Sunday, November 29, 2009

beautiful morning.

the weather forecast says rain is likely today. theodore and i are hanging out, he is gumming a rice cracker and coo-ing. he said "boob" twice last nite just before bed, he was fussing for the nursies and very impatient. emma's and violette's first word was the same: mama. theodore's is boob. i find this amusing and quite appropriate.

today is a big day, thanksgiving at my parent's. we will cook, eat, get a tree, purchase new ornaments and decorate. my parents have a tradition of giving each of their kids a tree ornament every year so when the time comes to move on, we have a good start. their first tree was pretty bare and they decided early on that they didn't want that for their kids. i'm so grateful to them for that. they gave me a box full of ornaments in 2004, and it is always so fun to look through them and see what i've chosen through the years. that little stocking that says brady, i made it in 2002. we still have it, though the stickers are curling at the edges and threatening to fall off. my great grandmother made the little snowflake doilies. my grandma painted the wooden jack in the box. i love having things rich in tradition and history. how blessed i am to have them.

(our tree in 2006)

i want so badly to have holiday rituals and traditions with my children, and at the same time teach them gratitude and appreciation for the privilege to celebrate. i want them to understand that it is our family, being together and making memories that is important and certainly not gifts, greed and excess.

there are so many exciting things to look forward to this season: family get togethers and parties, stories to read, songs to sing, gifts to craft. i only hope i won't get overwhelmed and anxious. it can be so easy to get stressed and snappy when all that matters is being with my children and enjoying our time together. and if things become too much, i should remember it's not too hard to say no.

i would like to know what are some of your favorite holiday traditions? what is the one thing you and your family do that you look forward to most? mine most certainly is our "drive around". on what we call christmas eve eve, we get a pizza and drive around the fancy neighborhoods looking at their light displays. the girls ooh and ahh and get so very excited. there is nothing more fun to me than to watch them being so happy. last year emma called the lights "constellations", i can only imagine what she and violette will come up with this season.

if i am posting less in the days to come, please forgive me. it's just that i will be celebrating and being here now.

(on a side note, my 365 is quite behind. i am having a hard time with this new operating system and i cannot use the photo editing program. i hope to have new pictures up tomorrow, but i'm not making any promises!)

3 comments:

Sam, NYC said...

Great tree...great blog :)

We buy an ornament from everywhere we travel to, even if its just a little road trip to visit a friend. I always use a sharpie to write on the date and circumstance (example: we have a shell ornament, on the bottom I wrote "Visiting Maggie. North Beach, MD. June 2006". Also, when the kids were younger I tried to get ornaments each year that represented them in that year. I have ornaments of little girls singing, Video game characters, and rides Dainan went on. Now, when we trim the tree its nostalgic and personal and starts some really great reminising. Like your parents, I plan to give the kids their ornaments when they have their own homes.

We have an annual Xmas party with my best friend and her kids. Our cousin Dylan also comes. We make something every year..cookies, ornaments, wreaths, etc. As the kids get older its challenging to find something they want to create and keep. Last year we made baskets. We have so much fun.

Another tradition we keep is our Christmas Book. Our is on it's 20th year! I don't know if this is an outdated idea since the internet has since been invented and its quite similar to blogging, but I do love the book. Every year (in two pages) I write a blurb about the year, what the kids were into, who their friends were, things we did, births in our family, school accomplishments, even major news stories. I glue in a picture of us from the year as well as the christmas card we sent out. It is so great to go back over the years and read about things I've long forgotten. It's also amazing to watch my kids grow year by year, flip book style.

My son Dainan, who is in Florida doing an internship at Disney, won't be able to come home for Xmas. It's going to be a little sad for me, so I am glad to have the traditions. It will make it feel like he's here in spirit :)

Happy holidays :)

effie said...

thanks sam! i love your traditions. the christmas books sounds so awesome! and i don't think it's outdated at all. i still have the owl ornament you sent me, it's on my kitchen windowsill, and i'll definitely put it on the tree this year :)

Anonymous said...

mmm- i love december - tamales on christmas eve and the time at home with my family is the best....have you taken the girls to see the lights off of western and 63rd?? chesapeake has TONS of lights and they are JUST beautiful - the girls would love them and it and would make for nice photo; )
love you...merry Christmas.
sj~

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