Blogiversary?? Is that even a word?
I don’t know if it’s technically a word, but it is something that exists within the blogging world. It’s the anniversary of when we began blogging, and today is our third anniversary! Can you believe it? Three years ago we started with this post announcing that we were expecting our little Ella. Here was our very first blog photo:
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| Ella’s first photo |
We’ve been through all kinds of adventures since then: two moves, the end of med school & beginning of residency, a trip to Maine, the start of my masters degree, and all of Ella’s milestones & memories. It’s sort of been a form of a baby book for Ella, a creative outlet for me, and a fun way of sharing everything with you!
Here are a few photos from the last year:
I’ve always thought it would be fun to do a giveaway on the blog, so what better day that today! I want to send out a fun package to a reader that will include fresh biscotti from The Little Yellow Kitchen, a handmade coffee cozy, and a couple other little surprises. What do you need to do to be a part of the giveaway? Well, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking the last few days about holiday traditions. Therefore, to enter, you can simply leave a comment below with your name and your favorite Christmas or holiday tradition. I’ll randomly select a comment as the winner late Sunday night. Be sure to check back next Monday to see if your comment was selected!
I’m excited to read your holiday traditions! Maybe I’ll get some ideas. And, in the next few days, I’ll post some of the things we ended up doing for our Christmas here in Duluth.
I love baking with my mom!
Bryn Wimberley
At my mom’s side we always play quarters after dinner. It’s a dice game where if you roll a four the quarter goes in the middle, a five to the person to your left, and six to the person to your right. We’ve been playing it for years, it’s so fun!!
On Dan’s side we always take a group photo and then family photos. So this year is was Dan, myself, and our two dogs: Gus and Matti! So fun!
Our holiday traditions include decorating our home the weekend if our wedding anniversary, ringing bells for the salvation army as a family,and coloring in Christmas coloring books by the Christmas tree.
My favorite and really only tradition in my family is eating cheese fondue for dinner on christmas eve after church. We do it every year and our whole family looks forward to it all year!!
This is definitely a tradition that I hope to pass down to my own family some day…I just hope I can cook it as good as my mom does!!!
We started a very neat one this year. We have an advent calendar with pockets, & along with mini erasors, or candy cane’s, we place a scripture with a special note relating to it! Then I’m dating them, & are saving them in a little box 🙂 Love the word ‘blogiversary’ but love your blog even more!
Zaundia
This is fairly new for me (4 years) but Robs extended family does a gift exchange where everyone draws a number then picks a gift in that order.. if they would rather have a different gift they can “steal” another one. Everyone ends with a gift 🙂 it is so much fun!! There is an onion savor that has been going around for years– the ‘gag gift’ of the celebration 🙂 i love our Christmas parties!
Kristine Lager
On my mom’s side of the family we always have a big potluck and draw names for the gift exchange. We also play card games.
Christina Krol (ie Erickson;))
A fun tradition that my husband has been doing with his large immediate family for a long time now is “Pioneer Night”. On Christmas Eve all of his immediate family (sibs, spouses, nieces/nephews, and his parents (30 of us this year)) gather at his parents’ house, dress in Pioneer clothes and cook dinner in the wood cookstove and/or over the fire in the fireplace. Then we sit around a very large table and eat by oil lamp light. It is great fun…of course as the family has grown and the daughters bring food from their homes…some food is now cooked with modern technology =)
Congrats on your 3rd anniversary on your blog. Kristie
One of Andrew’s family’s Christmas traditions is decorating gingerbread houses together…and with 7 siblings, 2 spouses and 1 grandson…it’s quite an event! Last year each person had a house so we made a gingerbread village complete with a frozen pond in the middle! This year we just made 2 houses, girls against boys. Grandma had to judge and pick the best one.
Every year, my mom and I have a Baking Day. We pick out 10 or so recipes, and get all our holiday baking done at one time. Then we watch “A Christmas Story” to cap off the night!
Playing Catch Phrase after dinner with the whole family, young and old. It’s never a dull moment! Tears streaming laughter 🙂
-Molly Kvien
Angie this is so stinkin cute!
Here are a couple of our X-mas traditions.
1. White Elephant – Each person (we do 18+ because the kiddos get so many toys) brings something from home they no longer use/want. The funnier the better – although there are usually a couple really nice gifts sought after. Everyone draws a card from the deck and highest cards go first. Tied cards draw again. You can either pick an unwrapped gift from the pile and find your treasure or steal from another person.
2. Christmas Crackers – British tradition I picked up from England and we’ve been doing it ever since I returned. Each person has a cracker filled with a joke/riddle, paper crown, and small toy. How can you not be all smiles when everyone is wearing paper crowns and taking lots of pictures. Christmas crackers are becoming more and more common to find now. The states are catching on!
3. Swedish sausage and poppy seed bread. What everyone looks forward to eating each year. Herring is also included in the traditional Christmas fare, although not what everyone looks foward to!
Hey Ang! I have a couple favorite traditions. The first is letting the kids open one present on Christmas Eve, after we’ve had some fake champagne and a treat. We have to hand select which present they can open but I love seeing them get to open one and still be ok with waiting for the rest.
This year we also started what I hope will be a new tradition. Now that we are in Colorado and not able to be with family as much we needed to have some new things to do. So, we went sledding Christmas Day with a bunch of friends and it was a blast! I hope to make that a new tradition!