Holiday Traditions

My family is not too big on traditions.  Sometimes I wish we were but honestly with all of our moves, each holiday can often be quite different from the year before.  Throw in a husband's crazy schedule and the fact that he has missed a few holidays here and there, and well, we do the best we can.  We have also learned that being flexible can help keep disappointment at bay.

It's all about the memories, right?

Like the year he flew on Christmas so we pretended Christmas was the day before and celebrated a day early.  A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do! ;)

A few things we do hold dear and try to keep the same each year-

Christmas Books!  We have a basket of Christmas books we bring out each year and read through.  Some we read together and others disappear to certain children's rooms for a period of time.  We have even read most of them under the lights of the Christmas tree when the kids were younger.  Each year we usually add at least one to our collection and someday I will look forward to reading them to grandchildren maybe.
 

Advent devotions!  Each year this looks a little different for us but we love the advent season.   The anticipation of each week drawing closer to Christmas is just intensified when we focus on the birth of Jesus!  Four years ago we discovered the books Jotham's Journey, Tabitha's Travels, Bartholomew's Passage  and Ishtar's Odyssey.  We cycled through reading them and began again this year with Jotham's Journey!  Even the big kids will sit with us each night and read a quick chapter together during our family time.  Such precious memories we are making.
 

Nativities!  We love putting up various Nativity scenes around the house.  Some years they all make it out and other year we pick and choose, depending on the space.  Each child also has a special one for their rooms that they will eventually take with them.

 

 

 

Christmas Eve Buffet!  After going to our church's Christmas Eve service we return home to a fun family dinner comprising of each person's favorite "fun" food!  We let each person pick what they want and then that's what is for dinner.  For the past several years we have invited others into our craziness, making it even more fun to see what everyone will choose.  Someone in our family still  votes yearly for ice cream, but we do try to encourage  something with a little more nutritional value.  I can tell you shrimp, bacon rapped water chestnuts, and crab dip always make the cut!

Looking at Christmas lights!  We do try to take one night to pile in the car and drive around looking at the lights in the neighborhood.  I always thought it would be fun to do in our pajamas, but we have lived in some pretty cold places folks, and my hubby does not always entertain the same idea of fun as I do.

Christmas morning coffee cake!  My mom started this one for us about 6 or 7 years ago.  She gave us this beautiful pie plate that has a recipe for coffee cake on it.  Each Christmas morning we make it and enjoy a leisurely breakfast in between opening stockings and gifts.  The only thing you have to watch for is that once you pour the batter in, you are out of luck for the icing recipe if you have not written it down before hand.  Ask me how I know this!

 

See?  Simple but fun!  And something we look forward to each December.  How about you?  What traditions do you have in your family?

Blessings,

Traditions 101- 5 Day Blog Hop

Welcome to day 4 of the 5 Days of Homeschool 101!  We are thrilled you are back!

Today is all about traditions and so I am going to start with a little confession.

I am not big into traditions.  At all.  Call me lazy or just a bad mom, but we tend to change things around a lot and don't adhere to many traditions.  But there are some fun ones out there for homeschooling and IF I was going to be inspired here's what I would do-

Assign each child a color for the year.  Ok, this one I do, but only recently.  Color coding notebooks and school supplies is fun and relatively easy as long as you are smart on your color choice.  That's about where my traditions stop.

Make a special breakfast.  I have seen some moms go all out on this, even taking the children out for a fun breakfast.  I love the idea, just never do it.

Take first day of school pictures.  I know, I know, bad on my part, but it doesn't happen here.  I do, however, look at all the cute pictures you all post on Facebook and feel bad for my kids!

Celebrate the 100th day of school.  Yes, I do keep track of what day we are on, but not once have we treated it any differently.  Again, I love all of the fun ideas I see online, but the thought of collecting 100 of anything goes against my 34 Days of Clean principles and makes me cringe.

Celebrate the holidays.  OK, we do celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter but after that, not so much.  When I taught preschool I actually gave thought to Valentines Day, St. Patrick's Day, Presidents Day and such, but now, not so much.  I do dream of a theme decorated room and love seeing yours! ;)

Take off the child's birthday.  Yay me!  I have been known to do this occasionally.  When it fits my schedule well.  Again, I love the idea, but the thought of taking off a random day in the middle of the week makes me cringe.

I am sure there are so many more, but for the sake of my pride I will stop.  I also want you to still like me!  :)  The point is, traditions can be fun and if they fit your family, then have at it!  

Enjoy your time, but most importantly, enjoy your kids!

Blessings,