Blogathon-Home for the holidays

Christmas has always been a special time for me, coming from a big family where the occasion to give was always taken very seriously. Since being married I have enjoyed creating new traditions as well as taking many of the family traditions from both my husbands and my own childhood. This year we took the time throughout the month of December to, in doing little things, teach our children about giving. One of my favorite activities was: going around town to find all of the Salvation army bell ringers and having the children give the change they had. For the rest of the season, every time my daughter would see the famous buckets as we were driving she would say “lets stop mom and give them something”. We often did. Another one was bringing cookies to some elderly people in our church and another was the kids taking their dollars to the dollar tree with the intention of picking out the perfect gift for their siblings (this was especially hard for my son who wants everything he sees). So the weeks leading up to Christmas were jam packed with lesson laden activities that helped us enjoy the season more than ever before. Christmas morning came and my son with his sleepy little eyes padded out of his room in his Christmas Eve red pajamas, clutching the cowboy boots he had received from his aunt the night before. On seeing the tree he said “Santa is here mom”. (a funny thing to say because we have always treated Santa as an imagined character much like Peter Pan and Spider Man. I just thought it was so cute.) We had banana fritters and hot cocoa, listened to my daughter quote the Christmas story and opened stockings. My husband kept us moving pretty quick because he was excited about loading up all the gifts stacked around the tree into the car to get over to my parents for the traditional gathering of the entire family for the best celebration you have ever seen. We packed up the car, complete with kids, presents and puppy in his kennel. My parents used to have us come whenever we wanted but if 8:30 passes, it isn’t long before we start getting calls from my sisters and brother, and they get more relentless as the minutes pass by. This isn’t annoying, it is part of the tradition that has been for years. My husband always asks “any calls yet?” with good natured expectation.

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