November's Monthly Musings

 It's the last Thursday of the month and time for Monthly Musings with Holly and Patty. This month we're looking at our holiday traditions. This could end up being a really boring post since we don't seem to have many of them at all anymore.


1. The only real tradition we have left at this point is that we buy each of the boys an ornament that signifies something about their year- a trip we took, a skill, a milestone, etc.

Baby Ian

From our trip to Hershey park

2. We don't dress up at all in our family. I do have one "Christmas" sweater that I will wear at some point in the season but I don't pick out anything special for the few family parties we go to.  I do, however, like to do up my nails a little bit special.  


nails from previous years


3. We host a Christmas breakfast every other year so we often make breakfast foods-- croissants, quiche, fruit salad, etc.  We might do a bit of baking for some of the other parties we attend but in the last several years I have left that up to Alec-- all this is a real short way to say I don't have any favorite holiday recipes since I don't really cook much. 


4. This year our holiday consists of a brunch at my father in law's house on the 23rd, we'll head to my mom's house for take out pizza Christmas eve (and have a Yankee Swap instead of traditional present giving), then Christmas morning we'll open our gifts (since each boy picked out 1 big gift this is going to be super short!), head to my sister in law's house for brunch and then my mother in law invites us over for sandwiches around dinner time. 

5. We no longer go out to see any lights since I'm the only one that seems to enjoy that. I just make sure to keep my eyes peeled whenever we're out at night and enjoy the ones we drive by.

6. This year we put up our stockings, some garland on the mantle and our trees and that's it.




7. We have fake trees; and have ever since our first Christmas in this home where our tree died by mid- December and just kept shedding needles like crazy.  With our fireplace and woodstove it felt like such a fire hazard that I swore we'd never do that again. 

8. Usually anything with chocolate is a favorite holiday treat; but I can't think of anything specific that we eat or make year after year. Though we do love a quick and easy saltine cracker toffee.


9. We don't have pets anymore but even when we did they never got (or gave) any gifts. 

10. This year our holidays are the least stressful ever; I only had 8 gifts to buy (and a few money card/holder cards to make)! 

Linking up with: Thinking Out Loud, 






Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 30, 2023 at 5:13 AM

    I love your Christmas nails, I never thought to do something fun like that. You have inspired me. I had to laugh about your reason for not having a real tree because it was very similar to mine!
    Ruth@playworkeatrepeat

    ReplyDelete
  2. Maria RineerNovember 30, 2023 at 5:26 AM

    We don´t make the same holiday treats from year to year either. I enjoy finding new things but almost always make some kind of chocolate candy treat. Saltine toffee is so good!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne November 30, 2023 at 3:30 PM

      Yeah, my baker is much too intent on trying ALL the recipes that we always have to find something new.

      Delete
  3. NatashaNovember 30, 2023 at 6:32 AM

    I love your Christmas nails!!! And I think, even if no one in my family loved lights, I would still need to go find some. I need anything which makes winter brighter and cheerier. And I forgot to write about our annual ornament for the kids. Ooops.

    ReplyDelete
  4. HollyNovember 30, 2023 at 7:40 AM

    Oh your Christmas nails are everything! What is that breakfast food? Looks like sweet rolls? My mouth is watering :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne November 30, 2023 at 3:31 PM

      I believe you are talking about the raspberry jam filled croissants with white chocolate drizzle that Alec made last Christmas.

      Delete
  5. LyssyNovember 30, 2023 at 9:03 AM

    YOu always have the cutest nails! It is easier when kids are older and don't want anything. I can never think of anything I need for Christmas anymore. Those saltine toffee treats are addicting!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Tamar SBNovember 30, 2023 at 9:41 AM

    Your tree is so pretty! Love the festive nails, too!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Pat @ Mille Fiori FavoritiNovember 30, 2023 at 11:16 AM

    Christmas can be a very stressful time but you seem to have it under control and keep it beautiful and meaningful! I love your festive nail designs!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne November 30, 2023 at 3:32 PM

      Thank you so much! I definitely do now; it was much more stressful when the boys were little.

      Delete
  8. Good Better Best FoodNovember 30, 2023 at 11:25 AM

    Love your holiday nails and your tree is so pretty. Thanks for linking up w us.

    ReplyDelete
  9. JeanieNovember 30, 2023 at 1:41 PM

    I love reading about people's traditions. You're all together. I'm still working on it!

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousNovember 30, 2023 at 2:27 PM

    Looking at Christmas lights is our one tradition that has stood the test of time (and the teen years!) Loved hearing about your holiday traditions!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne November 30, 2023 at 3:33 PM

      I don't think our Christmas light tradition even lasted INTO the teen years!

      Delete
  11. Jodie's Touch of StyleNovember 30, 2023 at 4:41 PM

    We were just talking about going to see the lights. Sometimes I think we are too old, but then again it's so fun.
    OXOX
    Jodie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne December 1, 2023 at 2:20 PM

      I don't think you are ever too old to go see the lights!

      Delete
  12. Memphis BridgesNovember 30, 2023 at 6:04 PM

    I have that same Baby's 1st Ornament 2004! Your Christmas nails look pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Kym November 30, 2023 at 10:04 PM

    Pretty Christmas nails! And I love seeing everyone's Christmas trees and holiday decor - yours is beautiful! We gave up the real tree after Christmas 1998 - my son was born at the beginning of January and being so pregnant I didn't have the energy to get the tree down. By the time we finally got to it, that tree was so brown and such a fire hazard that we decided we wouldn't ever do that again! Wishing you the very happiest holidays this year!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Nancy 's Fashion StyleDecember 1, 2023 at 2:29 AM

    Pretty stress free. We have no plans yet, and I'm planning on leaving that to others to do so, lol.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne December 1, 2023 at 2:23 PM

      I let everyone else plan everything too and just show up. :)

      Delete
  15. Kim CarberryDecember 2, 2023 at 4:45 PM

    Fab photos!
    It's hard when the kids grow up and the traditions fall by the wayside. Hmmf.
    Your Christmas breakfast looks amazing and so does your tree, how pretty!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne December 3, 2023 at 6:31 PM

      It sure is! Thank you; it's definitely a team effort to get all that food out and ready.

      Delete
  16. Lindsay's Sweet WorldDecember 5, 2023 at 11:30 AM

    I love your ornament tradition! We do the same thing! It's always such a joy to decorate the tree every year!

    ReplyDelete
  17. MandyJoyLoves♥December 5, 2023 at 10:09 PM

    I love your nails, your tree, and those croissants look so good!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Favorite TV Shows Growing Up in the 80's and early 90's

Image
Do you remember the TGIF lineups on Friday nights? I can remember planning sleepovers and time with friends around TV Show lineups of our favorite shows... or else trying to set the VCR to record our favorite shows if we weren't going to be home. And through the years I had SO MANY favorites! Growing pains aired in 1985 which put me around age 8 and it stayed on the air until I was 15 or so; I'm pretty sure most people in my age group watched mostly for Kirk Cameron and all his antics.  I still have a soft spot for family sit-coms!  The Facts of Life aired when I was just 2  and stayed on the air until I was 11 so I'm sure the episodes I remember so fondly were either some of the later ones and then reruns shown later on when I was old enough to watch from the beginning. I think everyone would have loved an Edna Garret in their lives.   Benson another sitcom that began airing when I was just 2 and was done by the time I was 9 (another one I must have watched mai...
Read more

Things That Make Me Laugh

Image
I loved the challenge of this week's list for our 26 lists link up.  I don't know about you but I really need to laugh more lately.  It's such a great stress reliever. 1.  Books-- I love a good funny book that makes me laugh out loud.  I haven't read one in a while but if you have any recommendations I'm all ears.  The last book I can remember making me laugh was the Un-Honeymooners. 2  The boys being silly. 3.  Watching shows like America's Funniest Videos or Family Feud. 4. My husband.  Most people don't realize it but he's actually pretty funny and often makes me laugh. 5.  Whenever my sisters/ family get together and we get to reminiscing (particularly if my Aunt Elaine is around) we end up laughing so hard at all the old family stories that we are all in tears by the end of the night.  It's fabulous. 6. Movies like Mom's Night Out, Christmas Vacation, and Grown Ups make me laugh out loud. 7.  When my ...
Read more

Making Gift Card and Money Holders Using Scrapbooking and Cardmaking Supples

Image
I don't tend to keep a lot of crafting supplies on hand so when I saw this month's de-stash challenge I wasn't sure what I was going to make.  I finally realized that with so many of my Christmas gifts being cash and gift cards this year that I needed to make up some fun paper crafting/ creative ways to gift them.   I still want my nieces and nephews to have something to open so I pulled out my papers and stamps and made up some cute little money/gift card holders. They were much easier to make than I thought.  The first one I worked on was to hold some oversized Nintendo gift cards.  I made a standard sized card and folded down one corner of the card front.  Then I ran my double sided tape along the bottom an 1/2 way up the side creating a cute little pocket.  Finally I added some cute embellishments and ribbons.   Voila! A simple and easy gift card holder for those larger sized gift cards.  The bulk of the tweens and teens on my list j...
Read more

Making a Sugar Cookie "Gingerbread" House

Image
 Alec really wanted to try making his own gingerbread house this year without using a premade kit.  We talked about how we never really eat the house since they don't taste very good.  Years ago we gave up on the frosting that comes in the kit and began making our own so we thought perhaps we should try making our our house too. Only problem is that no one in the house likes gingerbread.  We talked about trying to make the house using a sugar cookie recipe.  Alec was so excited at that idea since he just LOVES sugar cookies.   He found a recipe online for a simple sugar cookie recipe and mixed up the dough.  He rolled it out an cut it to the size of our cookie sheets-- we had read that it's easiest to cut the house pieces out after the dough has been baked and is still warm and soft because then you don't have to worry about any of the pieces losing their shape while baking. I had picked out a simple cookie cutter set on Amazon and as soon as the ...
Read more

52 Book Challenge of 2024; How I Did and What I Read

Image
 I finished up the 52 Book challenge by mid-July this year despite reading lots of other books along the way.  1. Locked Room Mystery--  Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney-  2. Bibliosmia: A Smelly Book-- Heidi by Johanna Spyri  3. More than 40 chapters -- Betting on You by Lynn Painter 4. Lowercase Letters on the Spine-- The Book Proposal by KJ Micciche (read in Jan) 5. Magical Realism--   The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer 6. Women in STEM-- The Women by Kristin Hannah 7. At Least 4 Different POV-- A Fatal Affair by A. R Torre 8. Features the Ocean-- Blue Hawaiian by Carla Luna 9. A Character-Driven Novel--  Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close 10. Told in Non-Chronological Order-- The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins  11. Title Starts with the Letter "K" -- Key Lime Garden Inn by Annie Cabot-  12. Title Starts with the Letter "L" -- The Last Love Note by Emma Gray 13. An Academic Thriller -- One of Us Is Next by Karen McManus (read in Jan) 14. ...
Read more