We pass each other in the halls with a smile and a greeting, juggling boxes, bags, and baskets of supplies, balancing snacks on strollers, and shuffling kids from room to room. Between passing out pencils and scrubbing glue off fingers and tables, we may share an encouraging word or a prayer request. But all too often, we drive away with unshared needs and unanswered questions.
Another meeting crammed into our already jammed schedules doesn’t seem like the best solution. The woman who finds herself in a perplexing situation and the woman with wisdom gained by experience in a similar situation may not find themselves in the same place at the same time. Thanks to modern technology, those two women might connect by phone, email, or Facebook. But what if they don’t really know each other? And what about those who might benefit from listening in on their conversation?
We hope this blog will be the spot where moms with questions and moms with wisdom can connect – a place for sharing ideas and insights, stories and solutions. Since it’s December, we thought we’d start the conversation by asking how you celebrate the season. What are your favorite Christmas traditions? How do you make the holidays fun and meaningful for your family?
Jump right in and share your thoughts! The more the merrier!
--Julie Bialek
The Clicks have several family traditions that have proved the test of time - at least for us. The weekend after Thanksgiving we go to a U-cut Christmas tree farm and get our tree. My husband counted it up and including the times that I dragged my girlfriends about the countryside and the times that he and I went before children, this tradition has persisted for 23 years! Wow! How can I be that old?
ReplyDeleteThat same weekend we get out our Christmas decorations. In the past, I have been the one to do it all (just the way I like it) - decorating the mantle, stringing the lights on the tree so that they are evenly spaced (close to the trunk so that you get a good three dimensional effect when they are lit) and I've been the one to hang the outside lights. My older children are eager to take over these duties - a blessing and yet disturbing at the same time. Should Troy really be up on 15 extension ladder pounding a nail into our siding? Wouldn't the snowman look a little better moved slightly to the right of the door? Shouldn't the wreath over the mantle be moved a little to the left? Should the bow really be at the 3:00 position on the wreath at our door?
Oh, well! Tradition is passed on!
Six years ago my sister-in-law started a tradition that the kids look foward to: decorating gingerbread houses. All the cousins are invited - there are 9. We take little milk cartons and glue graham crackers onto the sides and top with frosting and then decorate with candy, crackers, anything suitable we can find in our cupboards or from the $ store. I wish that I had taken better pictures. When we started, the oldest kid was 6 - the end products were pretty.....well, not pretty. But this year's - Wow! What an improvement. And they don't eat near as much of the candy.
Another of our long standing traditions is to get all the families together again for a sugar cookie decorating party. We bake and decorate - have an easy pitch-in dinner and eat cookies for dessert.
After Christmas we meet up at Grandma Sue's (John's mom) and have our family gift exchange. It varies from year to year - Dirty Santa, kids' only, "nice" gifts. This year we decided to do a "family" exchange where we will prepare a gift for the whole family to enjoy.
We have done other fun and memorable things at Christmas time that my children would like to make yearly traditions, but because of time and money constraints just have not been possible. But these four things are traditions that have been around a long time now and we all look forward to them. Merry Christmas to you and yours - I can't wait to read about what you guys to at Christmas! Erla
A couple of really important traditions that the Kieffer kids look forward to at Christmas are the Advent calendar and a treasure hunt. We actually have two advent calendars - the kids love it that much. One is filled with candy, coins, and extra Wii time. This one is done in the morning and the kids look forward to seeing what they get every day. The other calendar has scripture, Christmas hymns, and activities that fill it. Each night after supper the boys open a door and we do that night's thing. This is how we go over the Christmas story every year. A little at a time. Some of the activities that fill it are making cookies, looking at Christmas lights and other fun things. The Christmas present treasure hunt was just started two years ago, but the boys loved it so we kept it. Since we travel home for Christmas with our families before Christmas we've already opened a ton of presents come Christmas day. Our parents tend to go overboard so Jeff and I's presents to the kids don't seem as exciting. So my husband came up with the idea of making the kids work for their presents so it seemed a little more exciting and didn't go by so quickly. We hide the presents around the house and clues are awaiting them when they wake up. They get so excited about this and asked months in advance if they were getting a treasure hunt at Christmas.
ReplyDeleteWe are still a fairly young family that has moved a lot in the past 3 years so traditions are still coming along. I have realized that as my children get older traditions are very important to them. Therefore they are important to me!
I pray everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!