Hey, awesome nerds! Welcome to my third day hosting a prompt for Bookending Winter, created by Clo over at Book Dragons. Please take a moment to pop over and say hi to her, because she rocks!
Throwback Thursday – Holiday Remix
So I had actually wanted to change my prompt for today, because at about Dec 10, I found out I don’t have access to a scanner. Since some of these are photo prompts, and I am in my 30’s, I have photos that were never digitized. *cue gasps* But alas, it was too late, as the prompts had gone public. So please accept my humble apologies for not participating in the photo side of things. I wanted to!
I am going to be using holiday as a catch-all term here. I fully admit that I don’t know the finer points of some of the holidays celebrated around the world, so I don’t know if it is appropriate to take photos during Kwanzaa or Diwali (which yes, I know is in October, but it still counts!) but I want everyone of all faiths and backgrounds to be welcome to participate. ♥
The Prompts
(As I said on my prompt explanation you can choose to answer as many or as few of these as you wish!)
Post a photo of you as a kid at a holiday celebration
Sorry awesome nerds, no photo of me today.
What is the best holiday gift you have ever given someone else?
Mr. Blue absolutely loves Gordon Ramsay. Our first Christmas together, when we were just dating, (though we had been living together for a few months at that point) I got him an autographed photo of Gordon Ramsay. The way his face lit up was magical.
Tell us about your most embarrassing holiday memory!
Honest to goodness, nothing is coming to mind. I am sure when I was little-little, I did some things, but I can’t remember them (thank goodness) and they aren’t on Facebook because it wasn’t a thing back then (even more thank goodness!)
Do you receive bookish gifts for the holidays? If so, what was the best one you ever got? If not, what would be your ideal bookish gift?
My family has always been big readers. I can think of two amazing bookish gifts my parents gave me for Christmas, within years of each other. One was a complete (to that point) set of the Wheel of Time novels in paperback. The other was the first four Harry Potter books. I want to say that was around when I was in Grade 5 and Grade 6 – and it opened up this amazing world of reading to me.
How did you spend last New Year’s Eve?
I think Mr. Blue actually had to wake me up to ring in the new year with him, because I had gone to bed at 9pm like the grandma I am!
What is your earliest holiday memory?
I very vaguely remember when I was somewhere in the Kindergarten age range that we lived in a house with a fireplace and chimney. I wondered why Santa hadn’t left footprints from the soot. The following year, he did! He really DOES see you all year!
What is your best holiday memory?
When I was in Grade 4, my parents got my brother and I a puppy. Now, I am a HUGE advocate of not giving animals for the holidays, so I really support how they did it. They wrapped up the strangest dog toys they could find, and wrote a letter from our new dog saying he was going to come stay with us for a while. We were super confused as to what was going on until we found a photo in the bottom of the box, which was of our new border collie puppy. We didn’t actually GET the puppy until a month or so later.
He was a great dog, but we had to give him away (to a farm, so as a border collie it was like heaven for him) when we moved from that city about 3 years later, as we couldn’t find dog-friendly housing in our new city.
Post a photo of your oldest holiday ornament or decoration
Again, sorry no photos. But it is a cute little tabletop ornament from Avon.
What is one food item you have every holiday?
Nalysnyky, which is a crepe filled with cottage cheese and dill. My mom’s side of the family is Ukrainian, and mom and dad only ever make them for Christmas, because they are a pain in the butt. Also, my mom doesn’t like the taste of them so she makes them for dad and me. YUM.
What is one holiday tradition you hope to pass on to future generations of your family?
We used to do this a lot, but as the family has grown and the cost of gas has gone up, we have tapered off. On Christmas Eve, we used to all pile into the car and drive around looking at Christmas lights. Being in Canada, we don’t really get the huge displays that some of the warmer climes do – I mean, it is a chore enough to hang one string when it is minus 40 degrees (Celsius) outside – but we have seen some really lovely ones in the past. I wish we had a way we could all still pile into one car and do it, but as there are now 9 of us with my brother’s family, it would be a little squished. It is the tradition I am saddest to lose, and also the one I hope my brother continues with his girls the most.
I hope you enjoyed this little stroll down holiday memory lane! Tag your friends, get them to answer, too! Don’t forget when talking about Bookending Winter on social media to use the tag #bkendingwin2018
And come back tomorrow for my final Bookending Winter host prompt! I will tell you about the ancient Roman tradition of Saturnalia, and we will elect our own Lord/Lady/Liege of Misrule to party with!
Stay bookish, lovelies! ♥
Sounds like a lot of nice memories! Hope you have a great holiday!