February 2016 Moms
jmcooke25
member
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Holiday Traditions
jmcooke25
member
Hi everyone! Since we are getting close to the holiday season, I thought it might be nice to talk about traditions! Does anyone have any special family traditions that you do every year? Are there any you will be starting with your littles this year? This can be for any of the upcoming holidays!
I'll start!
Halloween- This year I made my daughter's first costume and I look forward to homemade costumes being a tradition for us.
Thanksgiving- (I saw this idea on pinterest) I'm going to buy a burlap table runner and use my LO's handprint to make a turkey. Then we will add a "handprint turkey" each year.
Christmas- There are so many cute traditions we are looking forward to! I'd love to make a "night before Christmas box" with new PJ's for all 3 of us, a movie, a book etc. Lights in the park. Yearly family ornament. There are just too many to list!
I can't wait to see all of your traditions!
I'll start!
Halloween- This year I made my daughter's first costume and I look forward to homemade costumes being a tradition for us.
Thanksgiving- (I saw this idea on pinterest) I'm going to buy a burlap table runner and use my LO's handprint to make a turkey. Then we will add a "handprint turkey" each year.
Christmas- There are so many cute traditions we are looking forward to! I'd love to make a "night before Christmas box" with new PJ's for all 3 of us, a movie, a book etc. Lights in the park. Yearly family ornament. There are just too many to list!
I can't wait to see all of your traditions!
Re: Holiday Traditions
Holiday traditions for us will be a little tricky, since we live outside the US. For some of the holidays, celebrating them at all will be huge.
Halloween: he'll get an outfit each year that is at least a nod to Halloween. Probably we will munch on candy and watch a scary movie. When he's a bit older, we'll see if we can find some expat groups and do real trick-or-treating.
Thanksgiving: we'll roast a turkey and make some of the traditional foods each year. Turkey, cranberry-orange relish and pecan pie are all non-negotiatiable, so he will at least get familiar with some of the basics.
Christmas: the big gift-giving day for kids is December 5th, so we will probably do smaller gifts for Xmas. Books...PJs...that kind of thing. Maybe just stocking stuffers. We can sleep in and have a lazy reading day as a family. I think he'll get the bigger gifts on December 5th, since that's when all his friends will. I don't want him to feel left out of their traditions. But we'll for sure always decorate the tree and make Xmas cookies together.
NYE: fireworks.
Easter: cinnamon rolls! I always make cinnamon rolls for Easter.
4th of July: blueberry pie. My mom's recipe.
Memorial Day/Labor Day/all other holidays are just too much effort to celebrate here, and don't have enough personal meaning for me to push it.
Interesting how food is the common thread for me between most of these holidays...
Halloween- Carmine is my youngest of 4. But we always go to pumpkin patches every weekend till Halloween. We also have the kids pick out their pumpkins and we let them decorate/color them however they want. Mommy and daddy carve the biggest pumpkins. The last few years we take the kids to the Disney store to pick out their costumes and accessories they would like. Not a tradition but just something that we do every year now.
Thanksgiving-my husband always makes a Turkey and a whole feast. The kids and I bake.
Christmas- besides my husbands military Christmas party that has a Santa. We take the kids to the mall to take pictures with Santa. We also go to the mall because they have fake snow fall by the fountains in the open court. We live in Southern Cali so the kids love that it "snows". We get them gifts that we open at midnight and then in the morning they get to open their Santa gift which is a big gift and their stockings. Other traditions is on my side we always make tamales as a family for Christmas. I bake cookies with the kids etc. We also leave milk and cookies out. Decorate tree, we drive around and look at lights on the houses, we play Christmas songs on Christmas morning while making breakfast "pancakes". But I would love to add more of our own personal traditions with the kids.
NYE- we always go see fireworks or have a family get together.
Valentines day-all my kids make valentines day cards for each other.
Easter-Easter baskets for the kids when they wake in the morning. My husband and I always do an egg hunt for our kids in the front yard. Then we visit family.
4thof July-we bbq and go see fireworks.