Many of us grew up in homes filled with tradition. Some might don their Christmas Eve pajamas, read certain stories or remember gatherings filled with specific foods that the holidays just wouldn't be complete without. While it's good to keep the old, it's always nice to add something of your own to your children's memories — but how?
Although the idea of starting a tradition that your family will carry on for years seems a little daunting, it doesn't have to be super stressful. Think about small things that help ring the season in, here are a few ideas:
• Serve a special (or traditional) breakfast: Even if it's as simple as cinnamon rolls, knowing what tasty food you'll be having makes everyone's mouth water!
• Movies & Music: Sing certain songs, watch certain movies, pick a night to have a true family night and get everyone together. Do it at the beginning of the holiday season and it will kick things off right! Try watching the same movie every year while you decorate the house or listen to the same cd.
• Outings: You might not be chopping down a Christmas tree, but even an outing together to see holiday lights, window displays or holiday items around your city can be time well spent.
• Service: Although it's at the bottom of the list, there's a chance that this act might make the biggest impact on your kids. Try leaving gifts of food, toys or crafts with neighbors or those who might need a pick me up. Try working together in a soup kitchen or even helping neighbors untangle their Christmas lights with some homemade hot chocolate.
Traditions don't have to involve money, they don't even have to involve a great deal of thought and sometimes you might create a tradition without even knowing it. But those memories you create for your own home can mean more to your kids than any gift ever could.
What was the first tradition you implemented in your home when you first had children? Have you added more since? Let us know in the comments below!
(Image: Flickr member Carrie Stephens licensed for use by Creative Commons)
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Since DH & I got married we go to the Hallmark store each year to pick out an ornament together. We keep it light hearted & fun. Like last year we got the Survivor ornament because we love watching the show together. Then we each pick out a special Christmas card for each other for Christmas morning. :)
We've continued my family's tradition of buying one ornament each year. I can line up my ornaments from the time I was born all the way through college, grad school, marriage and kids and I hope that my kids will be able to do the same someday.
We go to zoolights every year. We also go to Christmas Eve service, and we get one ornament as a couple and one for our son. When our kids grow up I plan on giving them the ornaments they picked out over the years so that they can have them and remember Christmases past.
After this year when my youngest will be 2 and 1/2 I would like to make something with them such as gingerbread houses, which I loved doing with my niece and nephew before I had kids of my own. This is something that would definitely get our entire family together to make the coolest houses!
When on a vacation we buy an ornament to hang on our tree. It isn't always an ornament. This year we bought a key chain at the zoo and hung the wooden elephant from some ribbon to make out ornament. Another tradition we started since we had a child is the morning after thanksgiving we have Pie for breakfast, because what kid doesn't love dessert for breakfast, even if it is only once a year.
Love the question! We spend Black Friday setting up our home for the holidays. We listen to holiday music, get a small tree, hang a wreath, do holiday crafts, and dig out the green and red bins full of books, movies and toys that have been in hiding. One particular thing I thought was a waste of money was a holiday coloring book -- we got one for Halloween, Christmas, Easter, etc. But since they still haven't filled them and we have had them for nearly 5 years, so it's very neat to see how their artwork has evolved over time. Very cute.
We have also started doing a new advent calendar which I found here -- numbering and wrapping a christmas book for each day. The girls LOVE this, especially the 6 year old, and we only had to buy 1 (we love our xmas books!). Christmas was a big deal when I was growing up, but I have been surprised by how much these traditions mean to me now.
We've started a tradition of hanging Christmas lights in our girls' bedrooms. Nothing fancy - just a string of lights or two loosely roping their way from picture frame nail to doorframe, etc. It is not a "pretty" display in the traditional sense of the word, but they LOVE it. Makes the room seem almost magical, and it's a special once a year treat that lasts for about a month.
(P.S. please don't yell at me about fire safety. they are only on when someone is in the room and awake. otherwise they are unplugged.)
baumgak, we put light s in our kids' room as well. I find the traditions from childhood to be very special for me as an adult. I try to pass them on to my kids. I received an orniment each year and so do my children. I have added a few. The man in the red brings each child a nutcraker each year. Also, we have a special Christmas book. It is "Snowbears Christmas Countdown". In the book, Snowbear does something special each day until Christmas. We read each page like an advent calendar. So on the First Day of December we read the first December day for Snowbear. On the second we read the first and second day and so on until christmas. My kids are 8 and 6 now and we have been doing this since 2005...but we all still love it.
We always do an advent calendar, bake lots of Empire Biscuits (my great-grandma's recipe), make a big deal of getting the tree and decorating the house, have a cookie exchange party with other neighborhood families, a crab dinner with family on Xmas Eve and also tour the town for decorated houses on one night. The kids look forward to each and every one of the traditions.
This year, now that my son is almost 2.5, we started doing the advent calendar and the Elf on the Shelf, two things I had no idea about until recently. The little guy doesn't understand much, but it's getting into it quite some, which is fun for us. We are also planning on getting him an ornament and start off on that tradition.
Looeth--when I was growing up my family used to do the same on Black Friday, I loved it!