Saturday, December 13, 2008

Christmas Contest

Opa (my Dad) arrived yesterday and with him about a hundred Chocolate Eggs from Germany!!!

Christmas is coming up and I thought I will hold a little contest... all the cool kids in the Blog world are doing in. Why not me? OK. Yeah. I know. I am not cool.

And I don't have a espresso maker to give away like the Pioneer Woman, but I do have TWO sets of 6 Chocolate Eggs to give away!



Not only one person can win, but two!

Here are the rules to enter:

Leave a comment and tell me what your favorite holiday tradition is. Easy! Right?

For additional entries post about this entry on your blog and link back to mine.

Winner will be drawn Dec. 20th!

22 comments:

  1. Also, ich find's ja ganz toll von dir, dass du so etwas wertvolles wie Ueberraschungseier einfach so als Preis vergibst. Da lass ich es mir natuerlich nicht nehmen, an deinem Wettbewerb teilzunehmen.
    Wie du ja weisst, liebe ich die Weihnachtssaison, Heiligabend, den 1. und 2. Feiertag und natuerlich Silvester und Neujahr. Und ich habe ja auch noch meinen Geburtstag zwischendurch, was das ganze natuerlich noch viel toller macht...
    Mein allerliebstes in dieser ganzen Zeit ist aber auf jeden Fall Heiligabend! Traditionell, machen wir am Morgen des 24. unser letztes Kalenderfenster auf. Da ist dann meist etwas besonderes drin. Danach wird schoen ausgiebig gefruehstueckt, dann machen wir eine Wanderung in der eisigen Winterluft (auch hier in SC) und wenn man dann nach Hause kommt, ist man ganz durchgefroren und hungrig. Dann gibt es ein kleines Mittagessen und am Nachmittag gehen die Vorbereitungen los. Meine Ellis holen zu Hause dann erst den Baum und schmuecken ihn, aber wir haben ihn ja hier schon. Meine Familie macht schon seit Generationen den gleichen "arme-Leute" Kartoffelsalat zum Heiligabend. Der wird nachmittags mit Roter Bete, Anchovies, Kapern,... zubereitet und kalt gestellt. Dann machen wir immer einen riesigen Obstsalat mit allen vorstellbaren Fruechten (Orangen, Aepfeln, Bananen, Pommegranat, Kiwi, ...). Gegen 16.00Uhr werden dann alle 4 Kerzen im Adventskranz angezuendet, das Raeuchermaennchen raeuchert, die Weihnachtspyramiede dreht sich, der Baum leuchtet und im Radio spielt Weihnachtsmusik. Wir essen Lebkuchen, Stollen und Mandarinen und trinken Tee und Gluehwein. Danach geht's zur Weihnachtsmesse und Krippenspiel, oder machmal gehen wir auch erst zur Mitternachtsmesse.
    Gegen 18.00Uhr gibt es dann Abendbrot, das traditionell aermlich ist: Kartoffelsalat, Wienerwuerstchen, Brotzeit, Obstsalat etc. und Bier. Als Kinder haben wir dann immer Malzbier getrunken und fanden uns ganz cool ;)
    Und wenn es draussen riechtig dunkel ist und alle Maegen voll sind, singen wir Weihnachtslieder und setzen uns vor den Baum auf den Boden. Wir packen abwechselnd Geschenke aus und lassen uns richtig Zeit dabei. Das Papier wird nicht zerrissen, die Schleifen hebe ich vorsichtig auf und wir bestimmen die Reihenfolge, in der der andere auspaeckt.
    Dieses Jahr haben wir ja das Paulchen (und meine Ellis und Sonja) dabei, da werden wir Abends unsere Geschenke auspacken und am Weihnachtsmorgen dann die von Weihnachtsmann. An Weihnachten gibt es dann einen Braten, dieses Jahr ganz traditionell eine Gans, mit Thueringer Kloessen, Rotkraut und lecker Sosse!!!
    Frohes fest, Soschi! Ich werde an dich denken und hoffe du feierst schoen mit deiner Familie. Moege 2009 ein GUTES Jahr fuer euch werden!!!

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  2. ok I think this is hands down the longest comment EVER on my blog.

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  3. Wow that IS long ;-) Too bad i have NO idea what it says hehe.

    My favorite holiday tradition is Christmas Stockings. "Santa" would leave our stuffed stockings in our bed so when we woke up they would be there... which ever sister woke up first would wake the others and we'd go through all our stuff comparing what we got.... then we'd make our way to the living room for the big gifts!!

    ...I'm off to steal your picture and post about your contest!!!!

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  4. We were very poor as children, but never knew it. Santa would bring us our favorite food. Practical, that Santa was! We'd get to eat it ALL OURSELVES!! One year I got a jar of peanut butter, another year a container of Cool Whip. My brother got Vienna Sausages, my sister got big fat dill pickles. I thought it was absolutely the best thing ever. Sounds ridiculous to me now...but I clearly remember how wonderfully special I felt.

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  5. German chocolate? I HAVE to try to win this...I'm intrigued to try it!

    We didn't really have many traditions growing up...except for the usual one of getting to open ONE gift on Christmas Eve. It made it SO much easier to go to bed that night!

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  6. ROFL... too funny... I don't know what it says either... but I do know it's German..
    Okay here's my favorite holiday.. It was ions ago when i was a little girl. My Mommie was pregnant with our last baby sister. She could do the shopping so my Dad did it all. He got us all barbies and clothes, bikes and our favorites candies. It was the best Christmas ever. Doesn't sound like much, but to us(6 kids)it was a big deal.

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  7. Those Kinder eggs rock. I get them every time I am in Germany. I am glad your dad is visiting. I live far away from my parents too and I love having them around. Enjoy the time! Hey does Jake speak German?

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  8. mmm.... Kindereggs. My favorite tradition... my family always has the feast of junk food for our gift opening celebration. it was always Christmas eve growing up, but now it is whenever we can all get together. My mom makes English muffin pizzas, little tiny pigs-in-a-blanket, and a whole smorgasbord of sweets and treats and goodies. Cookies, lemon bars, banket, cupcakes... I could go on and on. That is the best feat ever.

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  9. Yum, I want a chance to win those eggs! My favorite tradition is that instead of breakfast on Christmas morning, my mom puts out trays of Christmas cookies and snacks and we just snack on those all day until we eat a big meal around 2:00 or something. I loved it as a kid because we didn't have to "waste time" eating a regular breakfast ;)

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  10. I posted about your giveaway:
    http://www.twolinesonastick.com/2008/12/14/german-chocolate/

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  11. When I was a little girl, I would go to Christmas Eve service with my dad. I didn't think much of it then, but now would give anything to go to service with him this Christmas Eve.

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  12. We started a new family tradition last year - our daughter's first Christmas. We celebrate on Christmas Eve that the Christkindl (it brings the presents in Austria) comes to our house and have Lilly's grandparents over for dinner and Beschehrung. Lil gets to open her presents from my family in Austria and she gets a set of pj's from us. The candles on our Advent wreath burn and during the day we get to talk with my family in Austria on the phone or skype. It is my way of trying to emphasize the importance of our heritage and keep my whole family as close as possible.

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  13. Yum, I want some chocolate! I'm not sure I can pick one favorite tradition. I love spending Christmas Eve with my Dad's family - it's the one thing that I've always done so it feels like Christmas to me. And i love having the kids open 1 gift on Christmas Eve. I think my favorite tradition as a kid was the huge stocking my mom always filled, in addition to a regular sized one. She usually went a little overboard ;)

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  14. I always loved Christmas dinner at Grandma's house the week before Christmas. She would make every Grandkids favorite dish and we would all open our presents. She is much older now and can't handle such a big event in her home but it was always so great to have the family together like that.

    We did this about 3 years ago and I noticed that the house definitely wasn't as big as it used to be. :-)

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  15. Kinder eggs rock! My favorite Christmas tradition is the Christmas Eve service at church where we get to hold the candles. I'm not even a church-goer, but I still like to go sing and play with fire :D

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  16. I posted the contest on my blog too :)
    http://sweetdaisy.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-you-need-to-win-more.html

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  17. My family's favorite christmas tradition is after opening the ginormous amounts of gifts on christmas morning, we put in Caddy Shack and mom and dad make a gigantic breakfast, all the trimmings, omelets, pancakes, geotta, bacon, sausage, you get the picture, oh yeah and mimosa and bloody marys and then we all take a nap (I wish).
    I am so hoping for a snow day tomorrow Tuesday the 16th.
    Merry Christmas Sonja to you and your lovely family and BTW I'm so glad you love your ornament. I knew there was a reason I was procrastinating finding one for you - it had not shown itself yet!!! Enjoy.
    Denise.

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  18. I grew up with a Norwegian mother so we celebrated Christmas Eve. Preparations start weeks in advance with the baking of 7 cookies. I do this still today, and baking the cookies is one of my favorite parts of the prepartions. I also love decorating the tree. I put on Norwegian Christmas songs...and we have fun doing it...
    Growing up, we would have a really nice dinner, (with the china and silver on the table) where we would have to dress up, even if it was just my brother, sister, mom, dad and I. After dinner we would go to church where my mother always cried while we sang Silent Night by candlenight because it reminded her of Norway. When we got home, Santa had visited and we opened our presents, had cookies and something warm to drink.
    We never had many gifts, which made the few we got very special. Christmas was more about spending time with friends and family then presents.
    Now that I have my own family, celebrating a bit of my Norwegian heritage with fellow Norwegians is important to me. At our Annual Julefest/Christmas Party we eat a Meatball dinner, dance around the Christmas tree while singing Christmas Carols. (and now, I always cry when we sing Silent Night)-
    I have started a few traditions with Benjamin-like the Christmas Walk which I LOVE. And making crafts. This year I set up our dining room table as the "Craft Spot" we are doing a foam Gingergread House, and different "nisse"/elf ornaments. He is also going to make picture frames for his cousins.
    When we are done with the crafts, we will start on a puzzle that will stay on the table until it is done. This year I got "I Spy" because Benjamin loves the seek and find type puzzles...it only has 300 pieces, so it should be a bit challenging. Next year I want to get a 500 piece puzzle and have it take all season to finish!
    We also got together a box to send to needy children. I want him to grow up realizing how lucky he is to have toys, as well as food and a roof over his head.
    :-)Nina
    I am going to post about this on my blog!

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  19. another forever long comment... I love it!

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  20. I don't remember traditions as a child, but as an adult we've tried a lot of different things. From opening presents on Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. All I know is that the best Christmas's ever are when we are all together.

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  21. Oh no! My chances are getting worse and worse! ;-)

    you got a lot of comments on this one! I guess i better give out something you can EAT next time!!

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  22. Wow!! So many comments!! I have a good friend and she lived in Germany for a couple of years... I told her about your contest and she got very excited about these eggs so I promised her I would enter. I'm glad you posted a reminder!

    My fave holiday tradition? We are starting our own tradition and the one I like the most is coming home from Xmas Eve time at church and with husband's family and having the kids open ONE present- new pajamas to wear that night.

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