by Melissa Brunner

The Thanksgiving through New Years holiday season is one filled with tradition for many people. In our family it starts with a huge turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, usually includes some Black Friday shopping for me (after hubby pours over the ads the day before!) and, at some point, we take Bam Bam with us to a family friend's Christmas tree farm to pick out out the perfect living room centerpiece.

One of the favorite holiday traditions from my childhood had to do with the Christmas day lunch we'd have at my house for my mom's side of the family. For many years, mom and grandma would prepare a sit-down affair with assigned seats for everyone. And every year, they'd make a special place card for those assigned seats. Sometimes it would be a paper or felt craft, other years grandma would crochet a tree or a stocking, with mom handling the clue for embellishments. As families grew and schedules got busier, it became too great of an undertaking, which makes me wish now that we'd kept a stash of those through the years.

What are your family traditions, old and new? May you cherish the memories of past and present this holiday season!