5th Day of Christmas Giveaway with Melissa Taylor
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Welcome to the 5th Day of Christmas Giveaway!!
Each day, December 1-12th, I am featuring a fellow Proverbs 31 sister and an aspect of Christmas. You’ll get to know her and she, in turn, will offer a fabulous giveaway! Simply leave a comment on her post to be entered in the drawing.
And, one soon-to-be-very-giddy gal who comments on all 12 posts will win the GRAND PRIZE! You may comment on all posts until Monday, December 13th when the winners will be announced. (to see the grand prize and get caught up on the posts click here)
Now, here’s our fifth P31 gal……the sweet Melissa Taylor!!!
Hi! I’m so excited to be a part of Karen’s 12 Days of Christmas. My name is Melissa Taylor. I have been on the Speaker Team at Proverbs 31 Ministries for six years. I also work in the P31 office full time as admin assistant, prayer coordinator, and part time radio assistant. I’ve been married for 21 years and have 4 great kids!
We moved a lot during my early childhood. Before the age of 9, I had spent Christmas in Taylors SC, Memphis TN, Winter Park FL, Albany GA, Greenville SC, and Charlotte NC. Moving around so much was difficult because life was always changing. There were some things however that remained constant.
One of those was my very favorite Christmas tradition. My favorite tradition is one that most families do during the holidays. And it’s one that has provided me with more than just a good time. It represents love, life, family, memories, and it’s something I’ve always been able to count on year after year. Growing up and still today, my favorite tradition is decorating the Christmas tree.
Our Christmas tree was never one that most would consider beautifully decorated. I know in many homes I’ve been in, the tree is amazing. Every ornament strategically placed, every light coordinated to compliment the decor, ribbons and flowers and ting ting spruced throughout looking as if Martha Stewart herself had decorated it.
I have a friend who doesn’t allow her kids to touch her tree. That’s her thing. I know another family who places all the kids’ homemade ornaments on the back of the tree, only the perfect store bought matching ornaments in the front. All that is okay, but that’s not the way it was in my family.
My mom made decorating the tree a true family event. No matter where we lived or what was going on in “real life”, the tree decorating time was fun and memorable. Our ornaments were mostly homemade or purchased somewhere that held a special memory. Each ornament told a story and of course we retold those stories year after year. Life changed, but decorating the Christmas tree brought us back year after year to a place where we felt the love and comfort of home.
This tradition continues in my home today. Tree decorating time is our favorite. My kids love putting up the ornaments they claim as their own. With the Christmas music in the background, party mix and hot chocolate on the coffee table, we come together creating new memories with the same old tradition.
Since my childhood, there have been many more ornaments and memories added to our family tree from my own husband and kids. And this year will be extra bitterweet because we lost my sweet mom, it’s our first Christmas without her. Even though she will not physically be here, with many of the ornaments we hang, there will be a memory of mom and a story to be told. Her legacy will live on partially through decorating the tree.
Melissa’s Giveaway
As you read this, I am vacationing with my family in Walt Disney World. As an early Christmas gift, my inlaws have taken the whole Taylor family to the most magical place on earth. It’s one of my very favorite places because of the special memories I’ve had there during my lifetime with my family.
We will for sure purchase a Christmas ornament to mark the occasion. And so I will purchase 2, one for us and one for today’s lucky winner. If you win today, you will receive an ornament along with some hot chocolate and party mix.
If you have a special tradition or memory you’d like to share, we’d love to read about it. Just leave a comment and not only will you be sharing a special tradition, but you’ll also be entered to win today’s Christmas prize. If you don’t have a memory to share or the time today to share it, just tell us who your favorite Disney character is. :-)
Magical Blessings,
I enjoy decorating the tree as well. Over the years I have learned to let my kids put their ornaments where they want them and not move them to a new spot that would look better. I like that our tree isn’t perfect and that our chidren enjoy putting up their collection each year. I try to find them a new ornament each year as well so that when they are ready for their own tree they will have things to put on it!
Rebecca Ann
Rebecca Ann
Decorating the tree was always an enjoyable time when we were growing up – fun Christmas music and later a Christmas movie or show like Rudolph- When my husband and I got married, we didn’t have a lot of ornaments so our tree didn’t take long to decorate but that first year we bought 2 tape cassettes at a little gas station down from our house- so every year we play our “cheesy” Christmas music while we decorate the tree. I can imagine our kids reaction once they get old enough to realize it really is not so cool music.
My two year old little girl is head over heals in love with Mickey Mouse – he goes everywhere with us.
Our favorite activity is decorating the tree as well!
I so love Disney at Christmas..you’re right there is something so magical about it. I love Mickey Mouse!!
On Christmas Eve we always got to open one present! It was always new Pajamas to wear that night!! We still do this with our kids! Such a fun tradition!
My mom always bought my kids an ornament every year. They now have a their own box of ornaments that they will get when they have their own home. I love putting them all on the tree. We lost my mom three years ago and miss her terribly. I now buy them for my girls and I have my first grandson to start the tradition with this year.
Kim
Our family tradition is baking lots of cookies! Everyone has a different favorite and even though I always say we don’t need so many cookies, no one wants to give up their favorite so we end up with lots of cookies (plenty to share that way).
My favorite tradition is buying one special ornament each year with my husband that is that year’s ornament. We have one for every year we’ve been together. We went to Disney last weekend; we live in the Tampa Bay area, so it’s not too far. Have fun. I’m a big Disney fan with Minnie Mouse being my favorite : )
I love decorating the Christmas tree. When I was young, I remember we had turnips every year the night we were to decorate the tree (my Mom later told me that was just a coincidence!). I hated turnips, so missed much of the decorating festivities as I had to sit at the kitchen table and “clean my plate”. Never eat turnips now, but always decorate the tree with my kids!
I but each of my three children a Christmas ornament each year. We decorate the tree and then watch Mr MaGoo’s Christmas Carol. It was favorite when I was a child. :)
WE have a Christmas tradition of having a baking day while listening to Christmas music and then having a Christmas movie marathon in the evening. We love Christmas. It’s our favorite time of the year. Thank you for the giveaway. God bless and Merry Christmas!
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My favorite Disney character is Cinderella.
I’d have to say decorating our Christmas tree every year is one of our most treasured traditions. Another tradition that our girls look forward to is Advent. When my oldest was in kindergarden her teacher did Advent calendars. Every year since then, we’ve did Advent calendars to count down to Christmas. It helps the days pass & this year we’ve incorporated reading a nightly scripture offered from http://www.youversion.com
Have fun in Disney! I appreciated your favorite memory because it’s one of mine, also. I also have friends who have gorgeous trees, but ours is as it was when I grew up. It’s an eclectic group of ornaments, but we have fun hanging them. :-) Merry Christmas!
We too make decorating the tree a family event. Each of our 3 kids has a large tote full of ornament both made by them and purchased for them. They fill the tree first and I put a few of mom and dad’s ornaments in the higher places after they are done. We always get or put up(alternate between real and artificial) a tree the weekend after Thanksgiving and leave it up until New Year’s day.
There are so many Christmas traditions that I love and many have been mentioned here. One that we started just a few years ago that I love is to read “One Wintry Night” by Ruth Bell Graham a little bit at a time leading up to Christmas. We light that week’s advent candle and spend time together reading the story.
We exchange names of family members and secretly fill their Christmas stocking on Christmas eve. It is a great tradition!
One tradition we just started this year that I hope to continue is celebrating St. Nicholas day…we put a special ornament in each of our young children’s shoes overnight (they set their shoes outside their bedroom doors), and then learned about St. Nick and how he gave selflessly to others and taught others about Jesus.
I’m in! Our special tradition is buying or making a new Christmas ornament every year for the tree. We also like to do lots of baking. :-)
I enjoying putting up the christmas tree with my family
A tradition I remember from my childhood is always going to grandma’s on Christmas Eve. Grandma was always cooking in the kitchen and we kids would find the jar of seafoam candy or fudge and dig in. Admiring Grandma’s tree with all the lights twinkling and what seemed like hundreds of presents scattered underneath was a child’s dream. Although, we’re all grown up now that Christmas tradition holds a very special place in my heart. I suppose I’m tweeking that tradition by having Christmas Eve at our house every year and having my mama and daddy come spend the night with us. Good times and great memories!
I love decorating the tree, too. My mother-in-law started a tradition of buying the grandkids a new ornament each year and putting those on the tree each year brings back so many good memories.
Tree decorating is my FAVORITE Christmas tradition as well. We always buy a new family Christmas ornament each year and look forward to placing it on the tree with the rest of our years of accumulated ornaments.
I really enjoy going caroling. I used to go with a bunch of friends from work, now it’s with a group from church. I’m really touched when we’re singing to someone who has dementia and who seems to have totally escaped our world, but can still sing along to the old familiar carols.
Decorating the tree is a big event at our house, because it is always a BIG tree! Since we moved back to Wisconsin, and have high ceilings in our family room, the boys have enjoyed finding the biggest tree that they can every year. My sweet husband designed an extra-sturdy stand to accommodate these trees which probably weigh over 100 pounds! The are usually 13-14 feet tall (anything less, and the boys are disappointed!), so out comes the extension ladder and step ladder to assist in the decorating! Now that two of the boys are in college and another one on his own, most of the decorating is done by Mom. But I remember the years when all of the boys helped and it was almost chaos! :)