Holiday Traditions - Kathleen

Hello readers! How are you? It's gotten really cold here... yesterday we were down to 28 degrees (Fahrenheit for those of you from other countries)

So I love Christmas. Who doesn't. But I love everything about it. Giving people presents, shopping in the crowds of trampling people, driving in traffic, coming home exhausted (because then you get hot cocoa and classic Christmas movies). But the rest of my family doesn't. They only like the day of and the day before/after. My parents hate Christmas shopping. Now, my room is on the verge of getting very festive. I have Christmas lights and decorations all up in boxes waiting to come down and grace my room the their festive glow. So as a way of relieving some of this crazy Christmas-y-ness, I'm gonna share some traditions my family has.

Nutcracker Ballet

Every year my sister dances in the Nutcracker ballet. So we go to see her in that. Belleville School of Ballet puts it on and the Belleville Philharmonic plays for them. It's an amazing performance and never ceases to inspire many people.

Thanksgiving Day

OK, so no duh, this is a tradition almost everywhere. But I love Thanksgiving. Guys, it's an excuse to eat until you can't eat anymore! The past two years this has changed for us. We used to stay at home, or go to my Grandma's house, but we have started going over to friend's houses. It is a lot of fun. Somehow, when you are simply with your family, there is not the same kind of camaraderie as with friends.

Black Friday

Black Friday is a bit of a controversial subject in our house. I love taking advantage of the deals. I don't go all out and by everything, but I buy a few gifts. This year it looks like we will be going here:

Cahokia Mounds

This is an Indian burial ground. It is pretty cool, but it might be cold that day... Do you see what I'm saying? As cool as it is, I just don't know if I want to do it...

Way of Lights

I encourage any of you living near me to go to this. It's at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. They string thousands of colored Christmas lights up to form the Christmas story from the bible. It's super cool, especially when listening to Christmas music.

St. Nick's Day

Lots of people know about St Nicholas Day. Basically, you put your shoes out, and St. Nick will fill them with candy/oranges/socks/little ornaments. This is cute and fun, and I still do it.

Christmas with the Masterworks Chorales

I'm in a choir (called Masterworks Childrens Chorale) and we have our Christmas concert coming up. It is full of classic Christmas songs. There will be a short Christmas story scene included.

Christmas Cookie Walk

Every year, Belleville IL has a gingerbread cookie walk. Every small store in downtown Belleville makes their own cookies and hands them out to the people walking around down town with little paper bags. It's a great way to promote the small businesses.

Gingerbread Creation Reveal

Belleville also has a gingerbread house competition. People make gingerbread houses (some start in January) and turn them in for judging. There are different age groups and different prizes. The next day, organizers take them to the small stores and the stores display them in their windows.

Christmas Eve Mass (my church ^ )

My family goes to the Christmas Eve mass every year, then afterwards we head home for some dinner. We then skype my grandma up in Minnesota and open our Advent Angel gift. At Thanksgiving, each member of my mom's immediate family draws a name from a bowl of names and gets that person a gift. These are the Advent Angel gifts.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning is pretty chill at the Pederson house. We wake up when we wake up and get up. Dad makes Monkey Bread the night before. Monkey Bread is basically cinnamon roll balls with pecans baked in a Bundt pan. It's amazing warm. After that we will open presents, starting with the stockings, then moving to the tree. The rest of the afternoon is pretty chill. We play with our new "toys". Dinner is around 4, and we have a roast with root vegetables. It's delicious.

Olivia's Birthday

Last, but not least, my sister's birthday is on December 29th! A few years ago, we went ice skating with TONS of people. There is an outdoor rink in St. Louis. A reporter was there and she was taking pictures of us while we were singing Olivia Happy Birthday. We gave her a cupcake. We don't always do big things, but sometimes we have a party with some friends.

Thanks so much for reading!!! I hope you all have an amazing week and I can't wait to see y'all next week!

Comment down below what your Christmas traditions are!