Christmas Traditions

I love family traditions. We have several in my family that we always do and I love them.

The one that we have done the longest is on Christmas Eve we eat the food that Jesus ate (my mom’s version anyway). We would eat fish sticks, rolls and grape juice. A lot of the time we would eat picnic style on the living room floor. Mom and Dad would read us Christmas stories after we ate.  Now that we are all married and have families of our own we still get together at my mom and dad’s and eat the food Jesus ate. It has gotten more fancy or sophisticated now and we have shrimp or crab and fish sticks.

Another tradition we have is going and cutting down our own Christmas tree on Thanksgiving Day or a day or two after. We get it put up and decorated and get out all the Christmas decorations.

When my brothers and sisters and I were a little older we started going Christmas Caroling to people in our town. We would decide as a family who to go to and make them a goody plate. We would usually choose older people or people who didn’t have a lot of family in town. I loved going caroling and seeing the looks of happiness on their faces when we would sing the carols. I always went home with a warm heart and full of the Christmas spirit.

 Sending Christmas cards, this is my favorite tradition and I learned it from my mom!  I LOVE to send Christmas cards out every year. I want my card to be the first one people receive each year! I love to go shopping for the cards there are always so many I love, but I have to narrow it down to 2 styles. One year my sister’s and I got together and made our own which was a lot of work but so much fun. I recently started to send a news letter with my Christmas cards too which is fun to think about our year and all the blessings we have received.

One of my favorite Christmas decorations is the Nativity scene. I loved to look at the ceramic one my mom had. My brothers and I would want to play with it so bad and we did a little bit but some of the pieces got broke. I bought the Fisher-Price Nativity scene for Bo and he loves it. I set it up on the floor and we play with it. I get to teach him the story of baby Jesus and he can touch the pieces and I don’t have to worry about it getting broke. He knows the story and he will tell me about it. It is the cutest thing to hear a 2 year old tell you the story of Jesus' birth! I put it up every year so it is a fun toy to look forward to at Christmas time.

The whole Nativity Scene set



Bo showing me the Baby Jesus



I have heard of some other fun traditions from people on different online forums I am a member of. Some of them I will have to wait until Bo is bigger to do them.

What are some of your family Christmas traditions?

Love is spelled TIME

I recently read a title of a book called To a child, love is spelled T-I-M-E. I really started thinking about that statement about how true that really is. I thought back to my own childhood and my most fond memories were when my mom and dad would play with me, or when we would work side by side, or when we went on vacation and all of us were in the car for hours just talking and getting to know one another.

I thought of Bo and how I spend time with him. I am blessed to be able to be at home with him everyday. I see him wake up and I love to rock him to sleep at night. I treasure these times with him while he is little I know I will never get them back. My mom says you can’t have quality time without quantity time. Here are some of my ways I spend time with my 2 year old son.

1-      Read together. This is our favorite activity to do.

2-      Sit on the floor and play cars, truck, animals, or whatever they are playing

3-      Sing songs either ones you know or make up your own and sing them in a funny voice

4-      Go for walks and point out the trees, rocks, flowers, clouds

5-      When you go for car rides talk to them about what you see outside like animals, the different cars you see, or the scenery

6-      I love to hold him while he is napping and just soak up his love. Sometimes I just sit and hold him for his whole nap, I don’t get a lot done on these days but it is definitely worth it!

Bo plays really well by himself but he will come and get me when I am on the computer, doing dishes or folding clothes. I know that when he does this that he needs me and my time. I stop what I am doing and go and play with him doing whatever he wants to do. Sometimes I need him to remind me that what I am doing at the moment isn’t the most important thing but spending time with him is. Of course there are times when what I am doing can’t wait but most things can.

I hope this gave you some ideas on ways to spend time with your child