Sunday
Dec212008
*TIME’S UP!* Holiday Giveaway Extravaganza Spectacular Spectacle!
Sunday, December 21, 2008 at 9:34AM
Welcome to our first-ever Holiday Giveaway Extravaganza Spectacular Spectacle! Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah (or Chanukah, if you prefer)! Make the Yuletide gay!
Whatever you're celebrating, we want to help make your holiday a little brighter.
That's why we're giving away -- in our Holiday Giveaway Extravaganza Spectacular Spectacle -- three fabulous prize packages full of wonderfulness and awesomeness.
Tell them what they can win, Bob!
Bob?
BOB?
Fine, I'll just fill you in myself.
By entering our contest, you'll be eligible to win one of three great prizes.
Prize #1: A Three Irish Girls Sock Kit. This includes your choice of any of our awesome patterns and a skein of yarn in your choice of colorways to complete the pattern! If you are already a sock club member and you have all of our patterns, we'll have a special alternative for you. (Approx. $28 value!)
You know you want a pair of socks like these:
Prize #2: A custom colorway consultation and two skeins of a custom colorway! We can make your colorways dreams come true! On your favorite yarn base! (Approx $50 value!) Exclamation point!
Prize #3: Three months of your choice of club memberships! Sock Yarnista features your choice of two colorways, a custom designed pattern, and a fun extra each month.
If you prefer heavier weight yarns, Stash Menagerie has a broad variety of fibers, your choice of two colorways, and fun extras every few months!
Being a club member also gives you access to exclusive members-only colorways like these:
If you're already a club member, you can extend your membership, add extra skeins to your existing membership, become a member of a club you're not in, or give the membership as a gift to a very lucky person. (Approx $90 value.)
Why are we giving all of this away? For a few reasons. One is the spirit of the holidays. We like brightening people's days a little with a yummy yarn package. It's good to put a little good out there in the world.
Another is to say thank you for all of your support this past year -- you've been with us as we've moved into a new studio, expanded our yarn offerings, and started new clubs. We would be nowhere without our fantastic customers, and we want to say thank you.
Here's how you enter: leave a reply to this post answering the following question: What is your favorite holiday tradition? Do you have a latke party? (And does your house smell like latkes for three weeks afterward?) Do you have a family outing to cut down a Christmas tree? Do you bake something special? Watch something special? Go somewhere special?
If so, I want to hear about it!
Winners will be randomly selected from the responses. You have until Monday, December 22nd at 9pm EST to reply. Winners will be announced Tuesday, December 23rd.
If you'd like to give any of these prizes as a gift, that can certainly be arranged!
Thank you again, dear readers and loyal customers.
Whatever you're celebrating, we want to help make your holiday a little brighter.
That's why we're giving away -- in our Holiday Giveaway Extravaganza Spectacular Spectacle -- three fabulous prize packages full of wonderfulness and awesomeness.
Tell them what they can win, Bob!
Bob?
BOB?
Fine, I'll just fill you in myself.
By entering our contest, you'll be eligible to win one of three great prizes.
Prize #1: A Three Irish Girls Sock Kit. This includes your choice of any of our awesome patterns and a skein of yarn in your choice of colorways to complete the pattern! If you are already a sock club member and you have all of our patterns, we'll have a special alternative for you. (Approx. $28 value!)
You know you want a pair of socks like these:
Prize #2: A custom colorway consultation and two skeins of a custom colorway! We can make your colorways dreams come true! On your favorite yarn base! (Approx $50 value!) Exclamation point!
Prize #3: Three months of your choice of club memberships! Sock Yarnista features your choice of two colorways, a custom designed pattern, and a fun extra each month.
If you prefer heavier weight yarns, Stash Menagerie has a broad variety of fibers, your choice of two colorways, and fun extras every few months!
Being a club member also gives you access to exclusive members-only colorways like these:
If you're already a club member, you can extend your membership, add extra skeins to your existing membership, become a member of a club you're not in, or give the membership as a gift to a very lucky person. (Approx $90 value.)
Why are we giving all of this away? For a few reasons. One is the spirit of the holidays. We like brightening people's days a little with a yummy yarn package. It's good to put a little good out there in the world.
Another is to say thank you for all of your support this past year -- you've been with us as we've moved into a new studio, expanded our yarn offerings, and started new clubs. We would be nowhere without our fantastic customers, and we want to say thank you.
Here's how you enter: leave a reply to this post answering the following question: What is your favorite holiday tradition? Do you have a latke party? (And does your house smell like latkes for three weeks afterward?) Do you have a family outing to cut down a Christmas tree? Do you bake something special? Watch something special? Go somewhere special?
If so, I want to hear about it!
Winners will be randomly selected from the responses. You have until Monday, December 22nd at 9pm EST to reply. Winners will be announced Tuesday, December 23rd.
If you'd like to give any of these prizes as a gift, that can certainly be arranged!
Thank you again, dear readers and loyal customers.
Reader Comments (479)
One of our favorite family traditions is looking for the pickle on the Christmas tree (too- I just read the previous comment). This is a blown glass pickle ornament and the tradition goes that whomever finds it has good luck for the next year. It has morphed into whoever find it gets the loose change around the house since young kids are always lucky anyway! My kids don't even say hi to grandma- they make a beeline to the tree until it is found- sometimes hours!
Our other favorite is putting up the nativity scene- it's the first thing to go up and last thing to go down. It's in the center of the house so it is a reminder everyday of the Reason for the season.
Growing up in a military family sometimes meant being packed out on Christmas Eve. But no matter what, the creche that my brother * I picked out when we were really small living in Naples was always set up. Living on my own, I rarely pt up a Christmas tree but the creche is always set up. Christmas is not Christmas without the creche set up. And this yea, I added some green roving to the set-up so the sheep have some wool to play in.
As someone with a 12/24 birthday I can honestly say that my favorite holiday tradition is cake that night!
My other favorite holiday traditions are in transition - I'm in the process of converting to Judaism, and so this year will bring a menorah to my family's big Christmas gathering. I love that they are interested, and are encouraging me to teach them, and hope that the house smells like latkes for weeks afterward!
Every year as a child my parents would pack me up into the car to go see "the real Santa". This meant we were going to Frankenmuth. It's a little Bavarian town just north of Flint, Mi. It was about a 2 hour drive, and for a small child who usually fell asleep in the car--I was convinced we had driven to the north pole. The whole town is just oozing with Christmas.
It's a lie we've perpetuated with my own children--until this year anyhow. We've since moved to another state and can no longer continue that tradition. It's probably the one thing that make my heart ache about moving away.
My favourite holiday tradition is fom growing up. Now that we live away from all our families, it's difficult, but it's still a favourite of mine.
Every Christmas Eve afternoon, I seemed to fall asleep watching the lights on the tree while mom made the traditional 'eraser soup' (aka Oyster stew). After all the dinner dishes were cleared, we'd all gather around dad as he read the Original Christmas story from the Bible. After, one of us kids would play 'Santa' and pass out the presents. Most of the presents were new clothes and such that we'd all dress up in to go to the Midnight Service. The next morning, while mom and dad enjoyed their coffee, us kids would tear into our stockings. After, mom made our Christmas Quiche for brunch and then we'd all nap.
I still crave that quiche to this day and I haven't lived at home for over 16 years!!!
I receive some nice fibery gifts (with my birthday close by) each year. This year, it is your sock club and a fiber club.
Our tradition, that started when our now 21 year old was only 2, is to watch "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street". I still love to see Cookie Monster writing his letter to Santa. He's so crazy for cookies, cupcakes, etc that he keeps eating the pencils, typewriter and even telephone. So sweet!
Happy Holidays to all!
My favorite tradition is listening to my husband and daughters recite the blessing as they llight the channukah candles, if course their favorite is eating the latkes as they come out of the the fry pan.We always go to a movie on christmas day.
Since my kids are starting to get into the spirit of giving from the heart, my very favorite part of the Christmas season this year so far has been taking my oldest daughter to shop. She saved money that she earned so she could spend it on presents that she carefully chose for the family. To see the joy in her face really sparked something inside of me. I think this is going to replace opening PJs on Christmas Eve as my new favorite tradition.
I am starting to make my own holiday traditions with my husband. The first one we made continues to be my favorite: each year we select a fancy (generally pricey) crystal or porcelain ornament with the year inscribed on it. We look forward, many years from now, hanging these ornaments on our trees with our kids and grandkids and maybe even great-grandkids, hearing them exclaim, "WOW, Grandma, 2008 was SO LONG AGO!!"
We have a basket. The kids get one piece of straw for every kind deed or prayer. If it is full by Christmas, which it always is, I place a baby Jesus doll in it with a ton of candy. :)
My favorite holiday tradition is our Christmas eve dinner of tamales and beans and guacamole. When I was younger, we would always have Christmas eve dinner with family in south Texas. I have fond memories of an amazing Mexican feast. Now that my grandparents have passed away, my mother has continued the tradition.
I really love making a new ornament for the tree each year. This year my daughter is nearly 2, and she helped make ornaments for the first time! I love that every year when we unpack the ornaments we are reminded of all of our past Christmases together.
My favorite holiday tradition is stashing empty cardboard tubes from wrapping paper near my bed, then getting up before my brother and whaling on him to make sure that he doesn't dely the festivities. This was a great idea until he started sleeping with a tube so that he could fight back :)
Since there's just my brother and me left of our family, we celebrate with his wife's family. They all live close by, and gather at their mother's house on Christmas Day night for dinner. Grandma fixes the meat, and each family brings a dish to share. That way the kids get to open presents at home in the morning, and mom and dad get time to put things together and clean up the wrapping paper and boxes without having to cook a major meal too. And then they go to Grandma's, play with their cousins and feast.
We always had a present from Santa Mouse in our Christmas tree. There was a children's book about Santa Mouse. For the life of me I can't remember the whole story but I think he gets lost on Christmas Eve and is trying to make it back to Santa's sleigh. Ever since hearing the story we had a present in our tree from Santa Mouse.
My favorite holiday tradition is new pjs for the fam on Christmas Eve night. It is a present to open (which eliminates the whine of "can't we open just ONE present?!"), it is functional, warm, cozy and transitions them well into bed on an exciting night.
Our favorite holidya tradition is going tobogganing. We tend to get a lot of snow here and we all love it! My dad, who is 65, also comes along for the rides :D
Christmas dinner - it has be include turkey (just like Thanksgiving) and rutabagas (AKA yellow turnips or swedes).
My husband is Italian and they have my favorite holiday tradition. His whole family gets together on Christmas Eve and his cousin's house. There is so much food - if we stayed for a month there would still be leftovers! The Italian tradition is to eat 7 fish dishes on Christmas Eve - I love it but my poor husband will not eat fish. After dinner we all go down to the basement and exchnage gifts - nothing extravagant - more along the lines of "I am thinking about you". The back upstairs for Italian pastries and coffee. By now it is after midnight and can you beleive they all drink espresso - I am the wimp as I am the only one that drinks decaf. It is just so much fun getting together with everyone . There are so many laughs and hugs!
My favorite holiday tradition is when my husband and I sit down on Christmas Eve after the kiddos have been tucked into bed and open our gifts to each other alone. It's nice to have that time with just the two of us to reconnect!
For the last 7 years, we have celebrated Christmas Eve by making a gingerbread house. Two weeks beforehand I bake up the forms (and of course the trees and gingerbread men) and let them harden. The weekend before, we go on a candy hunt (which is hard, since my daughter, now 14, is allergic to nuts, so everything has to be nut-free) On Christmas Eve, my son (now 11) and daughter take over, and first construct the house, using royal icing, and then decorate away until midnight, while my husband and I oversee (but don't touch!) The evening passes way too quickly, and then they are ready for bed and Santa can have the house to himself! (Even though they are past truly believing in Santa, the tradition continues.) Happy to share!
We always make a cookie recipe from my husband's family . It's a molasses roll out cookie dough that's been passed down for 150 years (they tell me). It always gets cut into the shape of Christmas trees, frosted and decorated with sprinkles. It was a messy process when the kids were small, but now it brings back great memories. For Christmas dinner, we always have a ham, so we can use the ham bone to make the black-eyed peas for New Year's Day. You wouldn't dare miss them here in Texas--they're your good luck for next year! Merry Christmas, ya'll!
Buying for the Angel Tree. When my girls were small they took great delight in buying gifts for a child of their choosing from the local angel tree. The trees were set up at the local banks and we would stop and choose someone usually in their age range. The girls took great care in the buying and wrapping as we explained this child might only get these gifts. Even now, with my girls long grown up I still look forward to our church putting up its angel tree and choosing someone to buy for. This year, as I have no grandchildren yet, I chose a 6 month old girl and had great fun buying lovely pink outfits and toys for her. It warms my heart.
And a Merry Christmas to you and yours!
My favorite holiday tradition is spenging Christmas Day with my entire family! I am so blessed to have 2 sisters and a brother living here in town, as well as both of my parents still with us. And many nieces and nephews, with a new niece-in-law coming in August (but we've had a few Christmas Days with her already!)