Happy Holidays! Part 2: Traditions

Ok when I started writing this holiday blog I was just going to put it all in one post but it got really long.  I realized I had a  lot to say about the subject and most of it was about holiday traditions so I decided to split it in two.

I have been thinking a lot about holiday traditions and what I want to teach Nev about this holiday season, especially since our celebrations are not faith based.  Micah and I didn't really do much for the holidays before we had Never. We might have had a solstice or christmas dinner and exchanged gifts but we usually didn't decorate and have a tree.  Now that we have Nev the holiday seems more important.  It is such a magical time for children and I'm excited to share that with Nev. Since he was born we have been trying to develop our own family traditions.

Nev's first Christmas we started the tradition of cutting our own tree whether it be from the forest (which we did the first year) or from a tree farm like we did last year.  This tradition didn't hold this year  because I assumed since we are in Hawaii we wouldn't be able to cut our own tree.  I learned of course after I bought a tree from the big box store that there is in fact a tree farm on the island where you can cut your own tree.  Wish I had done more research! Oh well next year if we are still here.

I have also been getting a new ornament for the tree each year.  This year I bought a nice one from the Honolulu City Lights Parade.  They put one out every year as collector items.  It is nice to have something to show where we spent christmas each year.  If we continue to travel and spend the holiday in different places it will be neat to collect ornaments from all the different places.

Growing up the one tradition I remember was getting to open one present on Christmas eve. This year I am hoping to start the tradition of giving holiday PJ's on Christmas eve.  This seems to be a fairly popular tradition.  In the future I want to try making the PJ's for Micah and Nev. This year I am invisioning a lazy Christmas day spent for the most part in our PJ's watching Nev open his presents, a good dinner and of course there will be football on all day since it falls on a Sunday this year.   

We also send out a photo holiday card and try to have a family photo in it.  This seems like a must do now that we have a kid.  It gives everyone a chance to see how he has grown.

                                    

To me the holiday season is about the joy of giving and I really enjoy giving to my family.  I do not however like the comercialism of the holiday.  I do buy quite a few things, especially for Nev, but I try not to go too overboard with it and I also try to make gifts instead of buying things. I really don't want Nev to grow up expecting to get a bunch of stuff for Christmas.  I want to try to keep it simple and low key.  As he gets older I will encourage him make gifts for people and to be thoughtful about the gifts he does give. I want to focus on the giving and not the recieving.  I would really like to incorporate into our traditions the giving to others who may be in need.  One year Micah and I spent Thanksgiving serving dinner to elderly people.  This is one of the best and most meaningful holiday memories I have. I hope I can start a tradition like this with my famliy and make it stick. 

My mom group in Oregon recently had an email discussion about family traditons and I really enjoyed hearing what other familys do.  Some of the ideas included celebrating St. Nicholus Day (which I had never heard about before), playing gifting games, christmas parties and community events, and of course all kinds of quirky family things that made the holiday special for each family.  Do you have holiay traditions that enjoy doing with your family?

Hope everyone has a joyous and peaceful holiday!