West Coast Florida Nesties
My silly Lily is almost 4.
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Can we talk holidays for a second? (poll)
I mean I'm excited for all the BFPs, but sheesh! And I know I'm early, but I have holidays on my mind today.
This is going to be the first time in my entire life that I am NOT going home for Christmas. It'll be my second Christmas EVER without snow. (2000 was a really strange year weather-wise in Wisconsin.) And the first Christmas I've ever spent in Florida.
So, if you celebrate a holiday in December, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, Festivus, or whatever, what are your favorite holiday-related things to do here in Florida? (Or wherever you are.)
What about Thanksgiving, other than the meal?
Favorite traditions?
Any ideas for new traditions?
Most excited about this year?
My silly Lily is almost 4.
Re: Can we talk holidays for a second? (poll)
What about Thanksgiving, other than the meal? football is a given in our household
Favorite traditions? DH used to make and decorate sugar cookies with his mom. She passed away about a year and a half ago, and I continued the tradition last year - DH really appreciated it. I plan on continuing the tradition.
Any ideas for new traditions? I don't have any, but would love to add some new ones. Looking forward to reading what people are doing
Most excited about this year? This is the first year we're in our house, and the first time we've hosted a holiday (we'll be doing Christmas, my parents Thanksgiving). I'm excited to have a family celebration in the house - and a bit nervous about making my first holiday meal.
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What about Thanksgiving, other than the meal? This year, DD will be with xH, so I suspect I'll spend that long weekend crying and drinking.
Ha yes!
What about Thanksgiving, other than the meal? Football, food, annual poker game And then Christmas d?cor comes up!
Favorite traditions?
Baking,
Drive around look at lights
Watching Christmas movies
I throw Christmas dinner party every year just for close friends
Also the Tampa theatre always plays it?s a wonderful life which is awesome if your able to go!
Christmas eve Is spent usually with my family if we are in FL (they will be in Cancun this year)we get all dressed up and my mom cooks a fancy dinner on Christmas morning H and I will watch A Christmas Story, exchange gifts and make a big breakfast!
Any ideas for new traditions? The Straz center always has shows I never get to see this year they have A Christmas story musical and of course the Nutcracker I want to make it to both of these! Also Clearwater has the big snow day with fake now,sleding etc.
Most excited about this year? I Love The holidays I am always excited when we get to stay home and do our own thing J
What about Thanksgiving, other than the meal? I love to cook, so for me that's the big part. But there's also football and wine and just being with family. No real traditions though.
Favorite traditions? Our first Christmas together, my H and I stayed up on late Christmas Eve watching a performance of the Nutcracker on tv, and ever since then we have gone to see it almost every year. That is our biggest tradition and I can't wait until our children are old enough to go.
Any ideas for new traditions? Last year, we began one where the present DS got to open on Christmas Eve was a new pair of pajamas to wear that night. He loved it. I will probably get the two of them coordinating pjs this year.
Most excited about this year? Every year, I say that I am even more excited because DS is one year older, and therefore, it will be more fun to experience Christmas through his eyes. And of course, it is Maisy's first Christmas!
So, if you celebrate a holiday in December, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, Festivus, or whatever, what are your favorite holiday-related things to do here in Florida? (Or wherever you are.) We haven't spent the holidays in Florida (and so by extension, with family) in a long time. It's just too expensive to travel, so we never go to FL around THanksgiving and usually go after Christmas, in January. So I can't help with FL things to do...NYC rocks at Christmas, though, so there's tons of stuff I love here! All the decorations, the Rockettes, etc.
What about Thanksgiving, other than the meal? We always watch the Macy's Parade in the morning (sometimes in person!), and then we have an "appetizer" in the early afternoon (cheese, crackers, shrimp cocktail) before our big meal that evening. Also, because we use "permanent" Christmas trees, we always have our tree up by Thanksgiving and decorate it after our Thanksgiving meal (this was the tradition in my house growing up that H and I have stolen).
Favorite traditions? For Thanksgiving, I just love cooking everything together with H, and then turning on Christmas music for the first time and trimming the tree after dinner. My favorite part of tree-trimming is when it's all done, I always turn off all the lights except for the tree and take of my glasses (or if you have good eyesight, just squint!) at the tree lights. Pretty.
On Christmas Eve, we always have soup and cider on Christmas Eve then go to the late service at church. H and I also exchange an ornament every year, so we open our ornaments that night. Christmas morning, we get up and open presents first (starting with stockings), then have monkey bread for breakfast, same appetizer later and a big dinner that night.
Any ideas for new traditions? The positive to not being with family every year is that H and I have had the opportunity to make holidays our own. I love our tradition of exchanging ornaments each year, and our Christmas dinner is a combo of our two families' traditions - mine always did the cheese/crackers/shrimp appetizer, and his always had lasagna for dinner, so we do both.
Most excited about this year? We're actually going to FL this Thanksgiving, so as much as I like doing our own thing for holidays, it will be nice to see family.
Ellie ~ 3.29.12
Wedding | Blog
So, if you celebrate a holiday in December, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, Festivus, or whatever, what are your favorite holiday-related things to do here in Florida? (Or wherever you are.) Although we actually spend Christmas in TN, we do some holiday stuff here...we always go to Christmas Lane, which is over near me in Dover. It is super cheesy, but fun.
What about Thanksgiving, other than the meal? The only Thanksgiving traditions I can think of are listening to my SILs scream at each other, which is always a grand time. I often go for a walk after eating with MIL and SIL1
Favorite traditions? each year I have Quinn (ok, in the past it was me, this year he'll get it) pick out a toy to donate to a local charity. The Christmas Lane thing is fun...oh and seeing Santa of course. Plus my dad makes the yummiest hot chocolate every year.
Any ideas for new traditions? Still pondering some fun crafts or something along those lines.
Most excited about this year? Just having some time off with the family.
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I should answer my own poll, right?
What about Thanksgiving, other than the meal? It's hard to explain, but I'm looking for that something special to make Thanksgiving a more important holiday for me.
Favorite traditions? Day after Thxgiving is the day we get the tree and start decorating. Every year when I pack up the decorations, I write a note about any new ornaments we might have gotten. Who it was from, story behind it, whatever. So every year when we decorate the tree, we get to reread and remember all the stories behind all the ornaments. (It honestly doesn't take much time to do, either.)
Any ideas for new traditions? It's not really new anymore, but the first year DH and I got our own tree, we didn't have many ornaments for it. We got a lot of generic and filler stuff, and that year we decided that each of us would pick out an ornament from Target. Whatever ornament for whatever reason, we each got to pick. We've kept the "Target pick" tradition every year since and it's really become a favorite. And now, of course, Lily gets to pick one too. The first one she "picked" was when she was 4 months old, and DH insisted that smiled at it. (It was a cute little snowman ornament.)
Most excited about this year? I am beyond excited to sleep in my own bed in my own house on Christmas Eve. Lily really "gets" the whole Santa thing now, so that will be really fun, too. My mom will also be here, so I'm excited for a little role reversal with us, with me as the hostess and her as the guest. It'll be weird to be without snow and cold for Christmas, but I think it'll be really wonderful, too. I'm trying to focus on the happy stuff because it's going to be really hard to be away from my brothers for Christmas. I think that's going to be the hardest part for me.My silly Lily is almost 4.
So, if you celebrate a holiday in December, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, Festivus, or whatever, what are your favorite holiday-related things to do here in Florida? (Or wherever you are.) We don't really do anythign Florida-specific for the holidays. Just the usual drive around and see the lights and other normal stuff.
What about Thanksgiving, other than the meal? I get two completely different meals for Thanksgiving now! We do Thanksgiving early at DH's grandma's house with most of MIL's family (FIL's is in Canada) and we have East Indian/Guyanese food (MIL usually makes a turkey and sides just for tradition's sake), but I enjoy the fun stuff like curries, roti, chow mein, fried rice, pulouri, and potato balls. Then we go over to my parent's for a traditional turkey dinner (and end up feeling like we're going to explode afterwards)
Favorite traditions? It's not so much a Thanksgiving tradition as much as a Thanksgiving weekend tradition. Every year for the past three years, my parent's have had a Florida/Florida State party on gameday Saturday. The guys all show up early and have a Gator-themed golf scramble while the girls stay home, drink beer and orange margartias and decorate our Gator stadium cake, which gets more elaborate every year (this year we added a plane and banner flying overhead).
Any ideas for new traditions? DH and I started a new one last year where we pick up an ornament from wherever we've traveled that year to hang on our tree. This year we roadtripped up the coast and have ornaments from the GA Aquarium, two Smithsonian museums in DC, and the Baltimore aquarium. My family's also always had the tradition of the kids getting pjs on Christmas Eve that we wear to bed and to open presents the next morning. Even though we're all grown now, my mom and dad still do this each year for me, DH, and my brother.
Most excited about this year? Getting to buy fun presents for my neice! Her first birthday is Dec 23rd, so she's going to be getting spoiled rotten by her aunt and uncle
Married Bio
What about Thanksgiving, other than the meal? Spending time with family.
Favorite traditions? Decorating, BF shopping (even if we don't really need to buy anything), and Nov/Dec seem to be the 2 months out of the year when everyone puts their diffrences aside so the whole family can be together! Oh, and DD gets to open one gift on Christmas eve. I will only put about 5-6 gifts under the tree before Santa comes, she gets to pick one and open it. As soon as the first gift is under the tree she is shaking it to se which one is the best!
Any ideas for new traditions? Nope.
Most excited about this year? Food, family, and just enjoying DD.
This is going to be our last Thanksgiving celebrating in NC with H's family - thank goodness. I like their beautiful waterfront mansion in chapel hill BUTTTTTTTT.... it just doesn't feel like my Thanksgivings that I have always known and love. They don't make the food I like (green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce), and they argue the entire time and do not seem happy to be together! That is the opposite of how my family is - we cook together, watch football, sometimes play a game of football outside, and just genuinely enjoy each other. So I've been homesick for several years now during Thanksgiving.
H promised me next year we will have our own Thanksgiving, so I'm excited.
Christmas is also a great holiday - my family is Jewish on my dad's side and Catholic on mom's side. For Christmas we celebrate at my grandpa's home in Sarasota. We have a big fish fry on Christmas Eve - my dad cooks and we help while everyone else goes to church. Then we eat together, then the next morning we have a huge breakfast and first we open our stockings and then our presents. We watch football and play pool or table tennis at the rec area and then eat a giant dinner at 4. It's like the best day ever.
What about Thanksgiving, other than the meal? We always have Thanksgiving at our house. A few close friends come over and we cook up a storm. I love this holiday! It's fun to cook and host dinner, and it's such a relaxing day. You don't have to worry about presents and running here and there beforehand. I am really excited to start holiday traditions with Zoe this year!
Favorite traditions? Even to this day, if I am with my siblings for Christmas, we have "kid presents." When we were little, we were so excited for presents on Christmas Day that my parents let us exchange presents among the 4 of us on Christmas Eve after we finished trimming the tree (which we always do on Christmas Eve). Even though we are all grown up, we still call it "kid presents." I love it!
Any ideas for new traditions? I'm not really sure about his yet...maybe we can see how the holidays go with Zoe and go from there!
Most excited about this year? Seeing Zoe's reaction to the Christmas decorations
I'm from northern NY state and I've spent every Thanksgiving/Christmas here since 2000. My sister and her family are here (they are who I'm closest with) so this is where I want to be, but I do get a little sad when we are putting up our lights on the house wearing shorts and flip flops, and my first year I started to tear up when Frosty came on tv. But it gets easier.
My December holiday is Christmas and as far as FL things to do, not too much really, to be honest. We get our tree and a candle that smells like a tree because the trees here don't smell the same and decorate. We drink lots of Irish coffees, and make smores in our fireplace while watching Christmas movies and pretending it's cold out. Besides that, just a lot of baking and eating
I'm also looking for a new tradition. I've always wanted to go to Gaylord Palms in Orlando, they have an amazing light and ice show from what I've heard. Maybe next year when we have a 1 year old we'll finally start that one.
This year I'm looking forward to popping this little one out