Happy December 1st, friends!
A few weeks ago, Jamie at No Delusions of Grandeur, one of my bucket list blogging buddies, asked if the bucket list gang was going to do a Christmas bucket list post. It had never occurred to me! We have the autumn bucket list series that extends from September 21 – December 21 when we start our winter bucket list series. Theoretically, Christmas activities would “fall” under the autumn list. But when I made my autumn list in September, I sure wasn’t thinking about Christmas! So, we decided to put together a mini Christmas bucket list post to share our hopeful holiday diversions. And here we are.
Mini Christmas Bucket List
As I typed that heading, I realized that this isn’t a mini Christmas bucket list but a Christmas mini bucket list. Grammar was never my strong suit. Forgive me. We decided to limit our lists to 5 activities or traditions that we would undertake. When my friend Sue at Sizzling Toward Sixty mentioned that she was going to feature family traditions in her post, I started thinking about our family traditions. Guess what? We ain’t got none! Sadly true. I mean, we put up a tree and open presents and eat too much on Christmas day but none of that is terribly original to us. Which prompted me to decide that this year we are going to start some traditions. This is the list I came up with. Activities for this year but they will be traditions next year!
I ran them by PC (while he was playing Tankville on his laptop) and he gave them a thumbs up. Pretty certain I will need to explain them again as we start ticking them off the list. But now that there is a blog post written about them, we have to give them a go.
1st Annual Keepsake Christmas Ornament
We are going to find an ornament that represents our 2017. PC says this should be 2 $25,000 bills (does money come in that denomination?) and wrap them around a chunk of coal to represent the disaster that is our pool. Maybe we can find a Santa in an inner tube instead. Something like this?
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Because we are a ‘blended family’ – most of our ornaments are things that I had with the girls before I met my Prince. I would like to start collecting an ornament a year that is OURS.
Christmas Movie and Bethlehem Dinner
We usually watch at least one holiday movie rerun during December. For this activity, I would like for us to watch a movie like “A Christmas Carol” (my fav version stars George C. Scott) or “It’s a Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart. Spread out a blanket or make a pallet on the rug in the den with lots of pillows.
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Then while watching the movie, we will enjoy a Bethlehem dinner. We have these occasionally but I never knew to call them ‘Bethlehem dinners’. Maybe when they are eaten in July, they aren’t really considered Bethlehem dinners. I learned that term on the blog Having Fun at Home which I stumbled upon through Pinterest. A Bethlehem dinner is a meal created from foods that Joseph and Mary would have eaten on their journey to baby Jesus’s birthplace. Dried fruit and meats, cheese, pita bread, olives, nuts and wine. And the dinner is served by candlelight. Or, in the case of our bucket list activity, by the TV light from the movie we are watching. I happened on a wonderful article about Bethlehem meals, here, if you would like to learn more. Carrie, my sweet friend from Curly, Crafty Mom, I think you and your family would love this!!
Gifts for Sergio and Ariadna
I met two children in my last sub assignment whose mother was an out of work migrant worker resulting in the family being homeless. Sergio is a third grader and his sister Ariadna is a fourth grader. When I learned of their sad situation, I told my sister about them. She sent them the cutest backpacks and I filled the backpacks with some new clothes before giving them to the kids.
Last year, we chose two names from an angel tree for whom to buy gifts (how bout that grammar?). This year, PC and I want to provide Sergio and Ariadna with a little bit of Christmas.
Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt
We usually drive around to look at lights. Novel idea, huh? But we have never done a Christmas light scavenger hunt.
Ideally, El Paso would be blanketed in snow and we would take a horse-drawn sleigh about town looking for a lighted Grinch, a nativity scene and a family of penguin or polar bear. A girl can dream.
Progressive Dinner Date
This activity really has nothing to do with the holidays. We are just going to do it during the holidays. Have you ever gone on a progressive dinner date? I want to go somewhere for drinks and appetizers, then dinner, then dessert. Nothing too outrageous. Three restaurants, maybe four. One of my uncompleted autumn bucket list items is two try two new restaurants. Maybe I can check that off with this mini Christmas bucket list diversion. Kill two birds with one stone so to speak.
And those are the 5 activities on my mini Christmas bucket list. Come back on 12.21.2017 for an update on how we fared on this list and to check out my winter bucket list.
Your Turn
Since we are short on Christmas traditions over here, won’t you share one of your family’s favorite things to do this time of year in a comment below? We are looking for all of the inspiration we can get. I bet I will get some great ideas from the other gals linking-up for today’s post, too. If you have a Christmas traditions post you’d like to share with the world, won’t you join our linky party?
Please take a moment to visit the blogs of my gal pals by clicking on that little blue frog and then on the images on the page that opens.
Looking forward to reading your comments with Christmas traditions. We are going to start on our list this weekend. What plans do you have?
Hugs and kisses,
Em
What a great idea to share these traditions!
I never heard of the Bethlehem dinner before …lovely idea! I’ll be reading more about those.
PC = Prince Charming! How did I not figure that out before…🤷🏼♀️? Sometimes I scare myself…duh…
How beautiful that you will help and welcome the migrant family… thank you for sharing that.
Have a wonderful advent and a joyous Christmas!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
I am so tickled to have you join us for this little post. Thank you, Em, and thank you for coming by to read my post and leave a comment. My PC is Paul Clingan and Prince Charming! I am a little slow on the uptake at times. A very gullible. That’s just part of our *charm*, right?
We are going shopping for Sergio and Ariadna tomorrow. That should be fun. Love getting presents for children at Christmas.
Will be looking forward to hearing more from you on your blog! Thanks for the very sweet email today. I am so glad you are back!
Natalie
First, thank you, Leslie, for organizing this fun link-up. Second, I really enjoyed reading your mini bucket list. The gift giving to Sergio and Ariadna is wonderful. You also gave me an idea for a scavenger hunt when we go out to view the light displays in my home city. Have a great weekend!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Wasn’t this little link up fun? I enjoyed reading everyone’s post and getting some ideas from all of you for traditions and activities we can incorporate into our holiday celebrations. I borrowed the light scavenger hunt from some ideas on Pinterest. But then created my own list from the suggestions I found there. If you follow a scavenger hunt, please share you photos! Thank you for joining the link up.
Jamie Moore
Aw, such precious kids. They look so happy!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Anxious to buy Sergio and Ariadna some Christmas gifts tomorrow. Hope that will bring another smile to their faces!
Laura
I love your idea of getting an ornament each year that represents your year. We often get one at places we visit so when we decorate we remember our fun trips!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Great idea to get an ornament from places you visit!!! Going to remember to do that. We did get a couple of ornaments in Germany for ourselves and family. Wish I had thought to look for an ornament when we were in Arizona early this fall.
Now to dig out the tree!
Tamara / My Retirement Project
Leslie, I feel your pain about your pool issues. We are getting ready to embark on our backyard remodel and I am sincerely dreading for many of the reasons you are likely encountering. My only saving grace is that I’ve worked with this contractor before, so fingers . . . and toes . . . crossed. May 2018 bring both you and PC absolute resolution!
I love your sweet adoption of those two children as a Christmas project. Normally my spouse and I make what I think of as generic Christmas or Holiday donations, but one year a few season back my husband and I decided to forego giving each other gifts, and instead anonymously adopt a specific family via the Salvation Army. We so deeply enjoyed buying each of the children in the family their gifts, and included something small for the parents as well. It really did elevate the whole feeling of the season for us both, and I thank you for the reminder on your list today that we really need to do so again, and soon.
I also LOVE the Bethlehem meal idea! What a lovely tradition which I am immediately adopting as well for the night we stay in and watch movies.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
So glad you have used your backyard remodel contractor with success in the past. Hope this project will go smoothly, too. We are going to make an appointment for a consultation with a lawyer once we return from a week home visiting our parents. Maybe as 2018 begins, we will be able to put this ordeal behind us with some resolution. Thank you.
What a lovely memory you shared. Thank you for giving that needy family a Christmas they will never forget. PC and I will be shopping for Ariadna and Sergio tomorrow. Should be fun. When my children were small, we had some lean years but somehow, come Christmas, we always had more than enough.
So funny about this Bethlehem meal deal. Several times a year, usually on Saturday nights, I will cut up several types of cheese, and some smoked sausage, set out some peel ’em and eat ’em shrimp, crackers or chips and salsa and call it all dinner. Little did I know we were eating a Bethlehem dinner!!! Or maybe our snacky supper just becomes a Bethlehem dinner when it is served in December? But I think it sounds sweet and like something PC will enjoy, especially if we watch a movie while we snack. Please take pictures of your Bethlehem dinner to share with me!
Sue from Sizzling Towards 60 & Beyond
It is never too late to start traditions Leslie and I love the 5 you have started with. I buy my grandson a new ornament for the tree each year which he can keep and hopefully in the future think of his Nan. I’ve never heard of a Bethlehem dinner so thanks for explaining that. This is such a joyous time of year and thank you for setting up the link I’m really enjoying everyone’s posts. Maybe it should become an annual link up!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
You, my sweet Australian cousin, are so delightful and supportive. This link up was fun. Easy and fun. And my heart is full reading all of the wonderful activities and traditions everyone has shared. I think I will adopt your tradition of buying Nathan an ornament each year. Going to start this year!
curlycraftymom
Wow, Leslie… You actually have a lot of really impressive ideas here! I’ve never heard of a Bethlehem dinner (haha! Thanks for the call out!) and that actually sounds really fun! My kids would love that. I also like the Progressive Dinner idea!! I wonder if I could get my husband to change restaurants 3 times, tho. But, it’d be fun to try 3 new restaurants if you were to do that. I am going to have to pin this post to come back to it!!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
Leslie Roberts Clingan
We had a dry run of the Bethlehem dinner on Saturday night. Went well. We ate it in the hot tub, though!! Probably not terribly Biblical or accurate to that first Christmas night. If you guys try it, will you let me know?
I am not sure how practical the progressive dinner idea will be…actually, I do know how practical it is…NOT AT ALL. But I think it could be fun and different and a way to try new places. And since we are going the whole nine yards with drinks, maybe appetizers, dinner and dessert, we could share each and sample several different things that way. Will see how it goes.
Thanks for pinning! I bet that’s the first time anything on my blog has ever been pinned by anyone but me!!
curlycraftymom
P.S. Your pool is still having issues?! Oh no!!!!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
The deck has never been fixed around our pool so it has close to 30 cracks. Some are very small, some are about 36″ long, extending the width of the deck from one edge across the deck over the other edge of the deck and down to the water’s edge into the plaster of the pool. So frustrating!!!! Have spoken with a lawyer. Hoping to finally get some help!
Jo Tracey
I love the idea of the Christmas light scavenger hunt…in fact I might just borrow that!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Oh, if you do the Christmas light scavenger hunt, share pics!!! That would be so fun.
Gail
I always learn something new from your posts Leslie! I had never heard of a “Bethlehem dinner,” but it’s very much the sort of things I eat all the time so this sounds a good tradition to adopt. How kind and thoughtful you always are, with those dear children.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
You are so kind. Isn’t the Bethlehem dinner a kind of interesting idea. We gave it a dry run on Saturday night but ate it in the hot tub! Not exactly in line with the Bethlehem dinner eaten by Joseph and Mary. So when we do it again for real, we will try to be a bit more authentic. If you give it a try, please let me know.
I am fortunate to work with so many wonderful children in the El Paso schools. Wish I had some way of doing something special for all of them. Probably should start playing the lottery!!! Glad to be able to help make Sergio and Ariadna’s Christmas a little brighter.
Katie
Love the ornament idea!! Actually, now that I think about it…I am doing that…I bought myself the 2017 Nordstrom Shopping bag ornament! LOL I figured if anyone should have it, it’s me (and Mel! Shhhh!!) LOL Summing up 2017 maybe I should just put credit cards on the tree! HA!! And a Bethlehem dinner!! Love that idea! Printing out your scavenger hunt too! Will pray for those sweet Children this Christmas. Your heart is so BIG Leslie!! xoxo
Leslie Roberts Clingan
You are the cutest thing. So, so glad you joined up for the Christmas bucket list post. I truly laughed out loud at the idea of putting credit cards on your tree to represent your year. Ha! But at least you have a great wardrobe to show for the credit card bills! We have a cracked pool and deck to show for our money spent. So. Depressing. If you and Mel do the light scavenger hunt, please send me a pic!
Thanks for sending up prayers for Sergio and Ariadna. They need all the help they can get. Hope we can make their Christmas a little brighter.
I appreciate your sweet words, Katie. I’ve missed you! Merry Christmas, baby girl.
amy
We were just having a discussion over the Thanksgiving table of what kind of holiday traditions we should establish now that we have a granddaughter. We all kind of drew a blank, because we do have some already and cannot think of anything new. We read the bible story every Christmas Eve, we watch “Elf”. We go to a church service if they have one that year. But we talked about certain foods to always have (I tried a new sweet potato dish this year and it was such a hit everyone wants me to make it every year) and for the first time ever, we are going to another town to see the Rotary Christmas Light display. As for your post, I must have missed something about your new pool. Did something go wrong. Everything I saw was when it was under construction. But your hubby’s ornament idea is hysterical. Those children are sooo cute! I’m happy your doing something for them. I’ve never heard of a Bethlehem Dinner before. That’s interesting. The progressive dinner date sounds exhausting to me. 🙂 Enjoy!
Deb
Some great ideas here! Love the scavenger hunt idea, but please tell me, what is a ‘leg lamp’ I can’t begin to imagine what that may be in lights outside someone’s home!
Enjoy shopping for those two little cuties!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Hey, sweets!! Here’s a link to a leg lamp…from the movie A Christmas Story. https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=DChcSEwjt7b7Y8fbXAhWDt8AKHZ8IAUYYABABGgJpbQ&sig=AOD64_3ufunh7mWz2fSG29xTexK1Q1zAeA&ctype=5&q=&ved=0ahUKEwi58LnY8fbXAhUs6YMKHZiACxcQwg8IlwI&adurl=
Craziest things!!
Have so enjoyed buying Christmas goodies for my grandbabies. Such good times.
Terri Webster Schrandt
A great list–who would have thought of a Christmas bucket list? Your ideas are wonderful and love the Bethlehem dinner!!