others get the cold sweats...
but we all have them...
your tradition might be NOT having any traditions...and yes that is a tradition....
I'm here to say that traditions can be simple little things...
...oh, don't get me wrong, I also like big traditions...
but little things that help build memories...
...easy things...fun things...cheap...free things!
here are a few of our traditions
some are Christmas/holiday, others are birthday...or just fun memory making stuff we do...
1. Stories...kids love stories, and stories about them are even better!
I tell my kids their 'birth story' at bed time on their birthday every year! They both love this and look forward to it, and love hearing each other's 'birth story' as well...my daughter turned 10 this week and her brother was asking days before her birthday, 'when do we get to hear Madison's story?' This tradition is FREE...and it helps me remember details that I might have lost if I went years without thinking about the events that led up to me being the mother of these wonderful kids! And it's also a tradition that tells my children I cherish them.
you could also do this with their baby book in hand...
you could also do this with their baby book in hand...
2. Pictures...kids also love pictures of themselves....
take pictures that are the 'same'...
*take a birthday picture in the same chair every year...
*or with their birthday cake...
*or in front of the Christmas tree....
*or with Santa....
*on the first day of school...
*on the first day of school...
*or with the Christmas Bear...
(we have a HUGE bear that was given to Madison on her 1st Christmas...she was 3 weeks old...and we've taken a picture every year of her with the bear in front of the tree...and then with her and Wilson and the bear in front of the tree!)
you get the idea...you and the kids will love looking back over the pictures years from now!
3. Growth...we all love to look at our growth, when it's a positive growth...
pick a few dates out on the calendar that are easy to remember and make those measuring days...
We choose birthdays because we can remember (or try to remember...birth month works also!)...
*it's good to measure all the members of your family (that are growing...) at the same time
*choose a spot that's 'movable' like a door or door frame or an actual growth chart, you don't want to do it on a regular old wall that you can't take with you when/if you ever move...ours in on a cabinet door in our laundry room...when we move that door will go with us...sorry future owners!
4. Meals...we all know the turkey and Thanksgiving go together...
are there other meals that you can make a tradition out of?
the girl child just remembered that I had made her chocolate chip muffins last year on her birthday and asked if I could make them again...so easy...and YES I did, and will try to remember to make them again next year...but you don't have to make anything special...some families break out the sugary cereal or doughnuts or something like that for someone's birthday...
we have the same 'meal' for a few traditions...
*Christmas Eve sandwich (so easy, it's a tradition passed down from Beau's side of the family)
*Christmas morning breakfast casserole
*soda bread on St. Patrick's Day
*the 'birthday' person picks the restaurant or meal that they want on their birthday
5. Activities...doing the same thing or very similar every year
*getting your Christmas tree from the same/similar spot (a tree farm, the forest, Target)
*Advent calendars
*parades (we walk down to the downtown Christmas Parade every year)
*decorating the tree
*going to the Christmas Eve service at church
*trick or treating on Halloween (don't do this at Christmas, that's just weird!)
*putting together a puzzle (I have a friend that gets a new puzzle at the beginning of the Christmas season and they put it somewhere that they can work on it thru out the whole season
*gingerbread houses....so many good inexpensive ones out on the market...saw one at Trader Joe's that I think I'm going to get this year.
*Movies...what is your favorite Christmas movie?...I know some friends that watch a Christmas movie on every weekend night between Thanksgiving and Christmas....
*putting up the Nativity set...I also have a friend that has a great Nativity activity (say that 3x's fast!), when they set up the nativity set they put the wise men on the other side of the room, or even in a different room, and each night one of the kids gets to move the wise men a little closer to the stable, having them arrive on Christmas morning. I've also heard of having the manger empty until Christmas morning and when the kids wake up in the morning Jesus is in the manger.
6. Gifts
*the kids get a Christmas ornament every year, they get to pick it out, so not sure if this classifies as a gift or and activity since we do it together...anyways when they grown up and move out they will get all of their ornaments for their tree...I put their name and year somewhere on the ornament with a fine tipped Sharpie
*pj's for Christmas Eve, my mom buys the kids new pajama's every year for Christmas and they get to open them on Christmas Eve so they are wearing new jammies on Christmas morning...
*have you heard of the pickle...we have a pickle ornament on our tree. Well, actually it waits and Beau or I put it on our tree on Christmas Eve. The first child that finds the pickle on Christmas morning gets to be the present 'Santa' (handing out the gifts all morning)...this tradition helps the kids focus on the beauty of the moment and not rush down to look at all the gifts under the tree....
*new appliances...my husband loves to buy me new appliances for Christmas,
like a new fridge or
front loading washer or
a brand new stove....
(okay, so that was a lie...just checking to see if he is actually reading my blog!)
one thing to remember about traditions is that you should only do them if they work for your family.
you may have a vision of the perfect family outing into the forest to cut down your Christmas tree...I loved doing this as a kid and couldn't wait for this tradition with my own kids...
but I married a man who hates the snow...
(yes, I know, he also kicks dogs, so deal!)
so I had to fore go the vision of that perfect tradition...
but we have a tradition that totally works for us,
we get our tree from Target, and we might go somewhere else this year...but that's okay...we're getting a tree...and making memories wherever the tree comes from.
but I really do think the tradition that we need to start,
and that will work for my family is the 'me getting a new appliance tradition'....
does your family have any good traditions?
*putting together a puzzle (I have a friend that gets a new puzzle at the beginning of the Christmas season and they put it somewhere that they can work on it thru out the whole season
*gingerbread houses....so many good inexpensive ones out on the market...saw one at Trader Joe's that I think I'm going to get this year.
*Movies...what is your favorite Christmas movie?...I know some friends that watch a Christmas movie on every weekend night between Thanksgiving and Christmas....
*putting up the Nativity set...I also have a friend that has a great Nativity activity (say that 3x's fast!), when they set up the nativity set they put the wise men on the other side of the room, or even in a different room, and each night one of the kids gets to move the wise men a little closer to the stable, having them arrive on Christmas morning. I've also heard of having the manger empty until Christmas morning and when the kids wake up in the morning Jesus is in the manger.
6. Gifts
*the kids get a Christmas ornament every year, they get to pick it out, so not sure if this classifies as a gift or and activity since we do it together...anyways when they grown up and move out they will get all of their ornaments for their tree...I put their name and year somewhere on the ornament with a fine tipped Sharpie
*pj's for Christmas Eve, my mom buys the kids new pajama's every year for Christmas and they get to open them on Christmas Eve so they are wearing new jammies on Christmas morning...
*have you heard of the pickle...we have a pickle ornament on our tree. Well, actually it waits and Beau or I put it on our tree on Christmas Eve. The first child that finds the pickle on Christmas morning gets to be the present 'Santa' (handing out the gifts all morning)...this tradition helps the kids focus on the beauty of the moment and not rush down to look at all the gifts under the tree....
*new appliances...my husband loves to buy me new appliances for Christmas,
like a new fridge or
front loading washer or
a brand new stove....
(okay, so that was a lie...just checking to see if he is actually reading my blog!)
one thing to remember about traditions is that you should only do them if they work for your family.
you may have a vision of the perfect family outing into the forest to cut down your Christmas tree...I loved doing this as a kid and couldn't wait for this tradition with my own kids...
but I married a man who hates the snow...
(yes, I know, he also kicks dogs, so deal!)
so I had to fore go the vision of that perfect tradition...
but we have a tradition that totally works for us,
we get our tree from Target, and we might go somewhere else this year...but that's okay...we're getting a tree...and making memories wherever the tree comes from.
but I really do think the tradition that we need to start,
and that will work for my family is the 'me getting a new appliance tradition'....
1 comment:
First, love love love the appliance tradition!
One tradition thst i love is our little manger...it is an empty manger that we put in the living room (small ...sits on a shelf, piano, ect) everytime my kids do something that would please Jesus, they get to put a piece of straw in the manger. On Christmas, we put the baby Jesus on the straw that they have put together. The kids love it.
i also started a new one this year that my kids are loving. I made an advent calander that has small envelopes for each day with a piece of paper that holds a message for each day. Some examples would be reading passages from the Bible about Jesus' birth to reading a new christmas book to writing a letter to santa. My kids are really enjoying this.
Thanks for the post!
Meredith
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