Holiday Traditions I love...
1. Sharing around the table at Thanksgiving a blessing from the year.
2. Breaking the wishbone from the turkey.
3. My annual shopping trip to Chicago with my mom and friends.
4. Trimming the Tree.
5. Sleeping in the light of the tree.
6. Sending and receiving Christmas Cards.
It's that time of year when we start drawing names for Christmas, start planning the menus for our family get-togethers and discussing just what we're going to do to celebrate our gratitude during this Thanksgiving season and how we'll bring joy to others at Christmas. It seems that since we've been married the only real tradition is that each year the tradition changes. But, such is life...the real blessing is that we have family to celebrate with regardless of the changing traditions. Recently, due to the economy and the fact that we are Americans and live in a land of "have it all," we decided to ponder some alternatives to our family Christmas exchange. Here were the ideas we tossed around.
1. Trade names by family and create a basket gift for the family you draw.
2. Trade individual names and lower the price limit using a theme. (ex; movie theme where everyone buys their person a movie, book theme, food theme...)
3. Purchase tickets to It's a Wonderful Life at the round barn theater along with dinner at their restaurant and that would BE our Christmas. We'd attend with one another and enjoy the evening.
4. Get the name of a needy family and have our regular family dinner and then end the night shopping for the needy family and wrapping their gifts up to deliver together.
We all voted on our favorite. The needy family ...Choice #4 was the winner. So...the money we would use to buy gifts for one another we will put towards a family that would otherwise have no Christmas. We'll still get together for our big family dinner but instead of sitting in the living room opening our own gifts afterwards, we will hit the town shopping for a less fortunate family. We'll take the presents home, wrap them up as a family and then take them to their destination in time to bless a family on Christmas Day. I'm so excited! I'm not only excited about the opportunity to do something for someone else but I'm also excited for the lesson that this will be for my kids. Oh, I suppose Sophie is too young to understand it but Jack will and I can't wait for the conversation that will surround his shopping and the blessing that this "tradition" will be for him. I'm wondering...any fun holiday traditions that you care to pass along? Leave me a comment and share! Happy Holidays to all my blogging buddies...the season is upon us!
2 comments:
I like choice #4 also. This will be a great lesson to the kids. And I bet Jack will be so excited to pick out toys for other lucky children.
We, too, are changing the tradition of buying presents for all of Cameron and Cade's cousins. Not necessarily for monetary reasons, but because it seems to become more difficult each year to think of what each child "needs." The "need" list is not great and the older kids are even more difficult to impress with gifts. I have no doubts that grandparents and Santa will provide plenty of goodies.
Even though this tradition is changing, our time spent with family will not. I love the holiday season...time with family, the decor, and the yummy food!
What a GREAT way to spend the Holidays. Our family (my side of the family) is also changing our gift giving this year...same reasons you are. I love some of your ideas.
We have a family tradition that each year we buy for a needy family. My mom has done this since I was a young child and has totally inspired me. She actually keeps a separate bank account that she "tithes" into each week so that she has a nice little nest egg just for her "special family" each year. Anyway, Last year Eva was only 3 but she understood the idea of buying for a family in need (I wasn't sure she would). It was so fun to watch her help me pick out items for the family we were buying for.
We also make a tradition that at the beginning of the school year we let our children pick out a backpack and we fill it up with all kinds of school goodies. We then donate the backpack to a school. It has all paid off in that my daughter (Jaden is still too young) gets the importance of giving to those in need. Sometimes when we are cleaning her room she will randomly say, "I think we need to give this to children that don't have toys". Ahhhhhh....music to my ears.
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