Tom Horn Appraisal Wishes You A Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
Well, it’s that time of year again! It seems like it was just January 1st, 2015 and I was looking into the new year and wondering how it would go. The year has a way of flying past us faster than we expect. My mom use to tell me that the older you get the faster time goes by and while I know that it doesn’t actually happen like that, it sure feels like it.
This is going to be my last blog post for the year so I wanted to take the time and wish everyone who has ever read, commented on, shared, or signed up for my blog, a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I’ll be wrapping up some appraisal assignments early this week and then spending more time with my family and enjoying the Christmas traditions we’ve created over the years.
What are your Christmas traditions?
My family’s Christmas season traditions usually began right after Thanksgiving. Over the years we have started traditions that will last a lifetime as I’m sure many of you have. I thought I’d share a little about some of our traditions and then you can share yours.
Horn Family Sweet 16 Christmas Cookie Playoff
This was the fifth year for our Christmas cookie playoff. It works the same way as the college sweet 16 basketball playoff series does. There are four of us in the family so each one chooses four cookies that they would like to bake for the holidays. These 16 cookies then compete with one another to see which four will be left standing. In addition to the final four we have four classic christmas cookies or treats that we make almost every year.
Christmas lights and hot chocolate
This is a tradition I’m sure everyone has. After watching “Christmas Vacation” each year my family can’t wait to find the Clark Griswold in our area. Every year we seem to find a new Griswold house to enjoy. The bar has been raised for Christmas light excellence since we started this tradition when our kids were young.
It seems that the best light displays now are the ones that have been programmed to music so that the lights are timed to the beat of the chosen song. Of course our favorite display of this type is the one that has the Alabama Crimson Tide fight song. 😉
Presents with no tags
A couple of years ago we started a tradition of leaving the “to:” and “from:” tag off of all of our gifts! We divide all of our gifts up evenly so everyone has the same amount. We then take turns opening each gift to see what it is and who it might belong to. As crazy as it sounds, it has become a lot of fun that we look forward to and the kids really enjoy each year.
Question
I’ve told you about my family’s Christmas traditions so won’t you tell me yours? I would enjoy reading about what your family’s traditions are so leave a comment below to share yours. Thank you once again for taking the time to read my blog and may God bless you this Christmas season and in the new year.
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Wow. I’ve never heard of doing gifts like that. You guys are unique. I always make breakfast on Christmas day. It’s called “Dad’s Breakfast”. On Christmas Eve we do have something that might sound a bit odd to some. Our family has a Nerf gun war. This started at my sister-in-law’s house probably 4-5 years ago. The entire family plays. I’m talking parents, grandparents, kids, etc… Everyone has a Nerf gun and they shoot each other. It’s a riot, and the kids look forward to it all year. It probably last a good 45-60 minutes easily.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Gifts without labels vs. Nerf Gun war, I think we’re tied for uniqueness Ryan, 😉 I would love to have a nerf gun war, that would be a lot of fun. I guess in our area the closest thing would be a snowball fight…if we’re lucky enough to get snow. I don’t think that will happen this year.
Ok, as a great part of your Christmas Traditions – since I am your wife, I have to add another of my favorites. It’s our Christmas Eve. We usually go to church in the afternoon – you and I have usually volunteered to help with Communion, so we have to help set up and prepare. The Church Service is so beautiful – last year, we went to 3 PM Traditional and 5 PM Contemporary. Being with our church family in worship sets a great heart for the rest of Christmas. Then we pick up Chinese take out, come home and watch more movies! I love Christmas Eve!! This year, New Years Eve will also be special with the playoff Cotton Bowl! Roll Tide!
We love Christmas Eve in our house, especially the Chinese food. Thanks for including it since I left it out.
Chinese take out? That’s straight from A Christmas Story. Very nice.
Merry Christmas Tom! Great traditions you have! The presents with no tags sounds like fun. We talked about it and decided that it might be chaos if we tried that with our 7 kids! Some of our traditions include watching Christmas Vacation and The Christmas Story, we open one gift on Christmas eve which is always cute pajamas to sleep in and attend the Christmas Eve Candlelight service.
Yes Shannon, I can see where the gifts without tags would get a little crazy with 7 kids. 😉 Thanks for sharing your traditions and hope you and your family have a blessed Christmas.
Those are some cool Christmas traditions (especially the cookie brackets) and Christmas light video. Thank you for sharing. My favorite Christmas tradition is watching the movie Christmas Vacation with my family and joking about how similar Clark’s family and our family is (I even have a brother named Eddy). My oldest son says his favorite tradition in our family is that my wife has Dutch roots, so we celebrate Christmas on Dutch Christmas and on the 25th.
Very cool Gary. It’s funny how many people watch Christmas Vacation, it really is a classic. I love the fact that you celebrate a Dutch Christmas as well, thanks for sharing.