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Welcome to the Art-Full Horizons
Jolly Jumpstart Blog Hop!
Check out all of the fabulous holiday-themed projects, gift ideas, and more from our wonderful Blog Hop Contributors from around the world!!
- Art-Full Horizons http://art-fullhorizons.
blogspot.com - Tammy Inman http://tammyi.com
- Nan Paturzo http://scrappynan.blogspot.com
- Robyn Weatherspoon http://herebygrace.typepad.
com/ - Mykle Parker http://scrapbohemia.blogspot.
com - Sherry Mendoza http://sherryscreations.
typepad.com/ - Robin Redd http://robinredd.typepad.com/west_coast_scrapper/
- April Meeker www.suaviloquy.blogspot.com
- Erin Bassett www.erinbassett.com
- Jennifer Clark http://jenspartyof5.blogspot.
com - Jennifer Edwardson http://frommypapercraftstudio.
blogspot.com/
Here's how it works:
- Hop through each of the blogs listed above to get fabulous holiday inspiration. If you are starting at a blog in the middle of the Hop, please start back at the Art-Full Horizons blog. You should be arriving here from Erin's blog.
- Leave a comment on each blog hop post in the list above between now and November 7, 2010.
- Enter to win our giveaway by doing any of the following. For each thing you do, you will be entered into the drawing one more time:
- Leave a comment on the Art-Full Horizons blog hop post between now and November 7, 2010.
- Join the Art-full Horizons email list (fill out the form in the left hand column on the A-H blog).
- Become a follower of the Art-full Horizons blog! Just click the "Follow" button in the lower right column on the A-H blog.
- "Like" the Art-Full Horizons Facebook Page.
- Join the Art-Full Horizons Facebook Group.
- Share about this Blog Hop on your own blog, posting a link to the Art-full Horizons blog.
- Share about this Blog Hop on Facebook, posting a link to the Art-full Horizons blog.
- Share about this Blog Hop on a message board or forum, posting a link to the Art-full Horizons blog.
- U.S. entries only please
To let us know you've done these things, please return to the first Art-full Horizons Jolly Jumpstart Blog Hop post and leave a comment for each thing you did, i.e. one comment for posting on each blog, another comment for posting on facebook, and another comment for joining our email newsletter. Please note: if you post it all in one comment, it will only count as one entry, so be sure to post EACH ENTRY as a separate comment.
On November 8, 2010 we'll choose the winners using the Random Integer Generator from random.org. U.S. entries only please.
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Wow, I can't believe we're already halfway through the week!! Today, instead of sharing a holiday craft with you, I want to talk about holiday traditions. I know that the older I get, and the older my children get, the more important traditions are becoming to me. I want my children to grow up with a sense of family and faith, and when they are older and look back, I want them to remember specific things about how our family celebrated the holidays. Traditions bring familiarity, comfort, and often a sense of "home," when "home" may not actually be physically "home" any more.
So first, I want to share a Christmas tradition that I remember from my childhood, which I have continued with my own family as an adult. It may seem like a very strange tradition to some - but for me, it is comforting and reminds me of many wonderful Christmases celebrated together when I was younger. I was raised Catholic, and every Christmas Eve, we would attend mass - sometimes an early evening mass, and sometimes the midnight mass...but either way, it was tradition that our dinner on Christmas Eve was ALWAYS Chinese food!!! Sounds strange, doesn't it? BUT, when you really think about it...how many restaurants are open on Christmas Eve, especially later in the evening? As we found during my childhood, Chinese restaurants were amongst the ONLY ones open for business, and so it became our annual tradition. These days, we usually get take-out, but it is still always Chinese food, and it, oddly, is an important part of Christmas for me!
Second, I'd like to share a Christmas tradition that I started just last year with my own children, which I hope to continue throughout their growing-up years. I would like to think that when they are adults and think back to the Christmas season, they will remember this as a crucial part of the season for them as well. It is a Jesse Tree. While everyone does theirs slightly differently, our actual "tree" consists of a real birch branch, which I "planted" in a metal bucket using plaster of paris. Every night, starting 4 weeks before Christmas, we read a different passage of Scripture, and an accompanying story from this book. Then the kids hang a handmade felt ornament with a symbol representing that night's story on the tree. I feel like it is a way for our family to keep our faith at the center of the holiday season, and is a reminder of what Christmas is really all about for us. The Jesse Tree is a nightly reminder for us of why we celebrate Christmas in the first place, and while I hope it helps my children understand the meaning of Christmas, it also helps keep ME grounded and focused - and helps prevent me from becoming too overwhelmed with the commercialism all around us.
So what traditions do YOU celebrate each holiday season? Is tradition important to you? I'd love to hear your own families' holiday traditions!!
Remember that you have through November 7 to complete the Jolly Jumpstart blog hop. (See instructions above.)
***Additionally...here at Party of Five, I will also be having a giveaway at the end of the week!! I will be posting throughout the week, from now through November 7, various posts about holiday projects, recipes, traditions, and memories. On November 8, I will choose TWO winners of surprise grab bags filled with goodies to get you in the holiday spirit. How do you enter? Several ways! You will get one entry for each comment you leave (one per Jolly Jumpstart blog post). You will get another entry by becoming a follower of my blog (if you are already following, just let me know) and leaving a comment letting me know you are following. You can get another entry by posting about your own holiday traditions and linking to this post on YOUR blog, and leaving me a comment with a link to your blog. Make sure you check back on November 8 to see if YOU are a winner!!***
Thank you for participating!! Comments are now disabled, and winners will be announced soon!!
1 comment:
i am so about traditions and have so many that we do as a family. as an adult those are some of my fondest memories in life. i really feel sorry for kids that miss out on this.tradition is so much more important than about how much money we spend. if only we could all get back to that. thanks for sharing...carol
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