Guest of the Month: Kirstie and Her Favorite Holiday Traditions!

Hey everyone! I hope that everyone is having a wonderful Sunday!

As some of you know, I am a member of Emily’s (@ Emily Reads Everything) Guest of the Month Club, where she matches up two bloggers every month to guest post on each other’s blogs! (Get more information or sign up here.)

This month’s theme is My Favorite Holiday Tradition and my amazing partner for this month is Kirstie. She is an Australian book blogger and is a really sweet person! You guys should definitely check out her blog, Upside-Down Books.

Without further ado, here is Kirstie’s guest post!

 

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IT’S CHRISTMAS! (Well, technically that’s done and dusted, by a let a girl dream, will ya?). Christmas time has always been one of my favourite times of the year. I love that everyone is home, the atmosphere, the carols, the surplus time for reading (when in reality you should be buying presents/baking), and, of course, the chocolate.

Therefore! My favourite holiday tradition would indeed fall within this joyous season of excess cake and off-key singing. I still live at home with my parents (because: moving = lots of money, and, me = very little money) but that’s the most wonderful thing! We hardly ever go ‘on holiday’ somewhere at this time because we all love being together so much – which I think is pretty darn special. There are several ‘traditions’ that occur throughout the month, such as:

• The Christmas tree goes up on the 1st of December (always – unless it doesn’t, then we just pretend that it’s the first anyway even if it’s the 5th) and my siblings and I make fun of each other’s homemade decorations from when we were 4 years old (I made a pasta angel, don’t be too impressed).
• Mum writes clues and hides a chocolate for myself and my siblings each morning.
• The entire 2 CDs of Christmas-y songs are played at least once a day.
• Every day must begin with, “Today, I will make ginger bread!” even if, in fact, you really don’t have the time.
• The Polar Express movie MUST be watched on Christmas Eve (or, at a push, Christmas day).
• A Christmas Carol MUST be watched in the week leading up to Christmas, itself.
• You have to swim in the pool at least once a week (I live in Australia, calm down, it’s warm for Christmas here).
• And finally, we go to a French Horn Christmas carol night which sounds fantastic.

So these are all little things, but that doesn’t make them any less special (even if some are somewhat silly). However, my favourite tradition is the baking of the Christmas cake. My mum always puts this one together (I do the gingerbread house & decorate the cake) but she requests one thing: when she’s stirring the ingredients over the stove every member of the family must give the cake a stir and make a wish! That’s my favourite little holiday tradition for me, so there you go.

What about *you* – do you have a special tradition at this time of year?

Happy New Year all – don’t party too hard and I hope you meet your reading challenges for the year!

∼Kirstie!

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Thanks for that amazing post, Kirstie! ♥