I Tri and Craft

thoughts from a mother of boys, a marathoner, a triathlete, a crafter, a wife, and a scientist

Tag Archives: Christmas and holiday season


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12 Days of Christmas Tradition ~ Day 3

One of the reasons I love the Christmas holiday is the traditions.

I love reviving old family traditions, and making new ones.  I love remembering fondly the things that I did as a child at Christmas time and the things I couldn’t wait to do again.

As an adult, I get to make sure our family participates in our traditions and make new ones.

One tradition from my childhood that I loved was the story of the Cinnamon Bear.  A local radio station would broadcast the story in fifteen minute increments starting around Thanksgiving and running through Christmas Eve.  The story debut in 1937 and is still broadcasted here in Portland, with the expectation of a few years.

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I don’t remember listing to it in the evening (of course that doesn’t mean we didn’t), which is when it usually aired.  But I do remember my grade school teacher had the recording and each day we would sit as a group and listen to the story.  The story is about a pair of twins who wonder up to the attic to look for Christmas decorations and find themselves transported to a magical land.

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In Portland Lipman Wolfe sponsored the radio broadcast and the Cinnamon Bear would visit the Lipman’s department store every year at Christmas.  When we went to see Santa at Meier & Frank‘s Department Store we would also head over to Lipman’s for a visit with the Cinnamon bear.  Over the years the store was bought out and eventually closed for good in 1990.

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Sometime in the last 10 years, the Portland Spirit Cruise Ship started hosting a Cinnamon Bear Cruise.  The cruise ship is 150′ yacht with three public decks, it usually hosts dinner cruises up and down the Willamette River.

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The Cinnamon Bear Cruise is a two-hour cruise that includes pictures with the Cinnamon Bear, story time and a magic show.  Kids also get to meet other characters of the story and become Honorary Candy Buccaneers in the wheel house.

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When Ian’s first Christmas was approaching I was delighted to find that he gets to enjoy this Christmas memory I had growing up.  Even if his memory will be  a little more elaborate than mine was.

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Even though we know what to expect each year when we go on the cruise, I still enjoy going and I hope my kids will for a number of years to come.

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If you want to listen to the story you can do so here.

 

 

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What are your Christmas Traditions?

 


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12 Days of Christmas Tradition ~ Day 2

One of the reasons I love the Christmas holiday is the traditions.

I love reviving old family traditions, and making new ones.  I love remembering fondly the things that I did as a child at Christmas time and the things I couldn’t wait to do again.

As an adult, I get to make sure our family participates in our traditions and make new ones.

A new tradition, well hopefully it will be one, is to ride The Holiday Express.

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Every year The Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation operates a steam engine train pulling/pushing passenger cars along the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge.  It is a short 30-40 minute train ride, that is relatively slow.  For preteens that are not train lovers, this might be a slightly boring event.

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The steam engine that pushed/pulled our train is the SP&S 700.  Now I don’t really know anything about trains, but the 700 belonged to the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway and is the only surviving example of a E-1 class 4-8-4 Northern type steam locomotive.  Yeah, I don’t know what the means,  but it is a beautiful train.  There is something mystical and enchanting about steam locomotives.

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The SP&S 700 was built in 1938 and was used to pull the Empire Builder until 1947.  The 700 continued as a passenger train engine traveling up the Columbia River Gorge from Portland to Spokane until 1956.  After being on display for over 30 years it was restored to operation in 1990.  The operation and maintenance is provide entirely by volunteers.

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Santa comes through the train handing out candy canes, and parents can take some pictures.  My two-year old nephew loves trains, and thought this trip was absolutely wonderful.  Ian and Sid both had a great time too, although Sid wasn’t impressed with Santa.

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The cars are all decorated for Christmas and heated.

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Unfortunately the weather had warmed up and there was no snow, but it was still overcast and a little foggy, adding a little something to the scenery.

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Happy Riding

 

 

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What are your Christmas Traditions?


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12 Days of Christmas Tradition ~ Day 1

One of the reasons I love the Christmas holiday is the traditions.

I love reviving old family traditions, and making new ones.  I love remembering fondly the things that I did as a child at Christmas time and the things I couldn’t wait to do again.

As an adult, I get to make sure our family has our traditions and make new ones.

What Christmas would be complete with out a Christmas tree?

The past couple years we have been lucky to be able to get our tree from our friends property.  Which means we get to go hang out with some great people all day.

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This year is was cold.  Like 15°F cold.  But the sun was shinning, which is not always the case up here in the PNW.

The kids got to run around outside burning off all the energy they got from eating candy canes.

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Sid couldn’t last more than about 15-20 minutes outside at a time.  His coat is too big for him and he kept falling down.  Once down, he had some difficulty standing up again.  Yes, picture Ralphie, kinda like that.

But boy would we laugh and laugh until I helped him stand up.

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Hubby picked out our tree and drug it back.  Our friends had a bonfire and the kids got to roast hot dogs for dinner.

We had to bring the tree in the house that night because Ian was very concerned about leaving it on top of the car overnight.  But we waited till the next day to decorate it.

The boys were of course very helpful.

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Sid’s favorite thing is the lights.  He gets so happy when he sees them.

The whole time I was putting the lights on the tree Ian kept reminding me to put the star on top.  So this year he got to do it.  I had to take a break in light hanging to let him top the tree.

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After Sid went down for a nap, Ian and I hung the ornaments.  Well, at least on the upper half of the tree.

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I think next year I will be able to put out all my ornaments and I will be able to utilize the whole tree.

 

Happy Decorating

 

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What are your Christmas Traditions?


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12 Days of Christmas Tradition Dec. 21

Late night present wrapping is a common tradition in my house hold.  This night will be no exception.

It is also done at the last-minute as in a day or two before Christmas!

Christmas Wrapping

 

It is also a tradition to have the presents hidden, to which you keep adding to,  and then when it comes time to wrap them you find out you purchased more than you thought.

 

Happy Wrapping

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