the worst gift ever + Christmas traditions | GRWM 

40+ years ago when I moved to Alaska as a young bride, there was a tradition called "mug up". If someone dropped by, they were offered a cuppa coffee or tea and something sweet to go with. Donuts were called Bear Sign in certain parts and were often fried in bear fat! Sadly the words for both of them have faded from use, along with the ofter of something sweet and a cuppa to go with for surprise guests. Everyone one I knew had a large metal coffee can with cookies stashed in the arctic entry, where they would stay fresh for months, and were always ready for that lovely visit from a friend.

I'm a new subscriber and I enjoy the makeup and stories! I'm very familiar with the concept of hygge as my husband is Danish. I fell in love with the way the Danes decorate their homes, especially at Christmas. I just love the Danish Christmas traditions and decor! It's very nice and cozy. And there's always a lot of food and beer/wine. The family and friends sit at a big table for hours just talking and laughing and enjoying each other's company. We even had our wedding in Denmark! 🥰 🇩🇰🇺🇲

Love hearing about your family's traditions. A tradition we do is save up all our change for the year and some one wins it by winning a game that we make up that year. If so much fun.

The way I always played white elephant was most likely the gifts had a $10-$20 budget and were gag gifts. But someone would always put in a couple of nice presents! That is what made the game so fun because everyone would go after each other for the good gift!

My favorite white elephant gift of all time is a battered copy of the book “How to Shit in the Woods”. 🤣 Once I received an old copy of the book “Helter Skelter”. They thought I’d be creeped out but I love true crime. I still have it.

You are refreshingly and naturally pretty without makeup.

Our family did a similar thing to the white elephant. All adults brought a gift and they were put in a pile. Then we drew numbers and starting with 1, chose a gift from the pile and opened it. Number 2 could choose from the pile or steal number 1’s gift and open whichever they chose. Number 3 could choose a gift from the pile or steal 1 or 2’s gift and open etc… you hoped you were last because you already knew what all the gifts were but one, so you could steel the best one. It was fun🐝🤗❤️

Hi Tara, I'm glad the eyebrow tip I shared worked out well. I agree your brows looked great. I love the technique. My brows are pale and sparce from years of waxing into that lovely 90s, early 2000s slim arch. Happy Vlogmas!

Tara, you and Lawrence are going to exceed your goal for Make a Wish! I would think about doubling it. I think you will probably exceed that as well, which will be great!

We started a new tradition last year due to the pandemic and losing my dad 2 weeks before Christmas. Like you, we are all about the red decor this time if the year and use a lot of cardinal ornaments on our tree. My husband jokingly clipped one of the cardinals to the top branch upside down in 2020. All 3 of us decided that it was a perfect symbol of how crazy/chaotic/sad/unexpected our year had been and left it that way. This year rolled around and my son and I started to decorate for Christmas. My hubby wanders out into the living room, grabs one of the cardinals, clips it on the tree upside down, and theatrically announces, "My work here is done!" He went back to his computer game while my son and I finished the decorations. So, I guess this will be one of our yearly Christmas things. Sort of sad but also a nice way to honor my dad and remember that we got through the insane year with a sense of humor. Love to you, Tara, and to anyone who bothers to read this. Here's to keeping laughter and joy in our lives, even if it is only a stupid little upside down bird on your tree.

I absolutely love your hair.

Working on a asculpture here while listening, with a glance at the screen. I love your channel.

Love how you do makeup--very pretty

The one Christmas tradition my mom & I do every year still to this day (I’m 32 & no longer living at home now) is opening one present each on Christmas Eve from each other. She gets me a Wizard of Oz ornament & I used to get her a Gone with the Wind ornament (until cancel culture attacked the movie last year), but now I get her a Cinderella ornament since that’s her favorite Disney princess. In regards to the fundraiser, I would up the goal to every $500 increase each time the goal is met until the fundraiser is over.

You seem more relaxed today, it's nice. Merry Christmas everyone.

When I was little, we would go to my maternal in-laws for Christmas Eve with that side of the family, and open all the presents given to us by them. On Christmas morning we would get up and open presents from our parents, including a special one from Santa himself. This present, naturally, was in different wrapping paper and accompanied by "snowy" footprints leading from the fireplace to the tree. In the midmorning we would drive to my paternal in-laws (who, being immigrants from Italy and Britain lacked any other local relatives) for more presents. We would go to church with them, and return home for Christmas Dinner, including antipasto and, of course, a gloriously flaming plum-pudding. We children resorted to copious amounts of whipped cream to make it palatable, and mostly ate it to find the hidden dimes. (Alas, by the time I was old enough to really appreciate the richness, there was nobody left to make it.) Then we all watched Christmas shows on television until it was time for the Queen's Message. We did this for many years, and despite the passage of even more years since then I still remember it well. And still look forward to the Queen's Message.

That was fun!

Looking lovely! Hope that you had a good time out today.

I was also that kid who never slept in the car, I was afraid I might miss something. Eventually they would put me in the front seat during road trips to keep my Dad awake because I never stopped talking.

Hygge for me: piping hot cocoa with a big handful of marshmallows, peppermint sticks, electric blankets and duvets, roaring fiers, movies, and maybe some karaoke if I feel cheeky! Also ugly jumpers. As pretty ugly as you can get! (Last year I bought a Doctor Who jumper) And wool or fleece socks. I luuuurve hygge!! 🔥

im in Baja Mexico and its sunset at 4:30 here. I have trouble staying up after 7 p

Really enjoyed your vlog today.......... Afrer your vent yesterday it's like a weight has lifted off your shoulders love.... And it was great hearing about the traditions in your family........I'm not a Christmas fan tbh to many family deaths over the years either just before or just after......but there's one I started when I got married 19 years ago.....seeing as the husband likes all the decorations and the tree he deals with all that.......his job at Christmas is to do the tree etc and take it down and put it all away!

I’m not all that familiar with Fika but would spiced bran muffins work? They are mildly sweet and because they’re bran muffins you’re not tempted to over indulge because you know the consequences if you do 😉. What we ended up doing like 30 years ago now was deciding that the traditional all bran muffin recipe was a bit bland. And I was standing in my parents kitchen looking over at the pantry and there it was right in front of me. The can of Libby‘s pumpkin purée and it was like an inspiration. Take the spices listed on the can for making pumpkin pie + a pinch of nutmeg and add them to the all-bran muffin recipe and suddenly there were bran muffins that were everybody’s favorites even little two-year-old’s so love them (1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp ground clove and a quick grating of nutmeg plus I like to swap out the sugar for brown sugar).

Hygge for me can be complicated. I get it from rare times when nothing is required from me so I’m able to stop trying to keep pace with the world and do my things my way. Writing stories for fun qualifies, so does going to movies. Theaters are this little oasis where nothing is asked but that you quietly consume a film. Yeah, a lot of my Hygge centers around people asking nothing of me. And movies. Christmas lights fit the profile. We go for multiple drives every Christmas time to see them, which is especially nice because my parents hardly ever wanted to go at all. Maybe once a year we could wheedle them into it. My home decorations are full of colored lights. Plain white Christmas lights are a let-down to me. Driving and singing along to music is another. I love singing but it’s hard to do when you’re barely trained in it and live in an apartment. But one of my favorites is not very available to me. I love rain. LOVE it. Thunderstorms, drenchpours, even drizzle sometimes. Steady all day rain that keeps you sheltering inside, sudden blasts of wind rattling the house, thunder and lightning, snuggling in blankets while it rages outside, walking out in it and coming in wet, stripping off the wet things and curling up inside dry clothes and giant fluffy blankets. Too bad I always get too warm....

It’s going to be our first christmas together this year too! We are from southern Indiana, My Grandmother had 9 children and with grandchildren and great grandchildren she has around 40. I am the oldest grandchild. She is now in her mid 80’s so we cherish these get togethers. We are also a multinational family. We have aunts and uncles from America, Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, and japan. So our get togethers have the best food! I love the colder months and warm coffee in the mornings. My favorite food in the winter is chili. There are a lot of keto deserts bakers on RU-vid. When i wanna find a desert thats low carb i look them up. I found a keto hot cocoa recipe that I absolutely love and the only sugar that goes in it is the marshmallows. You can put in just a few and still get the good vibes 😊. St Jude does a lot of good for kids and their families so that would be a good idea for a charity

That was so fun, thank you! 💃 Your face is naturally great but it’s also a terrific canvas for the art of makeup. I’m jealous. Mine’s a bit too floppy. Whatever I do, I end up Betty Davis! 😅 I enjoy your vlogs a lot, fyi. You remind me of my sister in law in Minneapolis who I miss seeing very much. 😊👍

I also am on a wl journey 17lbs so far I have started baking with Splenda the brown and white and using one less yp;I, there is no detectable taste did. But curs calories.

My husband calls me his Bobbalou which is sweet. Now I must find that makeup.

Angel Food Cake

As good as the Italian apple cake recipe was from pasta grammar the biancomangiar pudding would be considered a better choice if you are watching your waistline.

You are truly amazing beautiful, take care

'Mow-vvvv'

I thought I was the only one to open *A* gift on Christmas Eve!

I definitely say “mahve” for the shadow color. And I have been burned so many times at our white elephant each year! I hate it!🤣

Please keep your channel name as a guy I like the channel name you've got an old school soul or at least sense of style also you've seen my comments about Sims 4 and anything you do with that I'll watch whatever you do make sure that you're having fun bc if you're having fun then your audience will

"Maskne" Mask+ acne.