Holiday Happenings 2008

Welcome to Holiday Happenings! I'm so glad you found us today! I hope your holiday season is blessed and that you are able to celebrate the love of our faithful Father with good friends and even gooder family.

I love this time of year! I love decorating, snuggling, drinking hot chocolate, watching movies, playing games, and listening to Christmas carols. I love the family time this season affords. Short days and cold nights make it easy to stay in bundled up together.

And I guess that's the tradition I'm going to share this year. December is traditionally a busy month. There are parties, and shopping, and wrapping, and baking to keep us busy and suck our time away. And we do all of that...but the past few years, we've tried really hard to make the most of the time we have.

I hate making it to December 25th and realizing that every little thing got done in preparation for the Big Day, but we were stressed and snippy and hard to live with for a whole month just to make it to that point. So, I began to make some cutbacks.

We give a few less gifts than before. I know, tis the season for giving. But it had gotten out of control for us. When I came to the realization that not every uncle twice removed from Great Aunt Bessie's side of the family needed a hand made gift , it began a huge transformation in me.

We don't send out Christmas cards. I know, it was hard to let that one go. But it was such an exhilarating feeling when I realized that I'm still a good person even if I don't send out Christmas cards.

We party less. We don't host a Christmas party, but we do make it a point to make time for family and friends in less formal ways. We only attend 1 or two parties during the season. And the parties we do attend, are almost no work at all. We realize that the best part about going to a party is being with friends, not the glamorous decorations and 5 star food.

We make the most of the time we do have . . . even if it's only a school night. I try to get the homework done early. We stay in for supper. We take baths early and get in our snuggly pajamas as soon as possible. We play games, or watch that favorite Christmas special, or work on that challenging puzzle. Whatever it is, we do it together, and those are the times our kids remember and ask about over and over.

As I'm typing this, I realized that I sound a bit Scrooge-esque, but I don't really see it that way. We just started slowing down our month. We took control back of the monster that is December, and made it work for us. And we have some great memories to show for it! I love that tradition!

What about you? What are some things you're doing to celebrate the season?

Drum Roll Please . . .

Well, here it is! Sara made a button! For Holiday Happenings! Turns out, what I've suspected all along is really true. There are wonderful, talented people out there who are nice enough to spread a little yuletide cheer to those of us who are less fortunate in the wonderful and talented area.

If you'd like a copy of the button to let the whole entire world wide web know that you plan to participate in Holiday Happenings, just copy and paste the code below into your sidebar.

<a href="http://talkinghairdryer.blogspot.com/2008/11/lowdown-on-holiday-happenings.html"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274838867788300626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 220px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 148px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3LFR5xkgYBbNhuH8ush9kOR7mr6npuW3yI6nqblqI00h895_v9eDP2fnukk4oGNPgXtLdzsnDaLr8VsSAgNxUpp9nwiOgbW9dpzwZV7Ys94VjeeXRepv-2ANSZSzz0rbaClUj/s320/Holiday_Happenings.JPG" border="0" /></a>

And would someone actually try to copy and paste the code and then let me know if it worked? Remember I'm short on talent...

The Lowdown on Holiday Happenings

Happy holidays, everyone! It's the most wonderful time of the year! Right now the girls and I are listening to Christmas music. We've got most of the Christmas decorating done, and we're doing every last minute thing to get ready for our trip to see family for Thanksgiving. We're so looking forward to the festivities, down time, and family time that comes with the holidays.

Growing up, my family had tons of fun traditions this time of year, and now that I have a family of my own, we're busy creating our own traditions. I love telling my kids about our traditions past, and I love adapting some of my favorites to fit our family.

Last year I created Holiday Happenings to celebrate all of those beloved traditions. And, I'm hosting the carnival again this year. On Friday, December 5, here at Talking Hairdryer, Holiday Happenings will be...happening.

All you have to do to participate is blog about your favorite holiday traditions. They can be from Thanksgiving, Christmas Past, Christmas Present, New Year's, or any other holiday you celebrate this time of year.

Then, after you've posted on your blog, hop over here and link up, via Mr. Linky, and allow all of us to read about your holidays.

It's that easy! You have almost 2 whole weeks, so start planning your post now.

The only yuck thing about this whole carnival is that I don't have a cute button to pass out to everyone that plans to participate. I have neither the talent nor the equipment to create such a thing. So, imagine a cute button that goes along with this post that you can paste in your sidebar to shout out to everyone that you will be at Holiday Happenings!

I can't wait! I hope to see you there!

Holiday Happenings 2008

Oh, we're havin' it again. Remember how much fun it was last year? (I have no idea why the Mr. Linky disappeared.) I'll get the details out shortly.

Holiday Happenings 2007

Welcome to Holiday Happenings 2007! I'm so glad you've decided to join us! I hope you enjoy reading about the traditions and memories from the holiday season that come from all over blogland. My prayer for you as 2007 comes to an end is that you feel the peace and contentment that comes from knowing Jesus. I also pray that God will pour out his richest blessings on you and your family in 2008.

So, let's get started!

There are so many things I love about this holiday season! It was hard for me to pick just one to share with you. So, after weighing my options, I settled for sharing the longest standing tradition, at least in my family. Pictures with Santa. I know it sounds a little shallow and insignificant at first. But this collection of pictures has become very special to me. They are a sort of compilation of my life. One snapshot of one moment of one year of my life that when put together, tells one special story.

My mom started this tradition my very first Christmas. She and Mema sat me and my cousin (who happens to be my age) on Santa's lap at the tender age of 7 months. And we haven't missed a year since. If you add up all those years, it comes out to . . . lots of pictures! And oh! the stories! Mom can tell when she looks through the pictures of the past.

At age 2 there was already a purse fetish. How do we know this? Because I just had to have my brand new yellow popcorn shaped purse in the picture.

By age 3, my younger brother had arrived.

We know the year that I finally had my tonsils removed because the Santa picture before the surgery was of a scrawny, sickly, sunken-eyed little girl. It was the only time in my life I ever wore slim sized jeans. The next year's picture featured a much healthier, vibrant, not so scrawny kid. By then I was more of a husky.

The pictures chronicle the bad hair year (5th grade), the big-bangs, the roll-your-eyes-I-refuse-to-dress-up-for-this-stupid-picture teenage years, and even my newly married years. We finally agreed that when my brother or I produced offspring that could take Santa pictures in our place that we could finally stop with the sitting in Santa's lap already. So the year I was pregnant with Bubba, Honey, my brother, and I all piled in Santa's lap and tried our best to show my bulging tummy. Then the story began a new chapter.

And I make sure to take my kids to see Santa every. single. year. It's a story that I plan to continue writing for a very long time.

If you'd like to share your favorite holiday tradition or memory with us, post about it on your blog and link to it below. If you don't have a blog, leave a comment below and share your stories. Happy reading!

Some Housekeeping

**edited to add question #6, just for Cindy**

It has come to my attention that there are some of you out there that are not familiar with a bloggy carnival. Which is great. All of us have been through the "I don't want to participate because I'm afraid I won't do it right" feeling. So, I'd like to clear up a few things for you in case you wanted to participate in Holiday Happenings in a few days.

(For those of you that thought that I was going to talk about actual things I do to keep my house...Girl, you're reading the wrong blog. I just cleaned last week! Is that something you're supposed to do on a regular basis?)

Back to blogging:

1. All questions that are bloggy in nature have probably been addressed in some sort or fashion at this great site called Blogging Basics 101. Most of the links I will provide today will point you in this direction.

2. What is a blog carnival? It's a post on any person's blog that suggests a specific topic for blogging that day. This host provides a central location for collecting links to the topic posts from all over the blogsphere. For a more in depth explanation read: What is a carnival? on BB101

3. What is a Mr. Linky? On the day of the carnival, at the end of the host's post, there will be a numeric list of names of people that are participating. This list is generated by a program called "Mr. Linky" and if your are participating, your name needs to be on that list. To add your name to the list, you must find the Mr. Linky box at the end of the post and enter your name and URL of your post. Mr. Linky does the rest. For more information read: How do I use Mr. Linky? on BB101
To see Mr. Linky in action: it's Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer today. This is a huge carnival, but so much fun to read!

4. Why do I have to link to my carnival post and not the home page of my blog? Linking directly to your carnival post and not your home page is called using the permalink. It's the permanent place we will always be able to find that particular post on a page all by itself. Basically, it's just good manners. Because most people don't read every post entered in a carnival all in one day. Because that might take hours.

And you might get so involved in all of the carnival posts that your children might be forced to fend for themselves. They might have to eat cereal right out of the box and hold their mouths under the water spout while their twin sister works the knob. And, your husband might come home from work and find you wearing the same pjs that you took your son to school in that morning. That's never happened at my house, but I'm just throwing it out there as something that might happen if you were to try to read all of the carnival entries in one day.

But, since all of you are good parents, you would pace yourself and read the carnival posts a few at a time sprinkled in throughout the week. If you have the permalink, it's no problem. If you have the link to the home page, the author could have written more posts and it could be hard to find the carnival post you're looking for.

So use the permalink, girls! Read this for more information: What is a permalink and why do I need it? on BB101

5. Do I have to have a blog to participate in carnivals? This may vary by topic and host preference. For this host? When it comes to Holiday Happenings? I would love to hear from you! Even if you don't have a blog. Just leave your memory or tradition in a comment on my post.

6. Hey... is there ANY chance I could bribe you into enlarging your font on your posts? I'm getting so old, you see. I'll pay big bucks. ;) Well, I can understand that your eyes may be tired, especially if you are trying to read all of the WFMW posts in one day. Here is my solution: The toolbar at the top of the screen has a choice called "view", click on that. Then go down to "Text size" and click on that. Choose a size that would be easy on your eyes and click on it.

Now, my personal moral beliefs hinder me from accepting a money bribe, but . . . I love me some Starbucks.

So there you have it, everything I know about participating in blog carnivals. It's pretty easy, and so much fun! See you Monday!

7 days til Holiday Happenings

Just a little friendly reminder that Holiday Happenings is a week from today. Plan to join us and share a favorite Christmas memory or tradition!

Look! A Bloggy Carnival!

It's supposed to be 81 degrees where I live today. Not really holiday weather in my opinion. And just in case you haven't heard, I love the holiday season. But, it's not feeling very holiday-y here. So, I thought of something that would help us all get into the spirit of things.

It's a carnival!

Called Holiday Happenings!

Right here at Talking Hairdryer!

Soon!

Here's how it's going to work:

1. Copy and paste the code for the Holiday Happenings button into your sidebar to show others that you plan to participate and encourage them to do the same.

Here's the code you'll need:

<a href="http://talkinghairdryer.blogspot.com/2007/12/holiday-happenings-2007.html"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5134568675162695522" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU2Ai9rEKBp0K7NlWqXNWMwZbFPkkS8YlvmehQBZl1BQz1pqJoTLUejmkeHyJQnTEca3jOdTP7ikuzDS9sXzLDiUwQjvR1FtXLFFr-enJYipeAJy6Otky6APNjggu0dURL52sQ/s400/Holiday-Happenings-4.gif"/></a>

2. Write a blog post about your favorite Holiday Happening. It can be a memory from holidays past, a tradition that you've developed in your family, a craft you love, a yummy recipe that just screams Christmas . . . it can be just about anything! That is happening. In your family. At the Holidays. See? Holiday Happenings! (It's catchy, right?)

3. On December 3, post your happening on your blog. Then . . .

4. . . . come back here, to the Talking Hairdryer home page, and post a link (via Mr. Linky, of course) to your holiday happening post. (Don't worry, this part is easier than it sounds. I promise.)

5. If everyone adds their link here, all the links will be posted together making it easier to hop from blog to blog and read about everyone's Holiday Happenings.

It will be so much fun! I know you will be inspired to decorate your tree, or hang your Christmas lights, or make the trek to the mall to pick up a few gifts, or something after you've read about all of the special Holiday Happenings going on around blogland.

See you December 3!