Holiday Traditions

While we followed through with the advent calendar all month & stuffed french toast on Christmas morning, we tried out some new possible traditions this year. 

(1) Celebrating St. Nick’s Day.  I tried to convince Kole to celebrate St. Nick when it was just us – he didn’t buy it.  Even with kids, I’m not sure either of us is into this one, though it’s hugely popular where we live.  We’ll think about this for next year.

(2) Concentrating on more thrifted and handmade gifts.  This one we’re looking to up the ante on for next year.  Most of what our kids got was ‘previously loved’ and neither of them cared a bit.  We also did a lot more wrapping in reusable fabric bags.  I thought Maggie might baulk at not being able to tear the paper – nope! Not a word was said, and as for the clean up?  Well, it was a piece of cake!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(3) Christmas dinner by candlelight.  This was a winner for sure.  Eating by candlelight, though dangerous with a 2 year old, made for a more relaxed, slower meal.  We laughed and talked about our day and just enjoyed some time together.  We will definitely be doing this again – perhaps more than once a year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(4) Purchasing a tree from a retail store instead of cutting our own.  This was not a planned break in our traditional family cutting of the Christmas tree…  It was a product of rain, cold and a 6-week-old baby that propelled us to Stein’s for our tree.  NEVER AGAIN.  The darned thing caved in on itself a week and a half before Christmas.  We weren’t facing lost needles; we were facing lost branches, ornaments laying on the floor while still “hanging” from their branches.  It was , straight out, a FIRE HAZARD.  It came down earlier than any tree in my entire life – December 26th.  We were the fourth tree dropped off at the recycling center. 

Out of respect to Stein’s, I should provide the following disclaimer.  This particular tree was set up in fairly close proximity to the blower for the gas fireplace.  And we may have fallen asleep (several times) with said fireplace running which may or may not have contributed to the tree’s demise.  Maybe.

 

Any ideas for future traditions?

Holiday Recap Day 6: New Year’s Eve

We spent the afternoon at the Building for Kids.  Noodles and Co. was doing free food, and there was quite a bit for Mags to see and do – like hula-hooping,

playing with balls,

coloring,

and discovering that boy baby dolls have different parts than girl baby dolls. I think we mortified some mom while we were there.    The lady had “warned” us that the doll Maggie was playing with was a boy baby doll and subtly suggested that we not let Maggie play with it because it was “different”.  We ignored her. Maggie figured out that mr. doll had some bits and pieces not included on ms. doll.  We don’t think she’ll be scarred for life.

Holiday Recap Day 4: Family Farkle

Farkle is a pretty easy dice game – we are HUGE fans.  Well, Maggie and I are HUGE fans.  Kole is a graceful loser.

Holiday Recap Day 2

The stockings were hung…

The tree was lit…

And the gifts were placed underneath.

Santa stopped by with some special treats for the little one.

You may recognize this table and chairs from a previous post – thank goodness Santa’s got some pals that like to paint.

The other furniture from that post is also on the list for a rehaul before some little munchkin turns two.  Seriously, she’s going to be 2.  I can’t believe it!

Fa la la la…

We’re busy decking the halls.  We cut down the tree last weekend.  Thought it’d go well.  There was a little girl in the backseat yelling, “ho ho ho” and “tris tris tree” the whole way there.  Then there was a little girl saying, “car. uppy. car.” as we hunted for the perfect tree.  Then there was the ride into town to get cash because we had forgotten the checkbook and the ride back to the tree farm to pay for and pick up the perfect tree. 



With all that excitement, it took a bit to get lights on and ornaments on. While Kole and I were working on the tree, Maggie was busy climbing up and down the step ladder while simultaneously telling herself, “Maggie, sit down.  Sit down!” 



We did manage to capture her attention for bit – she helped put her ornaments on the tree.