It's Day 2 of the MomDot Blog Party! I didn't get to nearly as many blogs yesterday as I had hoped. I hope to get to more today. Today's sponsors are LaPlates, Lets Go Strolling, and Natity's Design. The question of the day is:
Traditions, what are some of your favorite family traditions? What are some that you want to begin?
It's the little things that make Christmas special for me. Many of the traditions from my childhood manifest themselves into the traditions that we now create for our own kids. Baking and decorating Christmas cookies with Mom, setting up the tree the day after Thanksgiving, writing a note to Santa to leave next to the cookies, leaving a carrot for Rudolph*, eggnog, opening 1 gift on Christmas Eve, heading to Grandma and Grandpa's on Christmas morning, a ridiculous amount of really yummy holiday foods.
The fact that I remember the little things and not the gifts I received guides how I approach Christmas for my own kids. We don't spend hundreds of dollars on gifts for them, but we do try to make the whole holiday season special for them. Baking Christmas cookies with Big One is one of the things I'm most excited about this year. Now that he's 3, everything is so much more fun. I'm also excited to see how Big One involves Little One in the excitement. He's so good with her and always tries to involve her in what we're doing. One of my favorite things is watching the two interact.
A tradition I plan to start this year is making homemade gifts for the grandparents. No tree is complete without homemade ornaments!
*Yes, we only left a carrot for Rudolph. The other reindeer were on their own. Karma, perhaps? All that laughing, calling him names, and not letting him join in any reindeer games came back to bite them. The whole Rudolph story is a bit reminiscent of high school drama, don't you think? Outcast is ridiculed, Outcast does something really great (saves Christmas), suddenly all of the popular kids (reindeer) want to be Outcast's best friend. *sigh* Drama really is everywhere!
Funny childhood memory: one year Mom and Dad decided it would be a good idea to throw Rudolph's carrot on the roof so it would be right there, waiting for him when they landed. They were all about making a production to make us believe in the magic of Christmas. They didn't consider the fact that someone would eventually have to climb on the roof to retrieve the carrot. During winter. In Iowa. With all the snow and ice. That carrot stayed on the roof for a while. The carrot waited next to Santa's cookies in following years.
Thanks for joining my little walk down Memory Lane. Can't wait to read about all of the other holiday traditions out there!
23 comments:
A carrot for Rudolph is a sweet idea.
When I lived in PR we used to leae hay for the three wisemens camels. Nothing for the wisemen themselves.
We leave an apple to help make Rudolph's nose shiny, and baby carrots for the rest of the reindeer.
Our tradition always has been reading the Christmas story from Luke before opening gifts. My dad ALWAYS did it, and I think it really reminds one of the true reason for the season!
Okay, I'm cracking up. Love the carrot for Rudolph, screw the rest of 'em! Here's My Day 2! I have Mr. Linky up, so leave your link!
LOL I love that you leave a carrot for Rudolph. We always make up a special bag of reindeer food and sprinkle it down the driveway.That's always a joy to go sweep up after the kids go to bed so they think the reindeer ate it at 20 degrees in the dark.
The carrot on the rooftop story made me snicker! Oh the silly things we do as parents sometimes!
Homemade gifts are a great idea!
I like the idea of homeade gifts, I just wouldn't know what to make!!
I love the carrot on the roof! That is hilarious!
The carrot's a great idea. We leave reindeer food (dry oatmeal with sprinkles in it, the sprinkles are to catch their attention).
We love to make homemade gifts, and they're always cherished by grandparents.
Oh my, I'm cracking up. Love the commentary on Rudolph and also the carrot on the roof. Hilarious.
We decorated cookies last year with Josiah (15 months)...it was fun, but this year is going to be so much more fun now that he's a year older. I think I may even give him his own ball of dough for rolling and cutting.
As a child, my sisters always left cookies and a glass of milk for Santa (nothing for the reindeer, tho). The carrot on the rooftop story cracked me up!
I'm so glad you're doing this blog party....I'm enjoying getting to know you even more. I enjoyed seeing the family pic in the previous post. :-)
We've started sprinkling reindeer food in the snow (we live in Maine). Some oats and some glitter make a very attractive presentation.
Jen
http://www.100DaystoChristmas.com
I love that you mentioned the little things, because you are right, those are the things that are the most important!
So funny about the carrot staying on the roof! Great traditions!
I love the carrot ONLY for Rudolph. We always left carrots or some vegetable too.
Oooh! Shelley! Hunt up Cinnaclay for your ornaments! Turns out just like playdough but it smells so much better! But it isn't non-toxic (contains glue) so if you have wee ones be careful.
I think home made gifts for grandparents is a great idea!
Holidays aren't about the presents for use either.
That's hilarious!
One year, my brother and dad climbed up on the roof (south Texas-no snow, no ice, no cold!) to make a video of Santa landing and coming down the chimney. We were crying because of how hard we were laughing!
But then my mil accidentally erased the tape.
YAY For Rudolph!
That's hilarious that you just left a carrot for Rudolph and left the others to fend for themselves.
I love making homemade gifts too. I would definitely rather receive something homemade with love, than bought without thought.
I love making homemade ornaments! I need to get on the ball for the homemade Christmas gifts this year :)
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