{HALL FAMILY FALL TRADITIONS}

 There are very few things that get me as excited as the fall season! It's been a while since I have shared our Hall Family Fall traditions!  And, they've changed a bit since I last shared them. That's the beauty of traditions - some go away, some stick for a lifetime and then you make some new ones along the way! Traditions truly are my jam. I love the nostalgia of revisiting something each year but also making new memories with that tradition. There's so much beauty in it! 

{Christmas Tree Campout // 2021}

 Our Christmas tree campout is a tradition that Mason and I started several years ago! We bring an air mattress into the living room, put on our favorite Christmas pajamas, and settle in for all of our favorite Christmas movies by the glow of the Christmas tree. It's such a special and magical time that I cherish so much! I am so thankful that my growing boy still loves to do this with me. I am holding on as long as I can and tucking each moment into my heart. 

{Cookie Decorating Party @ Nana's House // 2021}

 Today we went over to Mason's Nana's house to bake and decorate cookies for Christmas! It ended up being Michelle and I mostly baking and decorating them all! haha! The kids all ran around and played and Nana spent most of her time with the grands! But, it was a blast and I shaped up on my decorating skills - sorta. lol! 

{Interlochen // 2021}

 One of our favorite things to do each year is to drive around and look at Christmas lights! This year we chose to go to Interlochen! My boss lives there and always talks about how awesome it is. It has been years since we've driven through Interlochen, so it was time to give it a go! It did not disappoint! And the cherry on top? Getting to stop and say hi to my boss/friend! 

{Treat every day like Christmas // Gaylord & Elf // 2021}

 Next up on our festive family day was a trip to the Gaylord hotel in Grapevine, TX. We have loved going every year and doing the Ice exhibit. This year, it was different and was a walk through the Elf movie. It was pretty neat and felt like we were on the movie set! The Gaylord is always so pretty at Christmas time! We took a stroll through before our time for the Elf so that we could see all the Christmas decor! 

{7th Annual Baking Party // 2021}

 Every year all the ladies on my mom's side of the family gather for a night of baking, games, gift exchanges, eating, drinking, and all the festive things. My Aunt Donia always hosts this fun night and she does an amazing job at it! The amount of planning and time she puts into this night is above and beyond anything any of us deserve! Not to mention the money she spends spoiling us rotten! Her generosity is not lost on me. This is such a special day/night and one that I look forward to every year. My mom's side of the family is pretty large, but we are all so close and it's one of my favorite things. I have so many best friends and feel so blessed by that alone! 

{Annual Hocus Pocus night // 2021}

It's all just a bunch of Hocus Pocus...

We had our annual Hocus Pocus movie night last night! Mason and I always look forward to this day. We put on our Halloween pajamas, some festive socks, turn out the lights, and enjoy some delicious treats & watch our favorite movie!! It's one of my favorite Halloween traditions.

{Annual Hocus Pocus Movie Night // 2020}

 Back on October 15th, we had our annual Hocus Pocus movie night! We decided to do it on a Thursday evening because we were going out of town the next day. I love this little tradition of ours something fierce! And Mason loves it maybe even more than me. 

{Hall Around Texas Family Fall Traditions}

Traditions. Oh, how I love traditions. They are my jam, for real. Something to look forward each year and such great memories to look back on! In our family, we have all kinds of traditions for each season. I think our Fall and Winter traditions are by far my favorite, though! Below are some of my favorite Fall-time traditions we do as a family...

{Our Family's Christmas Traditions}

In my recent Five Things Bringing me Joy right now post I mentioned that traditions are my jam and in doing so I realized that I haven't shared our family's Christmas traditions since 2013. We've changed a bit and added so many more traditions since then, so it was time to update that list. Here are our family's current Christmas traditions...

{Hall Around Texas Family Fall Traditions}

Traditions. Oh how I love traditions. Something to look forward each year and such great memories to look back on! In our family we have all kinds of traditions for each season. I think our Fall and Winter traditions are by far my favorite, though! Below are some of my favorite Fall-time traditions we do as a family...

{Road Trippin' to the Texas Hill Country}

This past weekend we road tripped it to the Hill Country for our annual Labor day weekend camping trip in Mason, TX. This has become one of our favorite camping spots and weekends, without a doubt. We had 40+ people in our group this time and over 11 campers. Such an amazing group of people! During the day we all split off into smaller groups and do all kinds of things; golfing, shopping in Fredericksburg, Luckenbach, museums, LBJ Ranch, Johnson City, etc. and then in the evenings we all come back together for supper and fellowship followed by all kinds of games. This year it was bean bags, egg toss, waterballoon toss, bocce ball, silly string fights and geocaching! So much fun. I really need to get better about documenting this trip and our evening festivities...but we are just so busy being there and visiting!

{Texas Tuesday // Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo}

Happy Texas Tuesday y'all!!! 

What is Texas Tuesday? A chance for you to show off the awesomeness that is TEXAS!! You can blog about anything; restaurants, vacation spots, venues, concerts, your hometown, shops, fashion, sports, etc. The linkup is not limited to Texans, we just ask that the post is about Texas.  

{Blog-tember Challenge - Day 12 // Traditions}

Sept 12th: Tell us about a favorite tradition. It could be a family tradition or from a holiday, university, you-name-it. What makes it so special?

{It's a Texas thing y'all // Bluebonnets in the spring}

 

It's that time of year. The time when it's totally acceptable for cars to park all up and down the highway so that people can get out and take pictures in the Bluebonnets. We didn't brave the highway, but instead opted for a field next to a church in a town next door.

{Texas Rangers Opening Day - 2014}

Ohmygoodness it's freakin' baseball season! Off-season is just entirely too long if you ask me. Do you know how long I've waited to post the words #hellowincolumn on Facebook {even though I didn't get to do that on Monday}? Too dang long!

{Texas Tuesday - FWSSR - This thing is legendary!}

This Saturday we made our annual trip over to Fort Worth for the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo! It's a tradition for the Halls {and now the Moores} and we love it! 

Despite the last minute freak out in weather {Typical Texas} we still had a great time! It was supposed to be a high of 70 that day and sometime while we were getting ready it changed and the temperature dropped 20 degrees and continued to drop!

Mason was excited to see the animals and ride some rides. And that he did. We started in the cattle barns and made a few swipes through those. They were showing in most of the barns so they were extremely crowded. After the barns we headed to the exhibits for a bit. We found Mason a new belt and buckle and he sweet talked his Nana into a couple things, too! Then we were off to the rides. 

Mason was able to ride 6 or so rides before the Rodeo. He had a wonderful time and it wasn't too terribly cold. I think the Midway was just on the other side of the buildings so it helped block some of the wind. Anyhow, I love how he has no fear and wants to do it all. It won't be long and we'll be moving to the 'bigger' rides. Eeek!

The Rodeo was awesome! There were a lot of good bulls and rides. Our seats were basically right over the chutes...so that was awesome.

After the Rodeo we all headed over to dinner at the Mexican food place. Another tradition. We had so much much fun there talking and just hanging out. We talked a lot about vacations and the upcoming wedding of Nate's middle brother & his fiance. So much to look forward to!

Until next year, FWSSR...

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{Hall Family Christmas traditions}

Visit the Christmas Tree Farm - {post here} this was our first year to actually visit the farm...but definitely not the last. We had such a fun time!

Ride the North Pole Express - {posts here and here} I can hardly write about this one without crying. All tickets to the North Pole Express sold out quickly...before we could get any! So, we will not be doing this. I am so sad! We did find an alternative in Palestine, TX that goes through the weekend after Christmas, but trying to find a time to go is hard! 

Buy new Christmas Pajamas {for Mason} - to wear to the North Pole Express and for Christmas Eve.

Make Ornaments - this year we made Rudolf ornaments using Mason's thumbprint {post here} and we also made salt dough ornaments {post here} and Jesus in the manger. 

We also have a sliver of the trunk of our Christmas Tree cut off every year so that we can make an ornament out of it.

Mason's Christmas Program - {post here} I just love these programs!!

Bake cookies for Santa - and a treat for the reindeer. This year we also have magical reindeer food to spread out in the yard. Looking forward to doing this for years to come! 

Visit Santa at Bass Pro shop - {post here} this year was quite the adventure, but so worth it. 

Make a Santa video for Mason - we do this every year and use this website. I love to see his face when he watches these. They have a free version, but I always pay a few bucks more to personalize the video.

Do you have any family traditions? I would love to hear them!

 

{Santa...I know him! I know him!}

Well, we checked another thing off our Christmastime bucket list this past weekend...

For the third year in a row we got to see Santa at Bass Pro Shop in Garland TX. I love traditions, and this is one of them!!! He's a great Santa and the scenery is amazing! And?? It's free! And they also let you use your own camera, too. Not many places do that because they're all about making the $. Which I understand, so it was a great surprise when she said we could use our own camera too!!  I haven't even tried the past 2 years because I didn't figure it was allowed. But I saw people in front of me taking pictures, so I got my camera ready!!!

We got to Bass Pro Shop around 11:20 am, thinking we were pretty early and had a good chance of getting to Santa quick.

Ha!

We were never more wrong. We were in line to get our pass when the next available time said 2:30. Not too bad...but just as it was our turn the time changed to 4 pm. What!? We got our passes and decided we'd go eat and do some other stuff and come back. 

But before we left we let the boys write a letter to Santa and put it in his mailbox! Mason loved that! He had me write the words and he drew a picture for Santa. His favorite part was putting it in the mailbox all by himself. He was so proud!

 After the boys were done coloring we headed to lunch at Snuffers. Oh my goodness that place is delicious!!! After lunch we still  had some time to kill so we drove around Rockwall looking for some stores we could venture around. Rockwall was SO crowded. We did find these neat little guys...

We were going to let the boys get out and see them, but they wanted $20 a person! And it was freezing cold and windy, so we decided against it. We went to a few shops and then headed back to Bass Pro to finally get our pictures with Santa.

Worth the wait!!! And I love that he took his little Rudolf to sit in Santa's lap with him! He just loves that Rudolf!!!

 

 

Then we came back to our house so the boys could destroy Mason's room...I mean play! haha. BOYS!!!