My childhood was so magical, especially around the holidays and I thank my mom for that. She just made is so much fun. The thing I remember most is the music. Whether it was Christmas, Sunday worship, the safety kids, Janice Kapp Perry, she always had uplifting and fun music playing in the background. I believe that's where my love of music developed and to this day, I still associate music with holidays, traditions and work. It wasn't something huge or grand, but my mom definitely established a tradition of music in her home and now I am doing the same with my kids. What are some of the traditions you remember from your childhood? What are some that you're trying to implement into your family life now?
Traditions, celebrating and coming together are all things that please our Heavenly Father when they are uplifting and bring us closer together as families.. They can create a feeling of belonging and joy.
Great quote. It's the traditions and celebrations that promote love and acceptance, encouragement, safety and create the best and long-lasting memories. We are cautioned not to go too crazy or overboard to the point of making it miserable for us. I've done this so many times where I end up hating the event because I went way too nuts over the party because I wanted to make it this and that and then I ended up wanting to curl up and disappear because of the stress involved. My kid didn't care about all the froo fro. And I wasn't really doing it for them anyway -if i were honest, but for me. (some disconnect between me not getting birthday parties when I was growing up or something and now I need to make up for it, idk, my immaturity is troubling at times)
YEP! That's exactly what I was trying to say. Let's keep it fun and simple and something not just because everyone else does it. Let's be real and lighten up a little and just have fun with our little cutie pies. Let's be deliberate in our own family traditions and celebrations. Ask yourselves: What is our family dynamic? What do we really enjoy doing together? How could we form closer bonds and what activities would help us do that? What are some unique traits that our family has? What makes us laugh? Etc., etc., etc.
So here is the new giveaway assignment:
and here are the goodies that you could win. WAHOO!
I'm subscribed and our favorite tradition is making the kids all new pj pants to open on Christmas eve!! They love knowing the will have new ones to go to sleep in on Christmas eve and I love making them a gift.
ReplyDeleteI dont know why blogger is fighting with me lol but I did sub via email! :D
DeleteWe have a white elephant gift exchange party with my husband's family every year. It's way more enjoyable to buy fun, goofy gifts instead of stressing about getting the latest and greatest gadgets for everyone. Hours spent laughing until crying are better memories than opening expensive gifts for a few minutes.
ReplyDeleteIn the last few years, my husband and I have started opening our gifts from each other on Christmas Eve. This way, we get a nice, magical and romantic night and Christmas day is all about our Children.
ReplyDeleteI am also subscribed. Mychildrens favorite tradition is baracading themselves in one bedroom on Christmas Eve with treats, holiday movies and a tv and hanging out together until they are allowed to wake up their dad and me at 5:30 a.m. We have seven kids ages 9 to 23. They still do it, it was all their idea. It started about 15 years ago.
ReplyDeleteI'm subscribed. I grew up with 5 sisters, no boys, and my mom is an incredible seamstress. She would sew dresses for each of us each christmas and easter that coordinated. At times we hated matching our sisters, but loved it too. I now have 2 daughters and have carried on the tradition of sewing dresses for Christmas and easter. My girls love to help with the design and fabric choices.
ReplyDeleteWe really love all holidays at our house and have tradition for Christmas (steak and shrimp dinner and mr. Kruegers Christmas, peppermint pillow cases with new pillows, the Christmastable we snack on the rest of the week to name a few), thanksgiving (Christmas tree hunting, volleyball tournements, the best food with the best people), 4th July (bbq, city activities, town fireworks in our back yard) ...ect...but our most favorite traditions are the summer camping trips, or the fathers blessings the night before the first day of school, or taking the kids out of school on their birthday and treat them to lunch..the everyday traditions are just as important if not more than the big holiday ones! :) *I love your stuff!!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite holiday tradition everything! We have so many; I love the decorations, the festivities, family, cooking & baking, etc. But my #1 is the joy & love I feel with my family, especially my boys! ��
ReplyDeleteOne of our favorite family traditions is a weekly one. It used to be that my husband would make lunch after church each Sunday, usually grilled cheese sandwiches, and we would talk about what we learned at church. Now our four children work together to make Sunday lunch (still grilled cheese sandwiches) and we take turns talking about what we learned in each of our classes that day. It's a time we all look forward to as a way to reconnect after a busy week with many different schedules and events.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite tradition is reading the story of the Nativity on Christmas Eve. And we have a delicious drink that we only have on Christmas Eve!!!
ReplyDeleteI am subscribled too. One of our family traditions is to collect items for christmas ornaments from each family vacation we take. Our christmas tree is very eclectic and full of fun memories.
ReplyDeleteWe have many favorite tradition! I wanted to share a couple of them. When it's someones birthday, we celebrate by fixing them their favorite breakfast (yes, we have had s'mores once!). Then before gifts after breakfast, we each go around saying kind things that we love about that person. We do something similar on fathers day & mothers day.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing we do is that ee have assigned prayer days & scripture day. So the child/person will say the family prayers & oversee family scripture study on their assigned day. My kids love this & have developed some great skills by doing this.
We also have a set time each week to play a game or games for 20 minutes each week...the focus is to have fun. Often it lasts longer but reminds us to have fun in life.
Thanks for this time to reflect!
Oh! I am a subscriber!
DeleteI could not find how to subscribe �� if I can comment successfully...does this mean I did it correctly? My apologies...i am usually better at navigating online!
ReplyDeletethank you for this post! I actually needed to hear this and not just in preparation for the holidays but as a reminder to create great memories with my children as each opportunity presents itself!
Jo
I just realized I didn't mention my family tradition! for Christmas we do a different activity every year...one year it was the advent calendar, another year we baked cookies and left Santa the "magic key", we did a family service project where the children would pick the family we should bake special for, always centering our activities around Christ but every year consistently we will drive around light hunting, open one gift on Christmas Eve and the rest in Christmas morning then head over to grandma and grandpas for the traditional Christmas Breakfast! I super love the Holidays!
ReplyDeleteSubscribed if I did it right.
ReplyDeleteOne fun thing we do Is PVR cheesy Christmas movies then watch them with food treats for special scenes. (Like a drinking game) Like raisens (poop) for an reindeer sighting. Mini cookie for santa. Hershey kiss. (These movies are usually very G rated)
We also sing a Christmas hymn every night.
Growing up my mother and father would bake a quarter into our birthday cake and who ever got it in their piece got to keep it. My friends really Loved that one! And so did I. And my grandmother always had a very special gift for each of us on Christmas eve which for me always included a China doll to add to my collection and other things. I still miss and cherish those christmas eve nights with her probably more than any other tradition. we also went to the Oregon coast every other year and I've tried to make that a part of my family's tradition as well. I think very fondly of those places now. Thank you for this challenge! this has been a wonderful thing to think about! I had forgotten about some. My heart is full! oh yes and one more my mother would always set out on the table a new pencil perhaps a piece of clothing or just little odds and ends things to take to school at every single holiday. Even st. Patrick's Day Memorial Day etc. She ALWAYS made those random days special. I think you have inspired a call to mother tomorrow for gratitude for such a special childhood.
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I think I am Subscribed now, I hope I did that properly. :-)
ReplyDeleteMy favorite family tradition is something new we just started a few years ago. Whenever someone has a birthday we write out the corresponding number of things we love about them. When my husband recently turned 43 we made 43 love hearts, each with something we love about him written on it. It's fun to write them and it's fun to read them!
PS. It was really fun reading about everyone's traditions! Great post!
I have to family traditions that i love very much. One, after every sporting event, i take a selfie with the participating child. Win or lose we have a memory together. Two. Every time my husband and i go to the temple we take a photo of our feet with the temple. It just means so much to see each temple with and no that our time together is for eternity.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite family tradition is decorating the Christmas tree with family. We make it an all-out affair, and we recount the memories behind the many ornaments that act as part of our family history. Each year, we also make a new set of ornaments together that represents our family and experiences that year. I hope our children continue the tradition with their children.
ReplyDeleteSubscribed!! My favorite Christmas tradition is on Christmas Eve we brave the snow and visit our brother and grandparents graves at the local cemetery. We clean their graves and shovel a border of snow around them. We place white bags with sand and a candle in each one after which we light them. It's a beautiful memorial and reminder of how grateful we are to see these people again!! I'll always remember pulling away from the cemetery seeing those beautiful glowing lanterns!
ReplyDeleteWe get up early Christmas morning and do service as a family before we open gifts. It's getting a little tougher now that we have four little ones, but the Spirit is sweet and it's one of my favorite parts of Christmas. (I'm subscribed:))
ReplyDeleteSubscribed! My favorite traditions with our family is every Christmas before bed, we get a picture by the Christmas tree with the kids in pajamas, we read the scripture nativity story and put out our manger and the kids get to act as the character pieces. we read the night before Christmas. We put cookies and reindeer carrots out on the fireplace then hop in bed! :)
ReplyDeleteI would have to say it's a tie for my favorite Christmas tradition. We love driving around as a family, oohing and ahhhing at all the lights and displays in the neighborhood. But I LOVE decorating my own house: the lights, the tree, everything!! I'm always a little sad when the season ends and I have to take it all down and pack it away until next year.
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My favorite tradition is decorating sugar cookies with my kids. We all look forward to it every year. We make a huge mess and listen to Christmas music!
ReplyDeleteWe almost always eat turkey at the major holidays. We also always make a thankful wreath throughout November, where we write something we're thankful for on a leaf and add it every day, until, by Thanksgiving, we have a full, fun wreath of blessings for which we're thankful.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite tradition for Christmas is hiding a shoe of each one of our kids. Santa likes to hide shoes when he delivers gifts and the kids have to find them before opening gifts .
ReplyDeleteMy family tradition was the Christmas donkey. Every year on Christmas Eve we put our shoes out the door with carrots for Mary's Donkey to eat. He would leave us a book. It was very simple but it was so much fun to feel like we were helping the Christmas story.
ReplyDeleteSo...I'm not sure how to subscribe to a blog! Still trying to figure it out. In the meantime, my favorite family tradition is doing the 12 days of Christmas for my kids, with crafts, treats, books, & service projects.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite family tradition growing up was having a big family party with all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. We would play this really fun game where there were several boxes wrapped and put into one another. We had to dress up in a certain ensemble and try to be the one that got the prize in the middle. The beat part was that it didn't really matter who won, we always shared the candy that was awarded with one another. I love family traditions and the memories they provide in hard and trying times.
ReplyDeleteI'm living with my daughter, son-in-law and their four little ones and my favorite tradition is reading with them everyday. The smiles, giggles and comments are so precious! At Christmas time we jazz it up a bit by wrapping Christmas themed books and allowing them to each choose one to unwrap for part of our reading (yes, we own many books!). The children are bright, read early, speak well, and are exposed to many great things through reading! The bond formed will never be broken. Good times!
ReplyDeleteOh wow, I have so many things I love about celebrating the holidays. I think if I had to pick, my favorite would be sitting in our house with only the Christmas lights and fireplace on. We drink hot chocolate, eat cookies and read Luke 2. I love the peaceful, cozy feeling it brings! (Subscribed)
ReplyDeleteDon't see where to subscribe, so I hope I already am! My favorite family tradition is Christmas Eve pizza. Many years ago, my husband noticed how stressed out I was as I tried to finish up last minute Christmas preparation (pre-planner days!), so he told me not to worry about Christmas Eve dinner. He came home with all of the fixin's forvthe children to put together their own pizzas. They loved it so much, we continue to do it every year.
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ReplyDeleteSubscribed :) My favorite tradition is getting together every night and talking about their happiest thought from the day. For Christmas, my favorite tradition is watching the cartoon of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. For Easter, we go hunting for Easter eggs at night with flashlights, which makes it a lot more balanced with our wide range of kids.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite tradition is decorating the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving so that we can sit in the room with all the lights off except for the tree and enjoy the pretty lights twinkling in the dark.
ReplyDeleteSubscribed! Love your planner. One of our family's favorite traditions started when our kids were much younger - as a way for my husband to help me on Christmas eve. He takes the children down to the Smithsonian Museums for the day so that I can finish up last minute things (when they were little that meant wrapping presents). We have nine children and they all look forward to spending the day with Dad on Christmas Eve - makes the time waiting for Christmas day pass quicker too.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, the last day of school we would have a neighborhood bonfire and burn our school work from the year, then have a water fight. I have rekindled the tradition with my boys and they LOVE it.
ReplyDeleteI subscribed and posted my tradition on your insta page! Yay!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite tradition for Christmas is having my parents spend the night with us every Christmas Eve. My dad reads the "Christmas" story from the Bible, and in the past the kids would act out the Nativity. My parents are Catholic, so last year after my toddler went to bed they took my teenage daughter and her boyfriend to midnight mass. It's important to me that they understand that other cultures/religions celebrate differently, but it's just as beautiful and spiritual.
ReplyDelete*Not sure why I can't subscribe on this page. For some reason, it won't let me. :(
Subscribed! :) I am very close to some of my extended family. One of my family's favorite traditions is having dinner on Christmas Eve at my uncle's house with my cousin's, and other extended family. It's not a huge production, but it's getting to spend time with each other, having a wonderful dinner and fostering relationships that are so dear to me.
ReplyDeleteSubscribed! Amen! I believe that there is a strong correlation between family traditions and strong family bonds. If you haven't read the book, "Intentional Family: Simple rituals to strengthen family ties" you should read it! It is an amazing book about creating family traditions to strengthen your family! My favorite tradition as a child was getting up Christmas morning. My parents made us get dressed nice (because you wouldn't present yourself at Christ's birthday in your PJs) and then we started our Christmas morning out with family prayer. They wanted us to remember to focus on Christ instead of the presents!
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ReplyDelete(Posted prematurely so here is the full comment)I hope I did everything right; Instagram posting and subscribing, etc. Our family tradition is CAMPING! We celebrate the end of the school year by going to a new KOA campground, and then we take a second camping trip in the fall to celebrate the change in seasons by having a camping trip at a National Forest. We look forward to these trips with much anticipation each year!! What is great is that camping really illustrates the message in the quotes you used in your blog post. We plan for the best, but when you are outside in nature you just can't plan for everything. Our most recent trip included heavy downpours every evening just as we were getting the fire ready for s'mores. It sure put a damper on the kids' mood, but we were still able to have fun and they learned a valuable lesson in adjusting expectations.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite tradition is our family dinner on Christmas Eve. I just love the togetherness we get to have on that special night. It's my favorite. :)
ReplyDeleteAs a child our family would visit my grandparents on the weekends and every Saturday morning my grandfather would get up before the sun and start cooking us breakfast. The smell of bacon would permeate through the entire house and slowly everyone would wake up and gather around the table for breakfast. My grandfather passed away this year and we are missing him dearly. But I still carry on with the big breakfast on Saturday mornings for my family, but with Turkey bacon (LOL).
ReplyDeleteMy favorite family tradition is baking and frosting sugar cookies with my children every December. We tend to make a mess but we have so much fun!
ReplyDeleteAs a family we would always open all of our presents on Christmas Eve because that was the time when all the family was there. We have continued this tradition even when it doesn't always fall on Christmas Eve such as last year our kids didn't get to open their presents until the 28th of December. The waiting was hard but I think that they were enjoyed more because of the wait. They got to open them when Grandma could be here to enjoy and maybe even help out a bit in the opening of the presents.
ReplyDeleteEvery year we have a gingerbread house building competition. We post pictures and everyone votes. There is no prize--- just fun! Its a fun thing to keep our family connected no matter where everyone lives.
ReplyDeleteEvery year we have a gingerbread house building competition. We post pictures and everyone votes. There is no prize--- just fun! Its a fun thing to keep our family connected no matter where everyone lives.
ReplyDeleteEvery night in December we read a different children's Christmas story. They are each wrapped and we take turns picking the book for the night. Some of them are fun, like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, some of them tell the story of Christmas, and some of them tell of the spirit of Christmas and giving to others.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite tradition is decorating Christmas cookies with my three amazing boys. It's something they look forward to every Christmas Eve.
ReplyDeleteA favorite holiday experience we have is our Jesus Stocking. It started when I was little. We have a small red stocking we put up in December with slips of paper nearby. Whenever someone witnesses another family member doing a kind act for them or someone else they weite down what happened and put it in the stocking. Christmas Eve we read Jesus' birth story in the Bible and then empty the Jesus stocking and read the papers. It has been especially fun as last year both my sons were able to write their own slips of paper. Sometimes I keep some favorites to look back on. People don't necessarily do more for others, but it helps them become more aware of how blessed we are and how kind others can be. I have loved carrying the tradition on with my own family.
ReplyDeleteI also subscribe via e-mail and bloglovin'. :)
My favorite family tradition is having dinner by candlelight on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. People tend to really open up when they're eating in subdued lighting. It makes the dinner seem more close and intimate for the family. We break out the "wine" glasses and have non-alcoholic champagne. Everyone hates to leave the table and turn the lights back on.
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