Thursday, November 8, 2012

Packages, Ribbons, Boxes and Bags

When Claudia chose "Traditions" as our theme this month I began thinking of all of the traditions my family has. Taking my little guy out to lunch on the last day of school, Father's Day picnics with the whole family, the German Chocolate birthday cake that I'm presented with on every birthday, and home-made cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. (hmmmm, I see a food trend here..)

Traditions can be big or small, decades old, or brand new. It is going to be really fun this month peeking into everyone's family photo albums to see what your traditions are. I invite you today to peek into mine as I share with you a long standing family tradition.

As far back as I can remember, my Mom, Grandmother, Aunts, Cousins, and Sisters and I, have gone on a big Christmas shopping outing. At first I was too young. That was one of the big things about this shopping trip. You had to be of a certain age. My older sister was a senior in high school when she was first "invited" on the shopping trip. Of course it caused some friction when a few years later, I was invited when I was only a sophomore in high school! :)

Family members have passed on, some have moved too far away to participate, and other issues have stopped some from shopping with us. Cough, cough.  But we still plug along.  This year my Mom, and my younger sister Deb and I continued our annual tradition. Never before have I taken photos of this big shopping day. However, since I knew that this was our November theme, I thought ahead and captured just a few moments from our day.

We usually start at one of the big discount department stores and then move to some favorite small businesses, and of course, the mall.

After several hours of shopping we stop for lunch and enjoy some good food - that may not be so good for us....  As we wait for our meals we pull out our lists, crossing off what we've found and figuring out our plan of attack for the afternoon.

Even though we shopped early this year (in October), never fear....there were plenty of Christmas decorations out already, and yes, even holiday music was playing in some of the stores. (too early!)

After many hours of walking, shopping, giggling, and sharing ideas, we are done. Well almost. We always, always stop for a hot cup of coffee before we head home.

(There may or may not have been a couple of donuts eaten here also.. :)

It's always a fun, productive day, and a good jump start to our holiday shopping, and I hope to continue this tradition for many years to come.

Please share your traditions with us - big or small. If you don't have a photo of your tradition to share in our flickr group, be sure to leave a comment and tell us your story. We'd love to read about it!




14 comments:

Dotti said...

This is a fabulous tradition, Judy! And I was gobsmacked by that first picture. Stunning!! I'm not much of a shopper and because we've never lived near family, wonderful outings like yours are not possible. I have a friend who always shops the Black Friday sales but you won't catch me within ten miles of a shopping area on that day!

Linda said...

What a fun tradition! It's a good idea too! You get to spend time with family and compare lists! I bet you even get new ideas of things to get! I'm glad you shared this and I'm glad you are keeping the tradition going!

xo,
Linda

Kim Stevens said...

Yes, what fun, especially since I don't have any family within a 1200 mile radius to shop with!! (sad face) I'm super impressed that you have already started shopping, AND I wish I was there at your lunch (yum)!

terriporter said...

Love the Target photo! This is reminding me that I NEED to start shopping! Years ago when my kids were small and my in-laws were still with us, the day after Thanksgiving was always a day of shopping for my mother-in-law and me. We would leave the men with the kids and lots of Thanksgiving leftovers and we would spend the whole day getting a large part of our Christmas shopping done. I really miss that tradition. It's so much more fun when you go with someone. Hoping to start that tradition up again with my daughters-in-law.

Elisa said...

Your post inspired me to put a picture of one of my traditions -- Black Friday shopping with a friend. I love doing this with her, much more fun than going alone. How wonderful that you can do this with your family!

Deanna said...

What a fun tradition to have with your family and I loved hearing the history behind this tradition. My daughter and I used to go to a 'design shop' the day after Christmas every year to purchase their lovely decorations at 1/2 price. Now the stores all have 1/2 price Christmas all the time...there is not that anticipation of after-Christmas sales any longer. Women and shopping...a tradition among us all!!

heyjudephotography said...

I'm with you Dotti - no Black Friday shopping for me. That's one reason why we go in October or early November - I just can't stand all the crowds. Even though I live 4 hours from my family, I either drive there to shop with them, or they drive here to shop with me, or we meet in the middle!

heyjudephotography said...

We do get new ideas from each other. We have a lot fun, get a little silly, but we have fun.

heyjudephotography said...

I wish you were at our lunch too Kim! We had plenty to share!

heyjudephotography said...

It sounds like a great idea to start that shopping tradition back up again with your daughters-in-law. I agree, it is much more fun to shop with someone else!

heyjudephotography said...

You're a stronger woman than I am Elisa! I just can't handle Black Friday! I'm popping over to our flickr group to check our the photo you posted! Thanks for sharing with us!

heyjudephotography said...

Yup, shop, shop, shop! I do have to say though, that the ease of online shopping is becoming more and more appealing to me. Then I just get to look forward to seeing that UPS truck pull up in front of the house! :)

Claudia said...

LOVED this story!! Great shots to illustrate too :)

When my family were skiiers they would head up to the slopes the day after TG and I would get up and go shopping all by myself to cash in on all the sales. I would love the alone time (yet with a million other moms) to think about each childs "needs" and wants. I was in heaven.

Came home hid them all away... and some times even wrapped a few. Then when they would come home they would crash and ask what I did on my "day" off... they couldn't understand why I was tired too. Ahhhh those days. FUN fun FUN!

Thanks for the reminder hon.

Hugs

stephmull said...

What a fun tradition!! I've loved hearing everyone's stories of tradition this week....little glimpses into each person's life!! How I'd enjoy going shopping with you!!

Post a Comment

Thank you for sharing part of your day with us. If for any reason you are unable to leave a comment here on this post, please leave your comment on our Facebook page or in our Flickr discussion group. We love hearing from you!

 
© Focusing On Life