save it and would dump it on anything I could. No more mashed potatoes? No problem. I'll drown my white rice with that gravy. He'd even buy a turkey that'd go on sale after the holidays and keep it frozen, then make turkey again months later. To me, the holidays wasn't necessarily about seeing family members I'd only see once or a handleful of times a year. It was about my dad, mom, and older brother for me.

We had a plastic six foot Christmas tree that my parents only knew how to care for, and my mom told me recently that they only got one for me and my brother. My brother and I would take it out every year and hang ornaments together. My brother and I aren't that close due to the nine year age difference, but I look up to him a lot. And this was one of the few moments I looked forward to where we got to hang out together. Once we were done, it was most likely followed by a video game on a Nintendo console. My brother and I tend to tell each other what we want exactl (and still do!) for Christmas. We still wrapped them up and acted surprised Christmas morning (laughs).

I miss these traditions I had with my immediate family. It hasn't been the same without my dad around and my brother being unable to travel as often to meet in our hometown now that he has his own family. I hope that it changes once his son is older so he has more time to hang out with his little sister!

Me in my childhood home:

Spoiler: Username

 

[Peach_Jam]

.

 

[BetsySundrop]

Christmas at our house can pretty much be summed up in one word: tacky and fun.

Yes, my friends, tacky and fun. We love glitter, tinsel, anything that sparkles. Homemade decorations are the best, because you can really go crazy with the glitter. We usually make some sort of homemade decorations and hang them up in the house, like snowflakes from the ceiling or paper chains around the walls. We make homemade ornaments for the trees, as well, such as the Lion King ornaments we made with glitter and stickers.

In our house, the Lion King is a movie that is watched every day. Every. Single. Day. Christmas is no exception! The Lion King is a particular obsession of a family member who is severely impacted with autism. He loves it so much that he can barely restrain himself on Christmas morning, looking forward to seeing what Lion King themed presents he received.

(And yes, it was getting to be a bit difficult to find those items for a few years, but then that magical chamber, known as the Disney vault, opened up and released a live version! Woo-hoo! We could stock up on enough presents for the next few years.)

On Christmas morning, we open our presents when we wake up. (None of the wrapping paper matches, and as my son usually picks out the bows, they don't usually match the paper either. As an example- blue polka dot paper with a red and green plaid bow.)

After opening presents and putting on the Lion King movie, I relax and check out my presents while my OCD husband picks up every scrap of ribbon and paper that is strewn around the floor. Except for one piece! Our cat always claims a good size piece of wrapping paper to play in, which I believe causes my husband some annoyance, but he is polite and doesn't pick up that paper until the cat is finished playing with it. It is Christmas, after all. Then our grown up kid comes to visit and we have another round of presents!

Then comes our 'snacks and games'. This is basically a buffet of all the snack food they love, but we don't usually have. It doesn't exactly go together, but there is something for everyone. Some staples are: smoked salmon, cream cheese, and triscuits, cheese tray, chips, dips, salami type tray, veggie tray (which nobody usually eats, there's always plenty of leftover veggies)...

For games, we usually play something our disabled son can be included in, along with other games the rest of us play while he replays the Lion King. The games are usually a Mtg booster draft, other card games, or scrabble.

And that's pretty much it. Presents, snacks, games, and the Lion King = a happy Christmas!

Spoiler: Lion King Tree

 

[Corndoggy]

My family typically start decorating far too early for Christmas, with this year being no exception. We put up our tree around the 20th of November, much to the distraught of our friends. This year we got brand new lights for the tree, which turns it into a rave zone when they are plugged in. Aside from the tree, our house also has mini Christmas tree statutes around the house and plenty of tinsel and even a holiday stocking for the cat! My family is very big on just spending quality time together, so we do not go all out and instead just have entrée like foods to pass around. We celebrate with a form of silly Santa, where everyone gets a cheap silly gift under the tree, with my brother being gifted a grow your own girlfriend this year (I wrapped it myself!). Usually some of our friends will also pop around to get some free food and have a yarn with my dad. Last year my friend came over and we ended up playing Mario kart, so I’m assuming that will probably end up happening again. We also have, for the second year running, a well prepared Christmas playlist on the Spotify with all the classics for the enjoyment (or not) of our family and friends.

Spoiler: Photo of the rave tree (lights off)

 

[JellyLu]

Christmas is always an exciting time of year for my family. We have many traditions: going to a candlelight Christmas Eve service at our church, choosing one gift to open Christmas Eve before bed, driving to a specific neighborhood to admire the elaborate decorations on every house, watching Rudolph/Frosty/Grinch movies, etc. However, the tradition I'm going to focus on for this event is decorating our tree. Each year, we choose a different theme for our tree. We've had a blue tree, red tree, Pokémon tree, football tree, pretty much anything you could imagine! This tradition is made extra special because we have a fake tree (my cat would eat a real one) so we decorate this same tree year after year.

This year, however, is hard. My mom unfortunately passed away peacefully November ninth after a 3 yearlong battle with stage four metastatic breast cancer. She was pretty much the glue of our family and she always made sure every Christmas was perfect. She even made my own huge stocking from the dress I wore on my very first Christmas and I continue to use it each year! With her passing so close to the holidays, it was very hard for my dad, boyfriend, and I to even muster up the desire to decorate at all. Eventually, we decided to push through the fog of sadness and do it. We decorated the entire house as usual, putting extra special touches on my mom's memorial area (urn, photo...). We did it to spark some joy and mostly because we knew my mom would want us to be happy.

In honor of my mother, we chose to decorate our tree this year in green. Green was my mom's favorite color. Almost every single ornament is green. I even made sure to include our special ornaments such as my Pikachu one. I told my mom that if there is any way for her to come back to see me, to come as a blue bird so I also added 3 blue bird ornaments to the tree. As presents already start to fill the skirt, you might notice some plushies in between from our favorite Christmas movies! My mom always wrapped the presents so beautifully each year, so we tried our best to make them look just as nice. My dad has absolutely no clue how to wrap a gift, so he tried his best by using gift bags!

Though this year is hard, my family chose to make the best of things. As we gaze upon our tree each day, our hearts and minds are flooded with all the happy memories of years past. I'm proud of us for beating grief and continuing our traditions and I feel my mom would be proud of us too. Our tree honors her memory perfectly. I'm so thankful for my family.

Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season to all! I can't wait to see how we decorate next year!

Spoiler: Close up of name tag

​

*496 words
** Please excuse my curtains. My cat is in the window, so she messed them up

 

[Xara]

to be honest, my family hasn’t celebrated christmas or new years in what feels like forever — the last year i can remember celebrating is 2012, though that may not be accurate. however, in spite of that, christmas has remained my favourite holiday for a few reasons, the main one being the decorations! i’ve adored christmas decorations for as long as i can remember, regardless of whether they’re my own or someone else’s. i tend to go to shopping malls during the busiest time of year just to see the garlands and tinsels that line the railings; the giant christmas tree that typically means that the mall santa is somewhere nearby; the tinier trees in mall corners and shops; the different decorations that stores have for purchase. the decorations that always seem to catch my eye the most are christmas trees (probably because i’m a sucker for anything that illuminates lol) and ornaments.

my mom and i always try to go for a nighttime drive through neighbourhoods sometime each december as well, so that we can see the different decorations that people put up in their yards. i also love seeing those who live in apartments (like me) decorate their balcony railing and windows with lights — it always looks so pretty!

of course, my favourite decorations will always be the ones that my family and i put up. it’s been so long, and my memory isn’t the greatest, but i still remember most of the decorations from my childhood fondly; the green and red hoop tinsel that my mom lined the walls with; the wreath that was hung on our front door; the styrofoam snowflake tree ornament i made that my grandmother’s late cat, pai, used to whack at; the angel on the top of our christmas tree; my teddy bear stocking; but out of all of them, my #1 favourite was an illuminated candy cane that my mother used to hang on the window of our living room.

i hadn’t seen that candy cane in eons, and i was so certain that my grandmother had thrown it out with the rest of our decorations (she was a bit of a grinch). my family and i decorated for christmas for the first time in 9 years this year, and while most of the decorations from my childhood are gone, turns out the illuminated candy cane is not.

it’s definitely still my favourite decoration, even after all this time, and christmas wouldn’t be the same without it. :’)

Spoiler: closeup of name card 🎅🏻

word count; 412
i really hope this is sufficient enough. my family’s lack of celebrating/traditions made it hard to find something to write about. >_<​

 

[Fye]

For a good few years of my childhood my family lived in a warm area by the water, so rather than being cold and snowy out, winter weather was perfectly pleasant and just the best weather in the year. While people living in other parts of the world were bundling up in blankets or sitting by the fire, we would be out going to the park, playing sports, and doing outdoor activities throughout the winter break. On New Year's Eve specifically, we would go to a big beach near our home and bring blankets to sit on the sand and chat, eat snacks, play card games, and just have a nice relaxing end to the year while we waited for the clock to strike midnight and fireworks over the ocean to begin. Some years we even brought a grill and invited friends and family to meet up with and have barbecue and dinner together, and then welcome the new year in together as well. The fireworks were huge and loud, and you could even see and hear them clearly from the windows and roofs of buildings in the area. Even on the way home we could hear fireworks going off somewhere else in the distance.

 

[tolisamarie]

We start the holiday season with Christmas movies, and lots of them. We have quite a few in our library, and my favorite is the live action "Grinch" with Jim Carey. It's adorable and I really like the anti-consumerism message of the movie. The holidays are about spending time with friends and family, not shopping.

There's a big park near us that hosts "The Festival of Lights". People can drive through the park and see dozens of amazing light displays, like the one in my photo. At the end there's a little fair where you can get hot cocoa, cider, funnel cakes, and lots of other treats.

On Christmas day we make a big roast beef dinner ( my husband calls it "roast beast" like in the animated Grinch.) We listen to Christmas music, exchange presents, eat Christmas cookies and just enjoy each other.

We moved to the south (U.S.) years ago, so we don't ever get snow, and I really miss the white Christmases we had in New England. One great thing about being down here is that we go to Disney World a lot. I love it when it's all decorated for the holidays. They also have special desserts that are only available during the holiday season, so we take full advantage of that.

(214 Words )