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I'm a planner. I'm a planner by trade and a planner by nature. I plan everything. I love the idea of spontaneity, but in reality it's stressful for me not to know what's going to happen next. Everything I do has a list; half the time my lists have lists.
This compulsive mindset carries over into my parenting frequently. I feel like I need to plan every week, decision, change, and lately, traditions, ahead of time. I can't help it. So with the holiday's fast approaching I've been doing a lot of thinking (read: planning) about how I hope to convey the meaning of the holidays and Christmas to Nora. This thinking has since translated into a list of traditions I would like to carry on and start with her each holiday season.
To spare you from having to spend a whole day reading my ramblings, I would like to share my list in four parts over the next four days as we lead into Thanksgiving. I'd love for you to comment and share your favorite traditions of holidays past and the ones you want to start with your little ones in years to come.
1) Chrismas on Christmas Eve. Growing up we always had so.much.to.do. that trying to fit everyone into one day of feasting and gift devouring just wasn't possible. Thus, we started celebrating at home on Christmas Eve. Of course the actual reason was because Santa couldn't possibly make it to everyone's house in one night so he had to visit us early, but I kind of get the side eye when I tell people that so my cover is that we just didn't have time to do it all in one day. Since Nora has inherited my HUGE multi-sided family and the Buskirks, we're most definitely going to have to continue the 2-day celebration tradition. Plus, as a kid, it's pretty cool to tell all your friends you get to open presents a day early.
to be continued...
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Growing up, we always went to my grandma's house on Christmas Eve and ate dinner, opened gifts, and went to midnight mass. I loved having that time with my grandparents,aunts, uncles, and cousins. We still hold that tradition, even though our family has pretty much doubled. They thought about changing it this year, but my cousins and I threw such a fit that they decided to keep it as is. :)
ReplyDeleteMy sisters and I would always open our gifts Christmas morning and have a big breakfast with our parents.
Now that we have our own little family, but still have about 9 extended-family Christmases to go to, we've decided that Christmas morning is just for me, Ian, and Oliver (and another babe next Christmas!). I feel it's really important to start our own family tradition and spend some special time by ourselves.