Closed Cookie's Celebratory Compositions

[Lynnatchii]

I don't celebrate Christmas, but I have other traditions that we usually do at the end of the year. Every year we would come to grandma's house to have a big family dinner. The dining table is fairly small, with all of us being there (including my aunts, cousins and others) not all of us could eat in the dining room. Sometimes we sit in the guest room, living room, or even upstairs. Sometimes, we have the family dinner upstairs since the room is much bigger compared to downstairs. My big family has a lot of people in it, so it would be cramped everywhere. Although it's cramped, it's nice to talk and chill with them.

Another thing we do at the end of the year is to see fireworks at new Year. Fireworks are amazing. I normally go with my parents and siblings. We would come to the city and near malls since that's the place where there are big fireworks. But because of the pandemic, we couldn't go to the city because of lockdown. That's when we have an alternative. We have a barbecue and small fireworks on the balcony. My balcony is huge, so there's a lot of space to do some things. After that, I play Animal Crossing to celebrate the New Year there lol.

 

[Mairmalade]

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.

I started dabbling in Spotify playlists this year myself! Sounds like it will be a nice time. As you've chosen a real-life photograph for this event, a physical name card with your TBT username on it must be within the photo itself. You're welcome to make this edit in your current post so I'm able to accept your entry.

View attachment 421026

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.

A classic film! We have a similar light display here that lines the waterfront. As a reminder, If you choose to take a photograph for this event, a physical name card with your TBT username on it must be within the photo itself. You may make the edit in your current post so I'm able to accept this, thank you!

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All submissions have once again been reviewed and accepted up to this point unless you have a message from me. Hope you're all enjoying the fair!

 

[Newbiemayor]

Spoiler

During Christmas time in my city they decorate the streets with lights and there's a specific road through a park that the city decorates as a lane of lights and various charitys come in to run the ticket booth and they get a percentage of ticket sales. We usually go down the lane of lights at least once a year but sometimes more if we know anyone volunteering. At home we usually set up and decorate the Christmas tree and sometimes we set up other decorations like candles or lights and we hang the stockings on the wall because we don't have a fireplace. We also sometimes watch Christmas movies like a Christmas Carol, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, Frosty the snowman or my favorite a nightmare before Christmas together in the living room and eat cookies. On Christmas Day itself we usually have breakfast and then exchange gifts then head over to my aunts house for dinner and more gift exchanges as well as just meeting with family and cousins. For new years we don't do anything very special we usually stay up until midnight and watch the ball drop in New York and then drink sparkling Grape juice or sometimes champagne or wine and sing auld lang syne together.

A recreation of us watching movies

 

[tolisamarie]

c

I started dabbling in Spotify playlists this year myself! Sounds like it will be a nice time. As you've chosen a real-life photograph for this event, a physical name card with your TBT username on it must be within the photo itself. You're welcome to make this edit in your current post so I'm able to accept your entry.

A classic film! We have a similar light display here that lines the waterfront. As a reminder, If you choose to take a photograph for this event, a physical name card with your TBT username on it must be within the photo itself. You may make the edit in your current post so I'm able to accept this, thank you!

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All submissions have once again been reviewed and accepted up to this point unless you have a message from me. Hope you're all enjoying the fair!

I can't retake the photo, as it was taken as I was driving through the Festival of lights last weekend. I added a photo of our table top tree with my name on a sticky note. I’m so sad you couldn’t accept my Festival of Lights photo. This got a lot less fun.

 

[Corndoggy]

I started dabbling in Spotify playlists this year myself! Sounds like it will be a nice time. As you've chosen a real-life photograph for this event, a physical name card with your TBT username on it must be within the photo itself. You're welcome to make this edit in your current post so I'm able to accept your entry.

i have retaken and uploaded a new photo for you, sorry about my arm, didnt know how else to put up the name card

 

[Freya_Druid]

The tradition I most strongly associate with the holiday season is also one of the oldest in my family. In fact it is perhaps the only tradition that remains from my childhood, apart from the obligatory 12 hour Lord of the Rings extended cut movie marathon (no, really). It originated with a group of friends from an branch of con-life called GT, a gaggle of nerds and their families all getting together to enjoy fandom and the science of baking. We call this tradition cookie lab, and my family has perpetuated our own miniature version even after moving away from the official hosts of the event. Some weekend before Christmas I get together with my parents and we bake cookies, we experiment with modified or entirely new recipes (especially to develope our own gluten free adaptations to compensate for a relative’s wheat allergy) and of course make some golden oldies. My personal favorites amongst the repeat offenders are pinwheels, swirled peppermint and chocolate cookies; buckeyes, chocolate covered concoctions of sweetened peanut butter and crispy rice cereal; and of course the ever classic chewie chocolate chip cookie. We fill our Doctor Who K-9 cookie jar with pleanty of cookies left over, and share the results of our experimentation with friends and family throughout the rest of the holiday season, making sure to enjoy more than a few ourselves.

 

[Clock]

I'd always look forward to Christmas every year during the holidays. During December, I'd always look forward to decorating our Christmas tree each year, which was my second favorite part other than opening presents and having the surprise to find out what's inside. The tree would always be colorfully decorated with shiny ornaments and lined with shiny lights and garlands with always something on the top like a star or a santa hat. I'd always spend time with the tree and play around it during my childhood. Athough during 2018-2020 we didn't have a Christmas tree, due to some real life issues, but we had a Christmas party with relatives which was enjoyable and it felt nice. This year however, we get a chance to have a Christmas tree again. My parents ordered an artificial tree this time. The moment we got it, we decorated it. We had fun decorating it again with colored ornaments and a shiny white garland followed with a Santa hat.

Other than the Christmas tree, I'd always look forward to opening presents every year as its my favorite part of it, we didn't get much in 2020 due to the pandemic, but there's still a chance this year to get gifts again.

The picture i posted is how our Christmas tree somewhat looks like this year, its not the real thing, but its a simple reference of it.

 

[Dio]

Spoiler: Story & photo

During the holidays me and my family like to go see the holiday lights, which illuminates the whole park. You can see custom-designed animal lanterns and animated light shows wherever you go and it always seems endless no matter how many times we go. There is fun festive stuff like ice carving demonstrations, competitions, people walking around in costumes and stilts throughout the park. The puppet shows are also great, since they teach children many facts about animals. If you’re hungry, you can get hot cocoa, roasted marshmallows, ice cream, coffee, popcorn while you’re there. I like to just eat a big bag of popcorn while I walk around.

On Christmas Eve, my family usually likes to bake cookies every year. We like to change it up from making, snickerdoodles, cornflake marshmallow cookie, and my favorite, compost cookies. Compost cookies taste better than they sound filled with butterscotch and chocolate chips, graham crackers, oats, coffee grounds, pretzels, and potato chips. Besides putting up a Christmas Tree, we don’t really put-up Christmas Lights. This is because one of our neighbors goes all out and puts up a whole extravagant display so we’re fine just looking at theirs. We usually have family come over for dinner on Christmas Eve but COVID makes it impossible now.

Baking on Christmas Eve

 

[BluebearL]

Hello! Ah, what a wonderful tradition to build upon each year. While it is a stunning photo of your tree from a previous year, if you choose to take a photograph for this event, a physical name card with your TBT username on it must be part of the photo itself.

You are welcome to update your picture within your post so I may accept your entry.

Sorry for doing it so late (busy time of year) but I have updated my post

 

[Giddy]

I feel like the excitement of the holidays has changed for me over the years; like it doesn't feel any different to a day off. And I usually celebrate with my mum and cats~ Most family members live in different areas and there would be more chance me flying to the moon than them all coming together but that's alright with me.

But for someone who isn't fond of crowds or going out in the cold too often, I plesantly enjoy spending the holidays at home with my mum & cats. My mum is usually working the week days so it's nice to spend time with her like this. Though due to my job and being uncertain every week on what days I work, it will be slightly different this year.

Normally, we celebrate the holidays via watching more Christmas films, and playing board games together. Many board games! Though one other thing we do is facetime my sister's family on Christmas Day, as they live in a different country, so we always try and send Christmas cards over for them to enjoy.
We also can't help and buy gifts for our cats as well, wrapping them up!

Though I guess what really matters is taking the time to enjoy the days with the people who are there for you and enjoy the fact that the year is FINALLY coming to an end.

Here's the pic:

I had wanted to use ACNH but I didn't have the right items for the picture, so I just drew the family living room, where everything happens on Christmas day :3

 

[Firesquids]

We have a few traditions in my household during this festive time of year. Starting right after Thanksgiving, we begin decorating for Christmas. I'm usually the one to take down the copious Halloween decorations while my fiance sets up the tree, then we both go out and string up lights on the eaves of our house. We spend the days of December gift shopping and crafting for one another, it's always nice to spend time thinking about the perfect gift. It's so dark this time of year, the sun sets around 4 pm and where I live it rains constantly so that seasonal depression hits like a truck. To combat this, my sister and I have come up with a solution. We spend our nights huddled up in our very own homemade PVC pillow-fort, complete with lights, a sofa, a tv, and a bunch of retro game consoles. We'll spend hours in there playing N64 games and watching Christmas movies, munching on popcorn and cookies. Come Christmas eve, we each empty out our stockings and get to choose one present from under the tree to unwrap, then my fiance and I head to his parents house for dinner with his family. Christmas day my sister and I call our mom who lives across the country from us and we all gather around the tree to pass out presents. We go in succession, each opening one gift at a time. After that, we prepare a feast of ham, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and mashed potatoes which leaves us with leftovers that last till the new year.

 

[skarmoury]

Gonna talk about the little traditions I have with different people, including myself! ❄

I have a personal tradition during the holidays, which is going around town or the mall and appreciating the Christmas lights decorations all around. Christmas lights are probably one of my most favorite objects ever, I‘ve always imagined them as little tiny stars on Earth. I have a collection of Christmas lights in my room that I have yet to fix up on my wall, but back in my old house I would always turn on my Christmas lights whenever I was studying or simply chilling. They’re comforting to me and I love this time of the year where they’re everywhere. Pre-pandemic, I‘d actually invite my boyfriend for a stroll around the mall where there’s an open area decorated with Christmas lights. It just makes me really happy.

My holiday tradition with friends is having an exchange gift and meeting up, whether it’s a sleepover or just hanging out in online calls. In fact, the Kirby doll in the picture is from one of my friends, and I‘ve kept it on my table since. It’s been really fun buying things for my friends, and I‘m happy to still be in touch with them after all these years. It’s been nice chatting and catching up with them despite us being in totally different worlds now. Last year, my highschool friends and I each unwrapped our presents in front of the camera, and it was all smiles and laughs, and this year we plan to do the same. Another group of friends, my childhood friends, and I actually just had a sleepover yesterday, and we stayed up until like 5 am talking about things. Every end of the year I‘m reminded that I’m thankful for the friends I have.

Lastly, a tradition we’ve had since I was a child was having a Christmas party with family. We’d have lots of games for children and adults alike, and when I was younger, my cousins and I would practice some Christmas choreography as intermission number. Very memorable though is the exchange gift portion, because my parents would come up with some way to mess with their gift to me. The large Christmas card in the picture was their gift to me in 2014, and because it was so large, it stood out from the rest of the gifts underneath the tree. Another year, they gave me a box, like, just a box. Apparently they were hiding my gift from me all along, haha. A few years back they also said they wouldn’t have any gift for me, and I was a little older then so I honestly didn’t think much of it. They surprised me nevertheless with some essentials and I was really happy, haha. All in all, my family’s a little corny during the holidays, but I think that’s part of their charm and why I love them.

 

[Zakira]

Every year for as long as I can remember my mom has hidden a pickle in our Christmas tree. It isn't a real pickle it's an ornament meant to look like a pickle. When I was little I thought everyone did this and was horrified when, at age twelve, I found out that not everyone had a pickle in their Christmas tree. So I then accepted that this was just something only my family did. But recently I did some research and the Christmas pickle is actually a somewhat popular tradition. Some seem to think that it's an old German tradition but others argue that it never originated in Germany at all. I don't have any idea either. My family is not German and I've asked my oldest living relatives about who in the family started the tradition and they don't know.
Whatever the reason for our strange tradition I'm very excited for Christmas morning when we will rush to the Christmas tree and look for the pickle. And when someone finds the pickle they will get an extra present. Even though our family has changed and circumstances have led to us being unable to visit family for the holidays, the Christmas pickle will always be here. I'm way too old to still participate in looking for the pickle but my mom always hides it and I still always look for it. It makes me feel the magic of Christmas. I love everything about the holiday season from the songs, the food, and the snow but the little things are what counts. The pickle is just a weird thing my mom has always done but even though it's a small part of my Christmas it's still very special to me.

 

[Biyaya]

Spoiler: boring new years explanation

My burgeoning tradition for the past two years has been to set up for myself New Years resolutions, as is the classic tradition where I am. As a kid, I used to make these with lofty and fading inspiration — some of which were annual repeats. I don't remember ever fulfilling any of my old resolutions, but since I've begun again as an adult, I've seen progress with these goals.

The weeks upcoming the new year, I take time to reflect upon the past twelve months, what I've accomplished, what kinds of milestones and surprises took my life in unexpected directions, what got in the way of completing my goals and whether I still care about them.

I have a strange love for making lists and organizing them, so I have fun recording all of this on a goal planning board on Trello, and because I have this board, I'm better able to keep track of my resolutions and periodically type out updates on my progress. Additionally, if I find that my life is leaning more in a different direction, I can swap goals I want to work on.

As an adult, I've learned to be a lot more forgiving with myself about not meeting my goals, as I am able to see my growth in certain endeavors and sober up on realistic expectations as I learn and understand more about the details of my pursuits. The personal reflection logs definitely help too since I intentionally keep them positive.

I think about my values and what ideals I'd like to incorporate into action and add them to my list of resolutions for the upcoming year, and then I try to get a headstart. If I start dragging already, the first day of January boosts me back into motivation as my official starting line!

Spoiler: picture

I'm not very festive, but I literally just do my planning at home in front of a screen like this, possibly in this very same sweater but IRL.

 

[Mairmalade]

We have a few traditions in my household during this festive time of year. Starting right after Thanksgiving, we begin decorating for Christmas. I'm usually the one to take down the copious Halloween decorations while my fiance sets up the tree, then we both go out and string up lights on the eaves of our house. We spend the days of December gift shopping and crafting for one another, it's always nice to spend time thinking about the perfect gift. It's so dark this time of year, the sun sets around 4 pm and where I live it rains constantly so that seasonal depression hits like a truck. To combat this, my sister and I have come up with a solution. We spend our nights huddled up in our very own homemade PVC pillow-fort, complete with lights, a sofa, a tv, and a bunch of retro game consoles. We'll spend hours in there playing N64 games and watching Christmas movies, munching on popcorn and cookies. Come Christmas eve, we each empty out our stockings and get to choose one present from under the tree to unwrap, then my fiance and I head to his parents house for dinner with his family. Christmas day my sister and I call our mom who lives across the country from us and we all gather around the tree to pass out presents. We go in succession, each opening one gift at a time. After that, we prepare a feast of ham, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and mashed potatoes which leaves us with leftovers that last till the new year.

This sounds SO cozy! It may be my end, but your image appears broken/inaccessible - would you be able to re-upload it or attach it directly to your post, please?

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All entries have once again been reviewed and accepted!

Cookie's Celebratory Compositions will close on December 25, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. EST so please be sure to get your submission in before then.

As a reminder, chances are high that I will not be around for the entirety of December 24 and the morning/afternoon of December 25 EST. If you have a question during this period, please PM me as I will get a personal email notification and will respond as soon as I can. Thank you!

 

[Firesquids]

This sounds SO cozy! It may be my end, but your image appears broken/inaccessible - would you be able to re-upload it or attach it directly to your post, please?

---

All entries have once again been reviewed and accepted!

Cookie's Celebratory Compositions will close on December 25, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. EST so please be sure to get your submission in before then.

As a reminder, chances are high that I will not be around for the entirety of December 24 and the morning/afternoon of December 25 EST. If you have a question during this period, please PM me as I will get a personal email notification and will respond as soon as I can. Thank you!

Uh oh, I re-uploaded it and attached the file, hopefully it's working now!

 

[EmmaFrost]

This time of year makes my depression worse. It makes me feel pretty empty. But I remember a time when it didn’t make me feel empty. When one of my cousins was little, he didn’t get a lot for Christmas from my aunt because her employment situation was precarious. My mom and I would go all out for him and spoil him because he was the center of our lives back then. I remember when we got him a new 3DS he burst into tears immediately because he wasn’t expecting something that big and he couldn’t even process how excited he was to have one. It was the sweetest thing. I love making kids happy at Christmas and watching them light up. I lowkey wish I was a mom but I’m not as of yet so I don’t really have any kids to make the season magic for. Up until last year though I worked at a high school with students with disabilities like autism and CP. I would bring in trays of meticulously decorated cupcakes I made and I’d wear a light up ugly sweater and stuff like that. It would make them so happy. I loved the holiday parties we’d have in class. I miss those kids a lot and I wish I had more people around me to genuinely enjoy the season with.


The photo is a re-creation of me wearing a holiday sweater and baking batches of assorted cupcakes and other treats for my former students!

 

[Roxxy]

On the night before the night before Christmas, I would like to think a little bit about the past, ghost of Christmas past

Tomorrow will be Christmas Eve, my dad’s birthday. Sadly, he died many years ago, but he made my childhood Christmases very memorable. He was an artist and he worked in a major department store in Glasgow. In the days when Santa’s Grotto was actually created by artists, it was a tradition that mum took myself and my sister into Town to see what we thought of as our Dads Grotto. It was always so beautiful and magical. It was such an amazing experience to see Santa sitting in the grotto that my dad had done all the artwork for. We walked through George Square and saw the beautiful lights. I will never forget the feeling of magic that always surrounded the season.

A memory I have tried to recreate with my own son was always taking him to see Santa. Sadly, he could never experience the same as I did but I tried to make Christmas as magical as I could. As a parent, seeing your child enjoy the innocence and magic of Christmas brings joy to your heart. It is the best feeling in the world.

Christmas morning is always a magical time. As a child I think I enjoyed the stocking sometimes more than the actual presents. We always had a satsuma in our stocking along with little exciting treats and sweets. My sister and I opened our stockings in our bedroom. It was to stop us waking mum and dad at 4 am.

That tradition I didn’t carry on. I have lovely special memories of my son waking me at 4 am. He was so excited and happy it is a memory I will always treasure. No matter how tired I was I always told him all I needed was a cuddle and a kiss and a cup of tea.

The picture I would like to share is of Alex many years ago on Christmas morning.

Spoiler: Stockings At Sunrise - not part of entry

Waiting for Santa in Bayside

I hope everyone has a happy and peaceful Christmas.

 

[Sloom Lagoon]

My favourite Christmas tradition is the one my Granny started the year we moved back to the UK. We were very poor when we came back, my mum single-handedly taking care of two toddlers and a useless partner, so we moved in with her and my Grandad.
We didn't have any real belongings with us, and certinaly no Christmas decorations, so my Granny decided to buy my brother and myself a special Christmas bauble for the tree, just for us. The memory of which decoration it was has long since gone, but the tradition of getting a new bauble each Christmas had began!
Over the years we've gotten little handmade animals, bells, glass baubles, personalised Santas and so much more! Every year it was my most anticipated present, to see which cute bauble she spent time picking out. She took so much pride in selecting a special bauble she thought we would like. It has always meant the world to me.
Last Christmas was the first year I didn't get a special bauble. It was harder for me than the first year she was gone. She died just 3 days before Christmas, so our baubles were already picked out and it felt like she was still with us. But even though I'll not be getting a new bauble this Christmas, her spirit truly feels like it still lives on in all the ones I do have!

(I love to tell people about this tradition, and have had at least 3 families pick up on it for their little ones!)​

 

[hestu]

Spoiler: my entry

My family's tradition for each holiday, going back as far as I can remember, is board games and snacks. Each year on Christmas Eve, my mom and I would spend the day making various appetizers and dips to eat as our Christmas feast while waiting for my dad to get home from work so that we could open gifts. While things were cooking, my mom, siblings, and I would play games and eat snacks for hours. Then, on Christmas day, we would go to my grandparents' house, where we also feasted and played games. As my siblings and I got older, my grandparents started coming to our house to join in on our tradition so that we could save my grandma the stress of hosting a big Christmas dinner. Last year, I moved a thousand miles away from my family to help take care of my mother-in-law, who has various health problems and needs a lot of help with her daily life. Due to covid, I wasn't able to see my family last year, but even still, we visited each other through video chat and played games together online. I now spend Christmas with my in-laws, where the tradition is largely the same! We play games, eat snacks, and enjoy each other's company. My mother-in-law's 2 favorite games are Uno and Mille Bornes, so that's what we'll be playing again this year, and probably each year ahead!