KayT Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Tell me about the traditions you keep in your family...whether for school or family. I am feeling tradition-less today and want to start some! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smilesonly Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Off the top of my head.... We eat by candle light *every* night during winter-well,just after Thanksgiving-mid March. Donuts after church. A Lindt(sp?) chocolate ball when we stop at our favorite drugstore. Jammies for our Christmas Eve present. One new Christmas theme book for Christmas. Button tree during Advent. Lights on Christmas tree when we get it-usually first weekend in December,followed by decorating the tree with ornaments on Christmas Eve. Christmas AM,we open three presents(Wise men)-Something practical,something fun,something religious. Celebrating the twelve days of Christmas. One new Easter theme book for Easter. Dance party on new years eve.:D Dessert on Saturday and Sunday nights. Riding bikes to farmers market in summer. Watching the Tour de France in July.:confused: :D Monthly Mom/DD and Mom/DS dates, and Dad/DS and Dad DD dates.(One on one time) On those rare occassions we go out to eat, we choose the same table.:D Go to Pumpkin patch. I make monster meatballs on halloween,never scary costumes-only fun ones. Trips to ice cream shoppe after dentist. Apple juice,tea,toast,chix soup and dvds when sick. Saturday night game night-*finally* our youngest makes this possible. Picnics w/red-checkered table cloth on floor. "Fort" days on rainy days. Making donuts when public schools close for snow days. many more.... Great thread! Smiles:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 We go to swap meet (large public garage sale at the local shopping centre carpark) every Sunday at 6 or 7am, since before the kids were born- to buy, not sell. If its raining, we do garage sales. We all love it, we get amazing things, clothes, "stuff" there. Its like Christmas every Sunday. We think its the hunter gatherer instinct we are allowing to come out in ourselves :) The kids know the 2nd hand market very well, what things are worth, when they are getting ripped off....so there is always a way they can make money if they choose, and recently dd14 did run her first stall there are made some decent money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsdash Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 It's always a school holiday if the Red Sox win a championship Opening one gift on Christmas Eve Lasagna on Thanksgiving there is an annual slew of dvds for Christmas ...from the dogs the cat gets us a family gift every year as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Here are some book suggestions that might help. They're all Waldorfy but I think they'd be easy to adapt for anyone. Festivals, Family and Food by Diana Carey and Judy Large The Children's Year Cooper, Fynes-Clinton and Rowling All Year Round by Ann Druitt, Christine Fynes-Clinton and Marije Rowling We've implemented family traditions that we just read about and thought would be fun even though they're not something dh or I did as kids. For example, St. Lucia's day was a huge hit even though we're not Swedish and I made Pillsbury orange rolls and gingerbread cookies instead of the real menu. Feel free to adapt, simplify or completely invent a tradition so that it's fun and functional for you. The real point of holidays and traditions is to mark the passing of time through the seasons and the years, so anything that you enjoy doing will work. Just remember to create a bit of anticipation in the kids by talking about it in advance. Pretty soon, they'll be asking you for the things you did last year and you'll have made your own tradition. Good luck and happy holidays! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 We don't really have any non-holiday or non-vacation traditions, but now you have me thinking about creating some. The only thing I can think of is my dd's tradition of celebrating her birthday at the Memorial Day Weekend dog show with her grandmother, lol. All of my big kids will be gone this weekend, giving me a breather. I'm going to think about the replies and brainstorm a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Only me Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Great thread. Here are a few: Every year I give the kids a special new book, Christmas ornament and new pajamas for Christmas (one each day leading up to Christmas). They get other presents too but they always know they'll get these. Every year they get scotch tape in their stocking. My mom did this with us too. I have no idea why but for some reason it has always come in useful. New Year's Eve we always have pizza for dinner and chips and dip at 11:00. We spend the whole evening playing games. I sleep downstairs on the couch with the kids. (DH loves this because he gets the whole bed to himself). The last day of summer vacation I do a school supply hunt for the kids. I make up clues and they have to to though the house to find the next clue and a different item (pencils, folders, etc.). Even though my kids are getting older they still enjoy this and love new crayons. The first full day of summer the kids stay outside very late. They often have a little party for the little kids on the block earlier in the day and sometimes go on a picnic. On birthdays the birthday child gets to choose what to eat for breakfast and dinner. Every time we have a garage sale the kids make some kind of craft to sell. Any money raised goes to a charity. I really want to get back to a family game night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalicoKat Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 gma's makes new jamies for Christmas Eve gift -- all matching for the gchildren. Cheese fondue Christmas Eve after the Christmas Eve service at church. Easter has it's own special menu: Noodle soup w/ parsley, Sweet Rice with fruit soup. Apple cider & Saurkraut making fest in the fall. Gpa's gotta make hard cider. And we ladies love the kraut (15 gallons this year!) New dresses for Easter. Dairy Queen after Saturday night church service. School always starts with math! In-laws have a yearly family trip to a huge cabin up north. Gparents, parents, cousins --all of us! It's a great time for all. Hot Cocoa after sledding, w/ marshmellows. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim in Appalachia Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Every Sunday we have cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Every Saturday is pizza night. We visit family every September for a yearly reunion. We have a special Polish Christmas Eve dinner. We do a large Passover type dinner the Thursday before Easter. I think we probably have a few more traditions but I can't think of any more right now. (that's because my son is in the background humming over and over again the theme song to Indiana Jones.:tongue_smilie:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tricia Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 We have 2 married children and occasionally will have an older daughter out of town. But none the less we like to have them on the phone for family prayers and for singing happy birthdays to the younger children. Too fun.;) Tricia http://www.mommyx12.blogspot.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom to Aly Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Seeing all of these, I feel we are truly lacking in ours. But here are some: I always ask dd how her day was at the end of the day. We snuggle up in bed, and, even if we have spent the whole day together, which we usually have, she tells me about it. It is interesting to her it from her side. We open fam presents on Christmas Eve and Santa's presents on Christmas morning (yes, she firmly believes in Santa!). We spend New Year's Eve at home, in bed, with movies, games, a "bed picnic" of munchie foods and finger sandwiches, and, hopefully, someone calls us just before midnight so we know when it occurs (we have TV reception). We used to celebrate dd's b'day the number of days equivalent to years--3 years, 3 days, 4 years, 4 days--much to her amazement, 7 is the limit ;). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnTheBrink Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Each kid gets a new Christmas ornament every year. The first of October brings out the fall decor, including dd's favorite Halloween candles. A family in our church hosts a fabulous hay ride and potluck at their farm. Always a lot of fun! The day after Thanksgiving brings out the Christmas decor. If we use the artificial tree, it goes up. If we get a real one, we wait a couple more weeks before getting it. New Year's eve, we go to our church's "Talent" (and we use that term loosely!) show and potluck. Birthday is a day off school and we go to Charlie Parker's Diner for breakfast. Christmas eve, we go to Starbucks for hot drinks and then drive around looking at Christmas lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 On birthdays, the birthday person gets to choose all the meals and gets candles and the Happy Birthday song with each meal. And presents are opened after breakfast. On the first snow of the year, the kids bring in bowls of it and eat it, with a spoon. We make hot cocoa on just about every cold day we an find - and make it from cocoa, sugar and milk. We watch A Christmas Story with little Ralphie non-stop on Christmas eve until the end of Christmas day. We have a picnic dinner on the floor in front of the Christmas tree on the night we decorate it and on Christmas eve. We eat dinner ever night at 6. We go to the Zoo on Thanksgiving before dinner. It is really cool. Its almost empty, the animals are getting treats, and the weather is usually terrific - shh don't tell anyone. I make most things the day before and just warm them up when we get home. It takes the stress off the day and lets us enjoy being together. I get coffee in bed on Saturdays. We make breakfast together on Sundays. The first warm day after a cold spell, we spend the day at the park in the sunshine. We never rake the leaves until they all fall down and until after Halloween, because I love to walk in deep crunchy leaves. When we do rake them, we rake them in big piles and jump in them for a week or so before we put them in the compost pile. We always shovel the school bus stop early so the school kids have a safe place to wait even if we don't shovel our driveway until it warms up later in the day. We give our sandwich crusts to the squirrels in the front yard so we can watch them eat while we have lunch. I am sure we have more, but those are the seasonable ones I can think of right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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