FAMILY TRADITIONS!

A friend asked me to post about some traditions our family embraces. I grew up with a good number of traditions, and when my hubby and I started having children it was important to us that we create traditions for our family that encompass our beliefs, and some silly fun. So here are a few of our favorites:

New Year's Eve-We all stay awake until midnight (or let the kids go to sleep at their regular bed time, then wake them up at 11:45), drink apple cider in fancy glasses....yes, my real formal wine glasses.

New Year's Day: On New Years Day we open our "Good Memories" can (a coffee can decorated with drawings done on construction paper), and read all of the good things that happened to us the previous year. During the year, whenever something happens that we really want to remember, we scribble it down on a slip of paper with the date, fold it up, and put it in the can. It is fun to read all of the great things that happened to us the previous year. It is also a great way to remember to be thankful for everything we are blessed with!

Valentine's Day: hand-made valentine's for each child and heart shaped food throughout the day (pancakes, sandwiches, cookies, etc.)

St.Patrick's Day: green milk with green cookies.....green anything really

Easter: This is one of our favorite holidays, but also happens to be the holiday that has been so commercialized by easter bunnies and baby chicks, that for the majority of our community the "real" meaning of the holiday is lost. We work VERY hard to keep the real meaning of Easter (Christ's Resurrection) in focus. 
-We have an Easter memory game (purchased at Family Christian bookstore) that goes through the story of Easter. We keep it on our coffee table for a few weeks before Easter so the kids can play it whenever they want.
-We do an easter egg hunt using "Resurrection Eggs", plastic eggs filled with little trinkets that help tell the Easter story. We have one set for each child, so that every child gets every part of the story.
-Easter baskets do arrive easter morning....but they are from Jesus (not the easter bunny). If you are a follower of Jesus who has a problem with this because we are sell-outs on the easter basket issue....feel free to forgot you read this idea.
-Since, my hubby and I both work for our church, we are at church on Easter....that's a tradition, right?

4th of July: We all dress in red, white, and blue and go to a friend's house for dinner. Our main tradition is for the kids to get sparklers, and those annoying fire-cracker type things you throw on the ground and they "pop".

Halloween: Our least favorite "celebration"....no spooky decor....instead we decorate with Fall and harvest items. We do go trick-or-treating, but getting 4-kids-worth of candy is ridiculous, so the kids pick their 20 favorite and we donate the rest to soldiers through Project Gratitude.
-Our church has a tradition of doing "Trunk-or-Treat" which is very fun....the members decorate the trunks of their cars and the kids go trick-or-treating from trunk to trunk of the cars (the Sunday before Halloween)

Thanksgiving: Always with extended family.....we write one letter on slips of paper, fold them, and put them in a bag. Then we pass the bag around the dining table and everyone picks a letter. Which ever letter you get, you have to say something you are thankful for that starts with that letter.....it is fun to see our family get very creative with their answers. 
-Our family also has a couple of books that talk about Thanksgiving. Each year on the back cover, we all share what we are thankful for and write it down.

Christmas: Our favorite holiday! There are so many traditions linked to this time of the year. 
-The week before Christmas, we visit our local Candy Cane Lane (area of overly decorated houses.....my husband wishes we lived there) with friends.
-We have 24 books that all talk about the real meaning of Christmas (Christ being born, giving, family, kindness toward others). We have all of the book titles written on slips of paper that we fold, and put into a basket. Then each night, from Dec.1st through the 24th, the kids take turns picking one slip of paper that tells us which book to read before bed time. This is one of my favorite traditions!
-Advent calendar sleighs: I got these plain wooden sleighs 80% off one year after Christmas at Michael's. I painted each one my kids' favorite colors and decorated them with stickers, sequins, and other notions. The sleighs each have 24 small drawers that I fill with coins, small candies, stickers, balloons, etc....small things. Every morning from Dec. 1st-Dec. 24th, the kids open one drawer on the sleigh.
-We always read the books, Santa, Are You for Real?, by Howard Myra, and, The Story of St. Nicholas: More Than Reindeer and a Red Suit by Cheryl Odden. Our kids believe in Santa....the real St. Nick who loved Jesus and lives with him in heaven. Our kids know the "Santas" they see in stores and other places are not the real deal, but simply men in costumes because they want to remind us of the real St. Nick.
-A note on decorations: We only have a couple of Santa decorations out during the holiday (one given to me by my son who thought the Fisherman Santa was a great resemblance to my Dad who died a year and a half ago...."that" kind of Santa is okay in my book). I collect nativities and have them all around the house as constant visual reminders of what the season is all about.
-Each year I purchase one ornament for each child of something they were really "into" that year and I write the year on the ornament. When they are 18, they will get all of their ornaments and have a lovely collection of memories to share with their families.

Just because traditions....
-No Rules Dinner Night....this is one of our kids' favorites!!!! A few times a year, I make something messy to eat (Sloppy Joes or spaghetti) and we have a dinner where there are no rules at the dinner table. It is gross and not for the faint of heart! Burping, sitting/standing on the dining table, putting ones face into their plate of food to eat, rude manners, etc...anything goes (except passing gas, nose picking, and throwing food....sorry we have to have a "little" class).
-Glow Stick Baths: A few times a year we fill our bath tubs (2 tubs for 4 kids), ignite a whole bunch of glow sticks,  throw the glow sticks into the tubs, and turn off the lights.....and the kids bathe via the glow stick light.