In my family we are not known for our cooking skills. Although I CAN cook, I just don't enjoy it and would rather do just about anything else. So for the holidays we usually go visit someone who does enjoy cooking and makes fabulous meals. This year, unfortunately, we don't have that option and dinner and guests will be at my house. My mother and stepdad are coming to visit and my mom asked if we could go out to eat since she just doesn't have the stamina to help with cooking and cleaning. As a compromise, we are going to try purchasing a pre-cooked dinner. I'm sure this is not traditional - but if it's good I don't see why it can't become one!

So what makes a Holiday Tradition? Is it something your family has always done? And is it something you have done for generations? And when "tradition" becomes a chore rather than something you enjoy, should you continue doing it? Over the years our holiday traditions included Thanksgiving dinner with family, celebrating a December birthday, decorating the house for Christmas, and then wrapping mountains of gifts. But in the last two years we have made big changes that will hopefully make the holidays more joyful and less stressful. We realized that decorating had gotten a bit out of hand when our kids referred to our house as a branch of a JoAnn's craft store. ​ They weren't kidding - our house had begun to look like a holiday store. Setting up all of this holiday "cheer" took two weeks and during that time big rubbermaid containers lined the halls.

My husband didn't want to begin decorating until AFTER his birthday in mid-December so we usually weren't quite done by Christmas Eve and just put away whatever wasn't quite set up. And then taking it down again took another two weeks. I'm not quite sure how this whole thing started, or why it snowballed, but I blame HGTV.

Two years ago we decided to flaunt tradition. We skipped the tree and 75% of the decorations so that we could enjoy our two new kittens instead of worrying about them climbing the tree or breaking ornaments. The world didn't come to an end.

I thought I would have a hard time deciding on what to blog about first, but a customer's post on Ravelry made it surprisingly easy! She posted that she had been using Grace's Cases to store her needles since 2011. She was my 34th order and still loves her cases, endorses the shop, and is still a customer. I couldn't ask for more!

When I started making cases I thought that I would be happy just selling a few cases a month for a little extra yarn money - but in my secret heart of hearts I was hoping it would turn into so much more. This weekend we very quietly celebrated the 5th Anniversary of Grace's Cases and I'm still tickled pink by every sale, every custom order request, and every 5 star review. So I want to thank ALL of you for making this dream a reality. I'm so looking forward to what the next 5 years will bring 🙂