Holiday Tradtions

Now that the first day of fall has come and gone and the cold weather is starting to creep up on us I have gone head first into the festivities that make up my favorite time of the year. According to surveys and polls fall is the most favored season- and for good reason. I have always been a sucker for weather that allows me to wear fuzzy socks, consume anything pumpkin spice, create elaborate pumpkin carvings and snuggle on the couch watching holiday themed movies. And that's just the beginning of it! I love the foods that are in season, the change in colors in the leafs and carrying out family traditions.

My son was born in mid October last year. Since he was still so new, and I was adjusting to motherhood it was hard to carry on with some of our family traditions. I was not able to carve pumpkins that year, but I still made Thanksgiving dinner for our friends and family, sent out our yearly Christmas cards and took my son out in the snow. This year will be the first year that my son will be able to partake in a lot of the traditions and festivities as he is now capable of interacting to some degree. Watching him in the snow will be a whole lot more entertaining, and I will be able to chase him around the pumpkin patch for his first time. I look forward to letting him squish the goo from the inside of our pumpkins, letting him paint his pumpkin(safer than carving by a long shot), sharing a turkey dinner with him at Thanksgiving, dancing together to Christmas music and watching him tear the paper off his presents on Christmas morning.

Growing up my family had a million traditions for the holidays- most seem over the top now that I am older, but some are traditions I keep up with yearly. Every year my family used meet for a Christmas family reunion. These reunions were either in Hawaii, Florida, Canada or Chicago. While together we would have an elaborate Christmas dinner complete with caterers, an obscene amount of decorations and fancy ball gowns. These yearly reunions are quite impossible now with everyone's busy schedules, and my minuscule budget, but they certainly gave me amazing memories and some smaller, more do-able, traditions within them to uphold. My favorites were listening to Mickey's Christmas Carol's from the late '80's-early '90's, taking turns with my sister opening the advent calendar each day, and leaving cookies for Santa and carrots for Rudolf. Our traditions earlier in the season that I loved were carving pumpkins in the backyard, eating home made Chex mix and cracking the wish bone from the Thanksgiving turkey and crying when my sister won the bigger half.

Of all the holiday traditions from my childhood and my husband's, we have decided on a few that we hope our children will someday carry on as well. For Halloween I will continue to decorate pumpkins and dress up in costume. Thanksgiving will never be complete without cinnamon pears, as per my Grandmother's recipe accompanied by a sit down dinner with loved ones. Christmas comes with the longest list: Pictures with Santa is a must, leaving cookies and carrots out on Christmas eve, as well. Christmas lights, decorations and a REAL tree are mandatory. Sending out Christmas cards to those we love, and having dinner with those near us is imperative. My favorite traditions are, first and foremost, playing in the snow, even if it requires a drive to some mountains somewhere, the whole family wearing matching pajamas to bed on Christmas eve to make great pictures the next morning, and under no circumstances will children see the tree or touch a present without Mom and Dad being there first to watch (and take pictures) of the excitement that is Christmas morning.

This year, now that my son is a little older, I hope to start a couple new traditions. Last year while looking for gift ideas for friends and family I came across the story of the Elf on the Shelf. I loved the story behind it, and think it will make for some great memories with my son. My son is not quite old enough to write a letter to Santa as of yet, but I hope we can make this a tradition starting next year. Looking back at the few letters I wrote to Santa when I was little is a blast and are just some of the little things I cherish today. The one activity I will be starting this year and hoping to make a consistent tradition as long as I am able is to make donations to a charity around the holidays. Family members have made donations on my behalf numerous times, which I think is a wonderful gift now that I am older and am not wanting gifts of 'stuff'and I am aware there are so many charities in need. This year I will be making more donations to Goodwill, as well as a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project.

The fall and winter seasons will always be my favorites. The most important thing I hope to instill in my children in regards to the holidays is the concept of family togetherness. This is the key, and the reason I look forward to and thoroughly enjoy this time of the year.

Well, that and the fuzzy socks...