Bee's Stocking with Pins Made by Her Mother Annie

The holidays are literally on top of us, so to share what we at the {NewNew} are doing at this time, here is a roundup of the different holiday traditions of our team members:

Much Merriment

For Chanukah, Alexa of Roseground used to visit her grandmother to light candles and celebrate. "After candles and before presents, my grandma would put out a big pot full of coins (mostly pennies, but some larger coins), and we would all take a handful of coins and put it in a pot for charity, and another handful of coins and put it in a baggie for ourselves (though I usually lost mine playing dreidl
afterwards)."

Kelly of Aperture Agog and her family love to play games so much that her aunt has put together a family jeopardy game for Christmas that includes categories like "family history" and "Christmas Carols."

In true Etsy fashion, Jacqueline, who runs ChelseaRainbow, is busy making all her gifts for her family party that will take place at her cousin's house.

Christmas Mistletoe To-Go by Hook and Matter

Figgy Pudding

As with all celebrations, food is also at the center of our family gatherings: Lauren, a.k.a. LolaFalk begins Christmas Eve by sharing/breaking the Oplatek - a thin, crisp wafer that typically has a nativity scene imprinted on it. The ritual is that the eldest member of the family starts with the wafer, breaks off a piece and offers it to another family member with a blessing of good wishes for the upcoming year. It then moves through family member to member with the breaking and the blessing passing through.

Sara of S2 Stationery is becoming the keeper of her family's secret Honduran tamale recipe. She has been making these tamales with the women in her family since she was a small child and the recipe which has never been written down, has now passed from her grandmother to her mother and to her. It includes 2 special corn based mixtures and a filling of capers, raisins, and potatoes.

For Natasha, the proprietress of Wink and Flip, the Carlyle Hotel has always been a special place for important family events and Christmas morning you will find her there with her clan pondering whether to take on the enormous breakfast buffet or order a la carte.

Dreidel Kitty by MyZoetrope

Light the Lights

As the days are getting shorter, we all enjoy the cheerful decorations of the season. Melissa of be in the moment and her family always take in the Christmas decorations on the drive home from Midnight Mass.

Bee was born in 2008 and every Christmas since then her mother Annie of Brooklyn Owl has added a new pin to her stocking. The stocking pins, baking molasses cookies, watching "Home Alone" Christmas morning, and building crazy blanket forts are becoming part of this little girl's holiday memories.

With the arrival of Baby Xander, Jenn of Firelight Jewelry and her family are also making new traditions. They will begin with a reading of the Grinch, and conclude with a gathering via Skype to hang out with her family in Ireland and open presents together.

Amy of Sweet Olive Jewelry grew up with this tradition:
"Growing up, we always had the tradition of waiting until Christmas Eve to put up the Christmas tree. Usually that meant waiting until Christmas Eve to BUY the tree too! Throughout the years we ended up with trees my brother called "Charlie Brown trees" because they were sad, misshapen and usually
heavily discounted. A few times, we were so late that the lots were already closed and we just had to leave the money for our tree."

Hoping that all little trees will get this much love and that Ruby won't have to work too much this weekend, we at the {NewNew} wish you a very Happy Holiday and thank you for hanging out with us this year!

Simone
groundsel.etsy.com