When my children were very young, maybe two, three, and five years old, I started a tradition that we kept for many many years. They were just too excited to eat dinner on Christmas Eve, so I made an hors d’oeuvres party for them. The girls wore their best frilly dresses, and my son wore his suit and tie. We played the radio and danced. I poured their koolaid and juice in my best wine glasses. But it was never ready until we got our box from Hickory Farms.
I didn’t realize just how much my children loved this tradition until the first year that my son was in the Air Force. He didn’t join until he was 23. Because we didn’t know if he was going to spend Christmas Eve with us or with his girlfriend’s family, I didn’t plan the usual party. The day after Christmas, he sat down with me at breakfast, and said “Mom, you didn’t make a party for us.” I just hope he now carries on the tradition with his own children.
Hickory Farms sent me a Family Favorites Gift Box like the one pictured above. It’s all gluten free except for the crackers, but my husband can eat those. The summer sausage is still just as tasty as it was all those years ago when I danced on Christmas Eve with my children.
One reader can win a Family Favorites Gift Box from Hickory Farms. Just use the Rafflecopter form to enter.
What a delightful story and memory. Who doesn’t like Hickory Farms.
My husband also loves those Hickory Farm gift boxes from his childhood Christmas memories! :0)
Yummmm…everything in the box looks good!
sending christmas cards…and nobody does it anymore =o(
My favorite tradition is decorating the Christmas tree as a family. We always bake cookies and listen to Christmas music; its always a good time.
I adore Hickory Farms! One of our favorite traditions is making a Gingerbread House together. Sure, it’s from a kit but we have done one every year and it usually ends up in giggles and sprinkles all over the kitchen!
making cookies
We play board games after dinner 🙂
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
We have a Family Christmas Eve service in which we all gather around the fireplace and read stories and poems about the holiday. It’s a quiet, reflective time we spend as a family before the real madness begins!
Thanks!
h4schaffer at gmail dot com
I always get the tree on my birthday and we decorate it.
My favorite Christmas tradition is baking Christmas cookies with my daughter like I did with my mom and grandmother
My sis and I started a new holiday tradition.
Each year we see a Christmas play – thank you!
my favorite holiday tradition is opening one gift on christmas eve.
rypm25@aol.com
THE BIG CHRISTMAS DINNER WITH ALL THE RELATIVES
just getting together on christmas day exchanging gifts and eating dinner
eating pizza on Christmas eve
we make christmas cookies together and decorate them, its an all day thing but we have a blast
Watching Christmas Specials on tv together
Going to Christmas light festival each year
Riding around listening to Christmas music and looking at Christmas lights!
My favorite holiday tradition is getting drunk off egg nog.
Baking and eating treats together.
I love singing Christmas carols with my family.
we watch the Hogfather and Nightmare Before Christmas
I have never had a hickory farms gift box, but it sounds delicious…
One of our traditions is fresh gingerbread and mimosas for xmas breakfast!
I love going with the kids to pick out the perfect tree.
We love to go to longwood gardens to see the lights.
we all get together for lunch on Christmas day at my mom’s
Every Christmas morning, we have breakfast before we open presents. We’ll eat, and then go to the room (that changes every year, believe it or not) and sit around the tree, opening gifts. And every year, we anoint a “Santa” that passes out gifts!
my family ‘n friends come over Xmas and we bake cookies. It’s a lot of fun and delicious eating 🙂
I like baking cookies for santa.
favourite holiday tradition is staying up until morning just talking, eating, drinking and laughing.
my fave is the family meal
Watching the kids open presents
WE LOVE TO DECORATE THE TREE WHILE LISTENING TO CHRISTMAS MUSIC AND DRINKING EGG NOG 🙂
shebebes@yahoo.com
Hiking in the snow! grammypenny@frontier.com
spending time with my family
making christmas cookies!
Our holiday tradition is…. We all cook and bake together as a family.
The youngest person hands out the gifts.
A tradition of ours that I love is driving around looking at Christmas light displays, some pretty and others outrageous.
We love to make Gingerbread houses.
Cheeseburger Soup on Christmas Eve!
Opening present christmas eve
Cookie decorating party:-)
Looking at lights on christmas eve!
Thanks for the chance.
mogrill12@gmail.com
getting together
my mom’s buttermilks fudge, only at christmas, so good, GOD BLESS
We love watching holiday movies and sharing Christmas treats together – but opening presents and emptying stockings on Christmas morning is great, too!
decorating the tree
bake christmas cookies
stockings (large Christmas bags) for everyone opened after the regular gift exchange.
My favorite tradition is new pajamas on Christmas eve for the whole family!
Going to Midnight Mass.
We string popcorn on the tree Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve at my Mom’s — we’ve had the same menu as long as I can remember. It is always so much fun!
Going on the Christmas train every year in the park.
Lots of eggnog for the adults and gingerbread cookies for the children.
Hope to win!
Stockings hung on the fireplace.
We have had a nice steak dinner on Christmas eve for many years now….we always buy either a bone in ribeye or a standing rib roast. we always make it a special time for our little family. Last year I bought a gingerbread house kit and Alan, Stefanie & I put it together and decorated it while Adam stayed in the den and played on his phone (this year, I’ve already told him he has to help). It was a lot of fun and as for Summer Sausage..one of my fave’s 🙂
decorating the christmas tree together
decorating the tree together and the kids are allowed to open one present on christmas eve
Thank you for hosting this giveaway
Louis
pumuckler {at} gmail {dot} com
Great giveaway! thanks
My favorite holiday tradition is simply spending time with family.
Decorating the tree.
decorating
Our favorite holiday tradition is drinking eggnog by the fire on Christmas Eve with the grandparents.
Our favorite tradition is watching Love Actually! :o)
Decorating the Christmas Tree
Baking Christmas cookies!
Going to my mother inlaws baking.
I love baking cookies with all the family together.
making homemade ravioli
The kids get to choose Christmas morning breakfast – one year it was birthday cake!
We make and decorate sugar cookies.
cmas eve chili dinner
chinese on christmas eve
Putting up the tree and decorating!
Baking and decorating holiday cookies
Our favorite holiday tradition is sitting around on christmas eve watchin lampoons christmas vacation.we do it every year.. thanks
Christmas Dinner
we bake cookies together
My favorite holiday tradition is out Christmas Eve Feast!
Spending time with my family at my grandma’s house. We sit in the living room and talk for hours.
Our tradition is fun, we try to out-tape each other with the Christmas presents and make them almost impossible to open. My mom always wins.
Our favorite tradition is to get our tree and spend the day enjoying the other activities at the tree farm.
We love to bake Christmas cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.
Decorating the Christmas tree together
I love making Christmas cookies with my mother.
We always do shrimp cocktails Christmas Eve!
Going to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.
Going to Church on Christmas Eve.
On Christmas morning we put a lit candle in a cupcake then place it in front of the manger and sing Happy Birthday to baby Jesus.
We love decorating, cooking, and be extra thankful. We cherish each and every little thing!
Oh my goodness! Typos are so frustrating sometimes. I meant to say that we we love BEING extra thankful. Merry Christmas! 🙂
My last comment had yet another typo! I think that’s a sign for me to go to bed. LOL
The family gathers at my mom’s for Christmas Eve.
Baking cookies with my sister
We love to watch Holiday movies and crack nuts.
My favorite tradition is when we decorate the Christmas tree.
baking christmas cookies
prayer around the table
vmkids3 at msn dot com
going to my best friends house and seeing the joy and wonder of christmas on the kids faces. You can’t fake that or replace it.
My favorite tradition is making orange rolls christmas morning
Going to local Christmas parades is our tradition.
we are baking special Chrismas cookies together
Christmas eve services
We like to drive around our neighborhood to see holiday lights.
We are still a relatively new family(3 years), so we haven’t established any traditions. Unless you want to count going to the in-laws house all 3 years, which is a tradition I am happy to cease at some point!!!!
Favorite holiday tradition is making stuffing out of jiffy corn bread with lots of onions & celery.
Our tradition is for All my kids..grown and the ones at home……spend at least part of the day at my house………..
making breads and cookies
Putting up the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving Day!!!
Decorating our christmas tree!
I love putting out cookies and milk for santa!
Exchanging ornaments with my husband every year.
Meeting at my Grandma’s on Christmas Eve to open presents
annabella @ centurytel dot net
cookie baking
bakeing 🙂
Driving around looking at the lights
Our favorite is a Christmas Eve buffet of snacks and all the treats we’ve made
We love spending time together as a family.
i love making desserts with my family
Reading The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve.
eating snowball cookies while opening presents
Favorite tradition is the family stringing popcorn for the christmas tree.
We love our Christmas Eve Soup and Snack supper with a holiday movie afterwards. Hickory Farms would be a great addition to that.
Baking cookies together.
We always get together on Christmas Eve to exchange gifts, eat, and play games
we go to midnight mass
We exchange gifts on Christmas Eve and have a great dinner on Christmas Day.
we all ride around and look at the christmas light then go to midnight mass and then on to breakfast
Watching the fur babies open their presents
I love decorating the christmas tree with the kids!
Our Family’s get together to bake for the Holidays.
We go out on Christmas eve and look at all the holiday lights!!
Putting up the christmas tree
Putting ornaments on the tree together
My favorite holiday tradition is Christmas eve dinner. 🙂 Thank you.
I love making holiday food with my sister.
Christmas at my mother in laws on Dec 23rd
We ,love to light Chanukah candles
we watch christmas movies christmas eve and eat goodies
ardelong2(at)gmail(dot)com
big breakfast on xmas day and invite grandparents over to watch kids open gifts
ardy22 at earthlink dot net
decorate the Christmas tree.
Decorating the tree.
Hello, how are you? Thank you for this opportunity. Gathering the nuts for the baked goods.
My favorite holiday tradition is getting together with my nieces and nephews at Christmas time.
All the children in my family get together right before Christmas and decorate Gingerbread houses which we display at our Christmas eve party.
all of the kids in our family get together every year to decorate my mom’s tree
jagar0047 at yahoo dot com
Our tradition is making the kids eat Breakfast before opening gifts lol they don’t want to eat!
Oatmeal and orange juice
We prepare all of the cookie doughs at the early part of the week, then bake them all in one long assembly night session!
Making cookies together.
Going to Grandma’s
baking cookies for neighbors
we love to bake goodie baskets for friends and family on christmas eve 🙂
Our tradition is that my mom buys a new ornament for us each year, I look forward to seeing what my new ornament will be.
Going to Disney World!
Decorating the christmas tree together while listening to Christmas music 🙂
Chex mix!
Everybody coming to my house for Christmas
We drive around looking at Christmas light on Christmas Eve
my parents and brothers come over for thanksgiving and christmas every year and we pig out lol
everyone gets christmas pjs with pictures in front of the tree
Adults getting together to play bingo
Opening one present on Christmas Eve
baking cookies
Our favorite tradition is going to starbucks and getting a pumpkin spiced latte and then going to look at the Christmas lights. We’ve been doing it for 11 years now.
spending time with friends
We get all the granchildren together before Christmas each year at my mothers house to bake and decorate Christmas cookies together.
i live far away so talking to my parents on the phone every christmas is my favorite tradition. 🙂
Baking snickerdoodles cookies while listening to Christmas music
My favorite Christmas tradition is getting together with all the family at my parents house, going to midnight service on Christmas Eve, and dedicating a whole day the beginning of December to decorate, bake, drink hot chocolate and listen to Christmas music.
like drinking hot chocolate with my family