5 Fandom Friday is a weekly prompt challenge hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick. This week's #5FandomFriday topic is holiday traditions, which is also one of the topics for The Circle link-up this month. I wrote about some of our family's traditions back in 2012 for Sunday Social, and it's interesting to look back and see what's changed and what hasn't.
5. Attending a Play - This is a new tradition my BFF Breeze and I decided to start this year. She got a hankering to see a play this fall, and when I found out that one of my childhood dance studio friends who is bound for Broadway stardom had gotten a part in Mill Mountain Theatre's production of 42nd Street we set a date. When we saw that next year's season includes White Christmas we decided a theater must become an annual event! We are so lucky to have some amazing drama venues in Virginia, including the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, which is one of the oldest theatres in America and the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton.
4. Dodgeball! - A few years ago, the P.E. department at my school started the tradition of having a charity dodgeball tournament the last week of the fall semester. Eighth grade's is the last day (and the last hour!) of school before break, so we have the Red team versus the Green team, the kids wear Santa hats to play, and the last round is teachers versus students, with the teachers wearing the most ridiculous holiday/athletic outfits we can put together - one of our Civics teachers played in a Clark Griswold sweater and Captain America socks this year. The kids go crazy cheering for their teams, make posters, and paint their faces, and we don't have many discipline problems that day because they are so happy.
3. Fashions for Evergreens - This is another tradition Breeze and I have and we're trying to get as many friends involved as possible. The beautiful Hotel Roanoke hosts a charity event where local businesses and organizations decorate Christmas trees that are displayed throughout the lobbies and halls of the hotel. Here are my pictures from last year's event.
2. Small Town Christmas Celebrations - I was raised in a small town and love the little community where I live now. Give me a short parade with miniature horses, high school marching bands, baby baton twirlers, and fire trucks over huge floats any time! My town hosts an annual Christmas celebration where the streets are closed to traffic and fill with vendors selling food, crafts, and Christmas decorations. There are also carriage rides, local performers, pictures with Santa, and a group carol sing. It's a lot of fun and we always see lots of friends, students, and family members while we are there. This year we took Breeze's one-year-old niece for her first picture with Santa - which, of course, ended in tears.
1. Family Christmas Gatherings - I think Mr. Q and I are lucky that negotiating where we spend the holidays has been fairly easy so far. Growing up, my family spent Christmas Eve with my maternal grandmother at our house and Christmas Day at my maternal grandmother's house with my huge extended family, but both of my grandmothers passed away when I was a teenager. Since before Mr. Q and I were married, my mom and I have joined his extended family for Christmas Eve dinner and gingerbread, watching A Christmas Story, and exchanging gifts (always youngest to oldest). On Christmas Day, we head over to my uncle's house in the mountains for more yummy food, visiting my cousins, and hearing stories from my mom's childhood in rural Kentucky and Southwest Virginia - I think I learn something new about my family every year.
5. Attending a Play - This is a new tradition my BFF Breeze and I decided to start this year. She got a hankering to see a play this fall, and when I found out that one of my childhood dance studio friends who is bound for Broadway stardom had gotten a part in Mill Mountain Theatre's production of 42nd Street we set a date. When we saw that next year's season includes White Christmas we decided a theater must become an annual event! We are so lucky to have some amazing drama venues in Virginia, including the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, which is one of the oldest theatres in America and the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton.
4. Dodgeball! - A few years ago, the P.E. department at my school started the tradition of having a charity dodgeball tournament the last week of the fall semester. Eighth grade's is the last day (and the last hour!) of school before break, so we have the Red team versus the Green team, the kids wear Santa hats to play, and the last round is teachers versus students, with the teachers wearing the most ridiculous holiday/athletic outfits we can put together - one of our Civics teachers played in a Clark Griswold sweater and Captain America socks this year. The kids go crazy cheering for their teams, make posters, and paint their faces, and we don't have many discipline problems that day because they are so happy.
3. Fashions for Evergreens - This is another tradition Breeze and I have and we're trying to get as many friends involved as possible. The beautiful Hotel Roanoke hosts a charity event where local businesses and organizations decorate Christmas trees that are displayed throughout the lobbies and halls of the hotel. Here are my pictures from last year's event.
2. Small Town Christmas Celebrations - I was raised in a small town and love the little community where I live now. Give me a short parade with miniature horses, high school marching bands, baby baton twirlers, and fire trucks over huge floats any time! My town hosts an annual Christmas celebration where the streets are closed to traffic and fill with vendors selling food, crafts, and Christmas decorations. There are also carriage rides, local performers, pictures with Santa, and a group carol sing. It's a lot of fun and we always see lots of friends, students, and family members while we are there. This year we took Breeze's one-year-old niece for her first picture with Santa - which, of course, ended in tears.
1. Family Christmas Gatherings - I think Mr. Q and I are lucky that negotiating where we spend the holidays has been fairly easy so far. Growing up, my family spent Christmas Eve with my maternal grandmother at our house and Christmas Day at my maternal grandmother's house with my huge extended family, but both of my grandmothers passed away when I was a teenager. Since before Mr. Q and I were married, my mom and I have joined his extended family for Christmas Eve dinner and gingerbread, watching A Christmas Story, and exchanging gifts (always youngest to oldest). On Christmas Day, we head over to my uncle's house in the mountains for more yummy food, visiting my cousins, and hearing stories from my mom's childhood in rural Kentucky and Southwest Virginia - I think I learn something new about my family every year.
Normally, I hate dodgeball...but that sounds like a blast, for students, teachers, AND staff!
ReplyDeleteIt is so great! We use the really squishy foam dodgeballs to decrease the likelihood of anyone getting hurt, but some of those eighth graders throw like NFL quarterbacks so everyone still has to pay attention the whole time.
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