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)
My family has a number of traditions; some of which are serious (my mom makes our own Christmas crackers) and some of which are quite silly. My favourite silly one started about ten years ago. My dad was putting some gifts under the tree that he had just wrapped, and flashed a package at me that was clearly a CD. "Gee, Dad," I said. "Thanks for the football." Since that year, my dad has gone out of his way to find each of us three girls presents that fit into CD cases--chocolate, concert tickets, gift cards, and make up have all made an appearance there.
The other silly tradition involves the year that my dad had to make mashed turnips to take to my grandma's for dinner. He gashed his thumb pretty badly trying to chop through the turnip, and as we were all sitting down to dinner, my dad held up his bandaged hand and said "I'll give $10 to whoever finds my thumb in the turnip." So of course none of the grandkids would eat the turnip. My grandma wasn't very happy with my dad...but, every year, as we all sit down to dinner, my dad repeats his offer. One of these years I'm going to buy a fake thumb at Hallowe'en and sneak it into his turnip.
my favorite holiday tradition is watching the claymation cartoons on tv. rudolph the red nosed reindeer, frosty the snowman, etc. i even bought them on dvd so i can watch them whenever i want!
My favorite tradition is since our twins were born. We put up the tree on, or around their birthday every year since they were born in December. It's a great reminder of how blessed we are at Christmas time each year. :)
My favorite tradition is that our Christmas breakfast is always bagels, cream cheese, and lox! Also, when I was a kid I always loved that my parents let me open one present Christmas even. That felt like such an indulgence!
I love to get a fresh cut tree, and decorate it with my favorite ornaments. I've been collecting Christmas ornaments for 27 years. I always love when I come across my oldest ornament--a heavy little metal jointed red bear. Then I put out all my Christmas decorations--including some handmade snowmen, Santas, and little star Santas. I swap out all the regular candles for holiday scented candles. Then I decorate the fireplace mantels with fresh greens, lights, and decorations.
Once the house is in the holiday spirit, it's time for baking: decorated sugar cookies, gingerbreadmen, peanut brittle, fudge, and homemade caramels to share with friends and coworkers.
I buy or make Christmas jammies for the kids to wear on Christmas eve, after the holidays are over I put the jammies away in in a box with the child's name to save for their children some day.
I also buy them each a new ornament for the tree.
My favorite tradition is driving around and looking at all the lights on the other house. Also, my mom always gives us all new pajamas (already washed) on Christmas Eve to wear that night. Even though we are all grown women who take them back to their own apartments!
My favorite holiday tradition in my family is, making our advent wreath. Every year, we get our wreath out, and make our favorite candies and treats, put them in bags, and put them on our wreath, each day we get the proper numbered bag down and we each get a yummy treat. Its always fun to see the smile on your childs face when they get a sweet treat and a story about how they are one day closer to Santa Clause Visiting.
We are vegetarians (Dick and I) so we don't eat turkey or other meat.
And since there is so much hunger in the world, we will not eat more during Christmas like other days. No! Every Christmas we eat "Boerenkool Stamppot".
It is a real Dutch dish, with a lot of mashed potatos with a vegetarian smoked sausage....very cheap! very ordinairy! delicious!
There are a lot of people who laugh at us about our Christmasmeal.....
We don't mind!
One of my favorite traditions comes from my Polish roots. We share opwatki! Basically, it is like a giant communion wafer that you break into large pieces. Each family member takes a piece, then goes to each other family member. You each break off a piece of the other's, and wish each other something- health, happiness, etc. Then you eat the piece that you broke off. It's nice, eating the wish of one you love.
We go to a local tree farm and cut down a fresh tree, and while the boys are decorating it, I bake cookies.
On Christmas Eve we go out driving after dark and look at all the light displays in our neighborhood. :)
Merry Christmas, everyone!!
Our favoriet Christmas tradition is the dinner! We have a feast of tamales, spanish rice, black bean soup, lots of fresh condiments(cilatro, onions, olives, lettuce, tomato, cheese), and tons of laughter. :D
Our longstanding family tradition is fondly known as "Cruel Christmas". Each year after our Thanksgiving Dinner, the 9 siblings draw names for Christmas gifting. Not content with just boring old names on a slip of paper, the more literary sibs get together earlier in the day and create a customized poem for each family member, generally a 'gentle' bit of ridicule about a well-known foible or an event from the previous year. We've covered everything from weddings, divorces, babies, jobs lost and found, annoying and/or endearing habits and more in our annual 'roast'.
The in-laws, cousins and grandkids, plus various friends have all begged to be included in the fun and torture. A grand tradition, but definitely only for those who have a quirky sense of humor (and the ability to laugh at themselves!)
My favorite holiday tradition involves my mom wrapping the same box of ribbon candy up and giving it to one of us as a gift. I think this box of ribbon candy has been circulating since 1980 or so...
My two favourite traditions are:
1. Opening stockings Christmas morning. It takes us a good hour of opening and admiring the items in it. We make our stockings a big part of our day. After that we open gifts and then have a big breakfast and chill until dinner.
2. Spending Christmas with our families that live 5 hours away from us. We travel sometime around Christmas Eve, depending on the weather, and we spend time with both of our families. It's one of the only times of the year we can get everyone together in one place. Even with 25 or so for each dinner, it's great.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!
My favorite holiday tradition is my Mom's Christmas day brunch. We make two types of quiche, sticky rolls, sausage, along with biscuits and gravy. Yum! My husband and I literally look forward to it all year.
What a great thought Sharon, thanks.
My family traditions are all so important to me. This year, we will be too far away to go to Christmas breakfast at my grandparents house. My aunts, uncles, cousins, parents and sister all go there every year. I will be cooking Grandma's special breakfast though.
Also, on Christmas eve, growing up, we always ate a supper of appetizers, and watched A Christmas Carol with Allistair Sim. We will be doing that at our house this year, after we come home from church. I can't wait.
In elementary school, a boy in my class was Jewish, and his mom would organize a Hannukah party every year. We would eat latke's, MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmm, play dreidle games for peanuts, and dance. I still make the latke's every year, it is another favorite of mine. I love this time of year.
This is a great way to remember all those Christmas memories...
Growing up, we would go to Mass on Christmas Eve, then get home and make homemade pizzas. After dinner, we would then open gifts.
Now that I've got a family of my own, we do things a little differently - the husband and I ferociously wrap gifts on Christmas Eve, put them under the tree, and try to get a few hours of sleep before our girls wake us up at 6am or so because Santa came and left them gifts.
This year, we're starting a new tradition of going out and seeing a movie on Christmas Day after the gifts have been opened.
There are two holiday traditions that I cling to with all the strength in my wee fingers: we always celebrate Christmas Eve at my grandmother's house, and we open our stockings on December 6th. I never even considered that other Christmas-celebrating families did things differently until I grew up, found a fella, and realized that his family worked the holidays in a totally different way. Every year my husband still asks what we are doing, and no matter how many times I give him the withering glance and say definitively that I am going to my grandma's on Christmas Eve, it's just never taken root in his brain the way it was impressed onto mine.
One of my favorite traditions is the neighborhood ornament exchange that has been going on for 18 years! We eat, drink and have a great time stealing ornaments from each other. Even though we are neighbors, I don't see some of them very often so it is nice to relax and catch up on the year. Another plus is that we never get snowed out because no one has more than a block to walk to the party! The only way to make it a better party would be to entice some of them to start knitting.
We have lots of traditions for Christmas, but my absolute favorite holiday tradition is on New Years Day. My father always said that whatever you do on New Years Day sets the tone for the rest of the year. So as a child, no matter how crappy the weather, we always went sailing - one year I cursed and huddled in a freezing cockpit with him, another was 60 degrees and we saw a pod of whales.
Now, we go to the beach with a group of friends for New Years every year. The kids play, the adults play, we have a lovely beachy time - even if the weather is nasty.
My favorite tradition is the new hat! We live in Alabama, and it isn't cold here often. However, every year I let each child choose a yarn they love and I knit them a new hat to their specifications. They pick tassles, pom poms, gnome point, ear flaps and EVERYTHING!
We always have a big breakfast on Christmas morning before opening our presents, was started 6 years ago with my husband.
On Christmas Eve we go down to Colonial Williamsburg to listen to the story of the first Christmas in the colonies & watch them light the Christmas tree. This is where my husband proposed to me 6 years ago & I always look forward to it & it means so much to both of us.
My favorite holiday tradition is the simple Christmas Eve we spend at home making smores with the kids, getting new Christmas pajamas and letting them open one present.
we have a family tradtion called "good buddy." my husband has four brothers.. and there are five of us wives as well as his parents that participate. when we go to his parent's house to decorate their three TOGETHER.. we then pick names out of a basket. you have to then do nice things for this person all the way up until christmas.. it doesn't have to be expensive.. maybe some ice cream that they like or something small.. then on chistmas you have to try to figure out who your good buddy is.. the funny this is that normally.. people are asking other people for suggestions on what their person likes.. so we sometimes figure it out beforehand! :P and plus.. all the guys don't care and sometimes just are so obvious.. :P