Family Traditions

Bill and I are at the age where we get to define our own family traditions. The importance of traditions hit us last year as Collin was old enough to communicate what he was looking forward to, questions he had and he was showing off his ability to remember.

Thanksgiving:
We've been going a bit light on this one. I'm not a big fan of glorifying the pilgrims and the destruction of the first nations. We focus on being thankful for the year, the 'harvest' and our family. Collins has been a sous chef since year 1 so we will keep that tradition alive. Perhaps Bridget can sniff spices or drop things into the pot this year. We wait until after dinner to put us Christmas items. We did make gingerbread and a gingerbread house this year before Thanksgiving. I like the timing of that because it keeps the Christmas season from getting too busy. I would say this is the season where we start playing Christmas music and sitting in front of the fire. One could argue this isn't Thanksgiving-specific, but it does happen in the T-day time frame.

Christmas:
This one is an active season. Up this year: Santa Parade with Christmas Caroling and Tree lighting in downtown Auburn. Making paper chains. Putting up Christmas decorations-Collin did get his way and put us the stockings before Thanksgiving this year. Advent wreath lighting. Putting up a nativity and waiting to put out Jesus until Christmas. Last year we did a children's mass, but we didn't like the church. I anticipate the new church to be much more welcoming and fun.

What fun things do you do for the holidays that we are missing out on?