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| Back in 2009 when Magpie is 2 and Chipette is 6 |
We have no tree. We have no decorations. We haven’t
played much Christmas music. My children are starting to wonder…what’s happened
to Mom?
Nothing’s happened to Mom and all of those things
are going to happen at some point this week because of this:
Chipette:
Why don’t we have our tree up yet?
Me:
Well, you and sister have been sick since we got back from Thanksgiving.
Chipette:
But don’t we always put the Christmas stuff up the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Me:
Yes, but we weren’t home that weekend. Remember?
Chipette:
I guess so. So are we going to decorate for Christmas?
Well of course we are, sweet girl, but we haven’t
followed our family tradition this year.
Which got me to thinking about Christmas
traditions…
In our family, we don’t have many. Just one in
fact.
It actually started with my family growing up.
Every year each member of my family would pick out
an ornament for the tree. It could represent something that happened during the
year. It could be one that caught our eye. But each year all of us added one
more ornament to the tree. And every year when we put the tree up, we loved talking
about the memories everyone had of buying their ornaments in previous years.
And when I left home, I took my ornament collection with me to put on my own
Christmas tree.
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| Monkey's First Christmas (9 months old) |
So when I got married, our first Christmas
together, I bought an ornament.
Each child has their Baby’s First Christmas
ornament.
And on a Saturday evening a week or two before
Christmas, you can find our family loading into the car in our comfiest clothes
with a thermos of hot chocolate, driving thirty miles away to Hobby Lobby, each
picking out an ornament, then driving through neighborhoods looking at
Christmas light and listening to Christmas music.
And it’s perfect. Absolutely perfect. And I hope
that when my children get grown, they say to their children, “This ornament is
one of my favorites. I picked it out when I was about your age. We had so much
fun choosing ornaments, drinking hot chocolate, and looking at Christmas
lights. I loved Christmastime!”
That’s what traditions are all about anyway,
building memories that can be shared and passed on because it’s so much fun.
Please share one of your family’s Christmas
traditions in the comments. I’m always looking for more memory-making stuff to
do!
Making memories through Christmas traditions in
the tree house,
Chelli
We do something very similar! Each year, our girls get to choose a new ornament - and our plan is to give them their ornaments when they go out on their own. I find a way to write the year (very small) on each ornament.
ReplyDeleteTradition is so important to family! One tradition our family has is done when I'm not even home! One day or evening in early December, my husband and girls decorate our home for Christmas to surprise me (not the tree, but the lights, garland, bows, & cute nick-knacks that mean so much to our family) - and, yes, I'm ALWAYS surprised! This year, it was in November, which was a big surprise. Special times, precious memories...
I wish my kids would decorate the house for me each year!!! But at this point it would not be a pretty sight. LOL!
DeleteWhat a great tradition!
ReplyDeleteWe enjoy it and the bonus is it only takes up one night!
Delete