Guest post: After Nine to Five

**Hey guys, today I'm excited to introduce you all to Ashley from After Nine to Five! Her blog is wonderful so if you haven't checked it out yet, make sure you do!**



Hi there! I'm Ashley from over at After Nine To Five. For years, my family had the same dinner for Thanksgiving. We had almost the exact same thing for Christmas, too. We'd have a similar meal for Easter with a little less food. For the fourth of July we'd cook out - the same goes for Memorial and Labor Day. We became creatures of habit when it came to holidays until my husband and I were seriously dating. And then something changed last year

Maybe I got bored with making the same thing every year.

Maybe I got the itch to try something new.

Maybe someone was sick and didn't want to spend time in the kitchen all day.

Whatever it was, we broke one of our traditions. We didn't have the same meal we always do for Christmas. And then last year we didn't have the same meal we always have for Easter, this year - we didn't even eat at home. And now this year instead of exchanging gifts, we're going to Mexico before Christmas with my parents.

Over the years, I've grown to appreciate the traditions that give me a sort of comfort when it comes to knowing what's going to happen. But I've also grown to even more so appreciate the times that we broke those traditions and created a memory that stood out from the last year's holiday. And the year before that. And the year before that.

With this upcoming year, I vow to break a few more "traditions" and add something new to them. Even if it's something small. Something that will make this new year's holidays stand out and give me something to look back on. Probably thinking it was totally ridiculous that I even tried to do something new, but hopefully it's more so that is was definitely worth it to change it up.

Our Thanksgiving will be the same this year and I'm okay with that. With such a big change in traditions for Christmas, some normalcy will be welcome for me. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and try not to get injured on Friday. But if you live in Wisconsin, don't get in my way. ;)