Monday, December 24, 2012

Christmas Traditions + Guest Post + Giveaway

Happy Christmas Eve y'all! Can you believe that tomorrow is the big day? Today I have the cutest guest blogger for y'all. I'm telling you, Ashley is as sweet as pie! And I've officially claimed her as my new bloggy BFF.

A little Christmas Tradition Chat + a Giveaway!
 
First of all, let me just say that Brandi is simply amazing and I’m so thankful she let me take over her blog today. I love reading about all the fun things that she does with BK and she just inspires me to be the best mom I can be….later when I actually have kiddos. I’m super jealous that she’s in Jamaica right now as you are reading this but I will try to keep you guys entertained for a little bit.

So who is this Ashley girl anyways? Well, I am a newlywed, hazel eyed, first grade teaching, Dr. Pepper drinking, beach lovin’, mid twenties blogger over at It Is What You Make It  I am from the south which will be evident a little later on in one of my pictures and I couldn’t love my job more than right now at this very moment.
 
But enough about me…Today I wanted to chat with you beautiful ladies about family traditions. Family traditions are what make Christmas so special to me and I’m sure most of you all as well.
 
My favorite tradition with my little family was our early Christmas gift. My mom would always let us open just one gift the night before Santa came. She would dig around under the tree and find one for my sister and one for me….surprise, surprise mine and Mandy’s gifts were always the same thing, but in different colors…. PAJAMAS!!! It was a Christmas miracle! We would put on our new jammies, make cookies with my dad, cut up some carrots for the reindeer, watch A Christmas Movie (yea…the one with that title) and then fall asleep awaiting Santa.
 
Christmas Eve night has always been spent over at my mom’s parent’s house. When we were little, my grandmother would order my sister, my little cousin Brittany, and I all matching dresses to wear to church….and we loved it. After church, we would come home to a huge buffet of the best food you could imagine. While we were sitting around the table, we would hear bells ringing and a faint “ho, ho, ho” so we would all go run outside and see Santa and a little red nose that we all just new was Rudolph (I mean obviously). Santa would bring us our big gifts and then “ride off in his sleigh”. Mysteriously, my granddad was just never around to see Santa…..
 
I love being able to look back and remember such special things that we did with my parents and am so thankful that they did that with us each year. As I look back, I can’t remember what I got each year, what I asked Santa for, or what was in my stocking, but I can always remember the nights of snuggling up on the couch in my new awesome jammies and watching that movie with my family.
 
Since you read about my whole Christmas childhood up there, I figured the least I could do was let you share your favorite tradition and have the chance to enter a
GIVEAWAY!!!!  
All you have to do is scroll down to the bottom of this post, type your favorite Christmas tradition in that little white comment box, and wa-la… you will be entered into the drawing that will end Friday December 28th. I will randomly select a winner from all of the awesome posts and you could be the lucky winner of a....

Want more than one chance to win?
Follow Brandi on Twitter: DreamingOfBK
Follow Ashley on Twitter: ashleyrobyn12
and then leave a comment for each!
 
I so appreciate you reading along and learning a little more about my favorite traditions. I think that as we all get older, we realize that even though at the time the gifts were what we looked forward to, now looking back, it was all about the family time and those special memories we were making. I hope you all have/had a great Christmas.  </ span>



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28 comments:

  1. My fav Christmas tradition is cooking a big Christmas breakfast with my hubby and then opening our presents! Awesome giveaway!

    -Sharon
    The Tiny Heart

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  2. Following Brandi on Twitter (@thetinyheart)

    -Sharon
    The Tiny Heart

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  3. Following Ashley on Twitter (@thetinyheart)

    -Sharon
    The Tiny Heart

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  4. My fav tradition is riding through the city looking a Christmas lights with my dad :-)

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  5. Following Brandi on Twitter as @_alwaysashley_

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  6. Following Ashley on Twitter as @_alwaysashley_

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  7. Having dinner with family and friends is my favorite Christmas tradition! Thanks! saltsnmore at yahoo dot com

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  8. I follow Brandi on Twitter as @justpeachyphoto.
    saltsnmore@yahoo.com

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  9. I follow Ashley on Twitter as @justpeachyphoto
    saltsnmore at yahoo dot com

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  10. My favorite Christmas tradition was also pajamas!! We always spent Christmas Eve at my grandparents' house and they hated my dad doing it, but every year he would let my brother and me open one present {always PJs}. Mimi and Pa said it made Christmas morning not as special because we'd already started present opening, but it still was, and we looked even cuter because of our matching pajamas!

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  11. Of course I follow Ash on tweet tweet :)

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  12. And definitely follow Brandi, too! @SouthernOurWay

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  13. My favorite Christmas tradition is having the family gather together and make homemade Christmas cutout sugar cookies, and decorate them with icing and sprinkles. Something we can all do together, no matter what our age.

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  14. I follow Brandi on Twitter @kaitlinleighs

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  15. I follow Ashley on Twitter @kaitlinleighs

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  16. My favorite Christmas tradition is a simple one, spending time with family! Traditions have changed since I was little and now that I'm married but I love all the memories I have made with the people I love.

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  17. I follow Ashley on Twitter @mnclarke15

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  18. I follow Brandi on Twitter @mnclarke15

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  19. My favorite Christmas tradition is going to midnight mass with my family at the same church I've gone to Christmas mass all 25 years of my life.

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  20. My favorite Christmas tradition is making a gingerbread house with my children!

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  21. games and puzzles! (and mostly the family time those activities bring...)

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  22. My favorite Christmas tradition is decorating our Christmas tree as a family.... Which is filled with only ornaments that have been given to our family or made by us kiddos over the years! It's so fun to look back at our past every year as we decorate and my mom and dad are particulary proud of the ornaments, even though they're horrendous. ;)

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  23. And I follow Ashley! All under @xox_kenzie! Also a new follower of both of your blogs. :)

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