Traditions

Yesterday, I was in Wal Mart buying a few things and I noticed that they have their Fall decorations for sale already. This suprised me because it is 105 degrees outside and Fall seems far away.

Anyhoo, this got me thinking about family traditions, specifically traditions for the fall holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas (okay, I know it's a winter holiday). I have been thinking about the traditions our family had when I was growing up, the traditions my extended family has now, and the traditions my immediate family has now.

We have not celebrated Halloween since 1999. But this year we are going to have fun and participate in Halloween activities. I am VERY excited about this! Those of you who know me know that I am either all into something or not into it at all. Well, this has been the case with Halloween. DH and I talked about it yesterday and decided that there has to be a way to participate in Halloween fun without exposing the kids to all the scary, evil stuff out there. Besides, scary, evil stuff is out there all the time, not just on Halloween.

On Halloween we always dressed up and then went trick or treating. We have also gone to a few Harvest Carnivals and that was fun. We are planning to do that this year. Our church has a carnival and the kids really enjoy it. We are also going to go to a pumpkin patcha and let the kids all pick a pumpkin, then carve it when we get home. We are going to roast the seeds and eat them. I can't wait to see all the pumpkins line sup on my porch all lit up. I am planning to pop popcorn and make apple cider and we can all sit out on the porch and enjoy it and enjoy the lit up pumpkins. Let's just hope the weather cooperates and it's not 90 degrees! I remember in McAllen, the kids had sweat dripping off of them as they trick or treated. Halloween should be crisp and cool.

When I was growing up, Thanksgiving was a time for family to gather, usually at Meema and Grandad's house or at ours, and prepare a meal together, eat the meal together, and just enjoy being around each other. There were also the football games that the guys watched, but I was wither playing with cousins or in the kitchen with the girls. The girls being my mom, grandmother, aunts, and sisters.
I remember Mom making homemade potato rolls and then having a contest with Grandad to see who could eat them most. We could eat those rolls like you wouldn't believe! I remember eating at least 8, sometimes 9 rolls. I think Grandad always won that contest.

Another memory of Thanksgiving is Meema's homemade dressing. From the smell of the celery and onions sauteeing to the taste of the dressing, it always makes me remember Meema's house at the holidays.
I also remember the cool air of Fall and the brown of the trees at our house. I remember warm sweaters and feeling warm inside.
But I can't remember any other traditions we had at Thanksgiving. If you are a family member reading this, help me out here.

A few things I want to do...
*create a centrpiece with the kids, something that we will use year after year
*"Thank you" place cards for each person- the kids each write something about that person that they are thankful for (on their place card)
*Meema's platter- We used to always use Meema's bicentennial platter to hold the turkey. I inherited the platter when Meema died and I want to start using it that way again.
*Wildlife Tree- Thanksgiving afternoon or the next day, string popcorn, make pine cone bird feeders, etc. and hang them all on a tree for the squirrels and birds to eat


At Christmas time, I remember just being so excited to be out of school. Decorating the tree as a family was a wonderful tradition and also getting an ornament each year to hang on the tree. There was a garland with colored lights that Mom wrapped around the stair rail. That was one of my favorite things. We also had a little gingerbread house that Mom would put on top of the piano. It was one of my favorite things as well. We baked sugar cookies, wrote letters to Santa Claus, set out cookies and milk for Santa and hung up our stockings.
Then on Christmas morning, we woke up early (probably 6 am) and opened our gifts from Mom, Dad, and sisters. We then went out to Meema and Grandad's house to have Christmas lunch with them and visit with our cousins who had come in from out of town. The turkey, dressing, and the rolls were a part of Christmas, too.Later on, we went to Granny and Papa's and opened gifts and visited with family there, too.

A few things I want to start doing at Christmastime:
*I want to make it a tradition to put up the tree on December 1st each year. I want to serve Christmas cookies (prefereably homemade, but store bought if we have to) and hot chocolate (ditto the cookies)
*Let the kids choose their yearly ornament- we already get them an ornament each year, but I usually choose it for them and buy it for them
*Wea re going to start getting each child 3 gifts for Christmas: 1 want, 1 need and 1 character building gift (for example, if one child is struggling with patience, we might buy him a model car or airplane that will take lots of patience to put together)
*Sometime during December I want to put all of the pictures from the past year (the good ones) on a CD or make them into a slide presentation and put on a DVD and watch it with the kids. Ditto for home movies.
*After- Christmas cards - after Christmas, get all the holiday cards together and put them in a pretty bowl on the table. Each night as we pray for our meal, pray for one of the families who sent us a card. Then throw the card away, keeping the picture of there is one
*Christmas Eve (?) -drive through town looking at Christmas lights
*Read the Christmas story from the Bible (we usually do this)
*Sing carols around the piano (last year I learned to play lots of Christmas carols)
*Christmas breakfast- we usually have a big breakfast at either Mom and Papa's house or Grandma and Grandpa's house. Whenever we get our house built, I want to start having Christmas morning at home and I want to plan a Christmas morning menu that basically stays the same each year. Less thought for me and the kids will look forward to it each year.

Typing about all of this is getting me excited about Fall and the holidays!