Category Archives: Tradition

Thanksgiving Traditions

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What are your Thanksgiving traditions?

We often host dinner and have family and friends join us. My husband makes cranberry sauce. It was one of the things he does that I love. I’m not sure I’d ever had true cranberry sauce before I met him. I only had the sauce from the can. 😂 The kind he makes is quite good and very popular with our guests.

I like having the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade on TV. No one else seems to care about it. The kids prefer to sleep in. I start cooking the day before and enjoy getting the house ready (great reason to clean), and enjoy the smells of everything cooking, and keep it going through Thanksgiving day. The kids will help their father with any yard work that needs to be done, and if I’m lucky, one of them may help me in the kitchen.

We do have an adult table and a kids table. We didn’t plan it that way, but my boys and their cousins prefer to eat together and then hangout vs stay and talk with the adults. Now that my boys are older, my oldest has expressed an interest in joining the adult table, which I welcome, we just have to figure out where we can squeeze in more chairs. 😊

We are very blessed, and very thankful — for the roof over our heads, clothes on our back, and for our friends and family.

What are your family traditions? What are you thankful for?

I’ll be taking next week off to enjoy the holiday weekend and be back in December.

Fall Favorites

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My boys are getting older and growing into themselves and their independence. While I miss somethings about them being younger, we all agree this time of year reminds us of some of our favorite things — going to the pumpkin patch, hot apple cider, decorations, costumes, future holidays, and more.

Many of these customs haven’t changed much over the years with some slight exceptions — the kids don’t wear costumes anymore (or will, but it takes a lot of prompting), and trick-o-treating behind us. Pumpkin patch, cider and decorations remain the same.

I’ve got a bit lazy of the years in terms of fall decorations, only putting out what’s relatively quick and easy to put up and take down. I also believe the boys don’t care as much about decorations anymore, but have found they have their favorites. My youngest asked if we’d put up our skeleton streamers for Halloween. They are made of tissue paper and are beyond crinkled from years of use. They make me laugh every time I put them up 😂 — do these even look like skeletons anymore? My youngest loves them and asked if we’d put them up one last year (before he graduates and if out of the house). We agreed.

See what I mean?🤣

As we transition from Halloween to Thanksgiving and Christmas we’ll repeat our traditions with modifications, of course. After all, even our favorites wear out or we outgrow them.

What is your family’s fall favorites?

Spring Eternal

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What do you like about Spring?

Where we live, there are cherry blossom trees that bloom this time of year. We make an evening of it after school and work, and head over to see the trees in bloom and then take in a meal nearby after.

It was fun to take our exchange student to see the trees. I sometimes wonder what she makes of our traditions. 😊 The weather was warmer than usual and sunny (a big plus), and the trees were beautiful though not quite at peak bloom, but that actually helped us because the crowds weren’t as overwhelming as years past, and you could walk around without worrying about running into others.

It was a simple thing to do, to go see nature doing its thing, but boy was it a mental health boost for us. People gathering, enjoying the sights and each other, with the sun making it all that much better. It felt like all was right with the world, or would somehow be okay. It comforted us while there.

When, where, or how has nature had a positive impact on your family?

New Year, New Tradition

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How do you celebrate New Year’s?

We are pretty boring in our house. Some sparkling cider, fun food, sometimes gather with friends, other times just chill at home and my husband and I rarely make it to midnight. Ha! We’ve decided celebrating East Coast New Year’s works well for us. 😊

Our exchange student is from Spain, and shared her tradition of eating 12 grapes with each strike of the clocking starting at midnight (ingesting 12 grapes in a minute is a feat in and of itself). Each grape represents a month of the year and is supposed to give you good fortune and prosperity. There is a belief that eating the grapes under a table will help you find love in the New Year. 🥰 Our exchange student decided to eat grapes both ways — eat the grapes regularly with us (we celebrated it being the New Year in Spain), and then eat grapes under the table with her friends here (these friends have no problem staying up til midnight. Ah…youth!).

New Year’s is a pretty low key event for us, but our exchange student continues to broaden our view of the world, and adds a new sparkle to each holiday. What a gift!

What are you looking forward to in the New Year?

Home for the Holidays

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What are your favorite memories about going home, or having others come home for the holidays?

We are fortunate that our oldest is home for the holidays and we’re a full house currently. It’s fun to see the kids interacting, and acting like kids — still wanting to decorate a gingerbread house, and decorate sugar cookies. I’m aware that us having a full house is something that won’t last forever.

We are packing in all the holiday traditions we can think of — seeing Christmas lights, doing an annual walk around the lake nearby, and have been invited to friend events we’re looking forward to. But just being with the kids, and seeing the light in their eyes as we experience things together, joy as they laugh, or act silly, or simply hang out watching a movie or talking with each other is pretty special.

Honestly having the kids here is probably the best present I can get any year. There’s just something about this time of year that makes it seem more special.

What does having loved ones (or being with loved ones) mean to you?

Holiday Lights

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What holiday traditions does your family have?

We have a handful of holiday traditions we try to do each year (weather tends to dictate). We go to a botanical garden that is decorated with lights — animals, plants, sea and even mystical creatures. It’s a 20-minute walk to see it all, but something we enjoy. We like checking out lights around different neighborhoods — with one, in particular, that goes all out (dozens and dozens of homes decorated from top to bottom). We go to a nearby lake trail that does luminaries the second Saturday of each December.

I love these traditions, and they are all different from traditions I did growing up — when opening an Advent Calendar door was a thrill (one day closer to Christmas!), watching Rudolph the only night and time it aired (VCRs weren’t around yet), and baking up more goodies than we could possibly eat.

My sons love our traditions (or, at least, I think they do). They will remind us (if we haven’t mentioned already having plans), to keep us on track and the traditions alive. It’s fun to see my oldest get excited about spending time with us (his family) for anything. 😊 And seeing the boys together — joking around, enjoying each other, and the sights with their father and I is their gift to me each year (mostly figuratively, but sometimes literally too #averyMomChristmas 😂🥰).

What holiday traditions do you have? What gift does your child give you?

Pumpkin Patch

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Cool crisp air, leaves changing colors, apple cider. It’s definitely a favorite time of year for our family.

We went to a pumpkin patch that’s become a tradition for us. We arrive, take in surrounding area that has different decorative pumpkin, squash, and gourd displays; check out what the local vendors are offering, get a wheelbarrow and head out towards the fields to get our pumpkins. Once we have our pumpkins we typically head out to get a meal nearby before heading home. I take LOTS of pictures each time we go — trying to remember it all. 😊 My oldest reminded us that since this would be his last year doing this with us (gulp), he’d get to pick where we ate lunch following. 😂

The pumpkin patch looked different than previous years — fields had been rotated, the corn maze was gone (as the corn, in the new field, was only three feet tall), but it didn’t matter because we were there together. Making our way through the fields to find our pumpkins, enjoying cider, and just being with each other.

It wasn’t anything special per se, but was special because of the tradition and memories and the wonderful feelings that come with it.

I do love this time of year.

What Fall traditions does your family have?

Gratitude and Giving Thanks

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As we emerge (fingers crossed) from the pandemic, what are you most grateful for?

My youngest son’s school wanted to start a new annual tradition this school year to celebrate being able to come together as a community. They decided to hold a Gratitude Festival—to not only celebrate community, but honor the things we are grateful for — teachers, parents, administrators, friends, health, education, the community, and much more.

Being grateful has given me so much – it helps me be present and notice all the wonderful things around me (people, nature, animals, etc.). Everyday I’m reminded of all the things I have to be thankful for. I’ve tried to instill gratitude in my children. At meals we often share what we are grateful for. I’m hopeful they see the joy in being grateful too.

With Thanksgiving coming up, we often reflect on what we are thankful for. I hope events such as the Gratitude Festival at my son’s school, is one of many events that are held across the country, throughout the year, that provides each of us the opportunity to acknowledge the gifts all around us. After all, realizing the gifts in your life is a catalyst for experiencing gratitude, and when you’re grateful you feel blessed or fortunate. That usually means you feel good. And if you feel good, you’re more likely to spread your good feelings to others. Spreading happiness. What a wonderful thing.

What traditions do you have that are teaching your child gratitude? How are you and/or your child spreading happiness?

I will be away the next few weeks while spending times with friends and family, and will be back in December. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

The Great Pumpkin Carving

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What’s a favorite Fall tradition for your family?

We have several including going to our favorite pumpkin patch, but the tradition I look most forward to is pumpkin carving. The pumpkin carving is fun, but I enjoy the company, seeing everyone, talking, catching up, sharing a meal, and feeling connected.

Last year, we skipped the tradition as a precaution due to COVID. We all missed it. My niece is a senior in high school and will be heading off to college next year. This being her last pumpkin carving (at least for a while) is really hitting home. My sons and I talked about it when we went to the pumpkin patch with their cousins. We are all in a bit of denial this tradition will come to an end-of-sorts after this year. Yes, it will still go on, but it will be different without her with us. I’m reminded again of how quickly time is going and trying to be truly present so I can fully take in the joy of the experience and all of us being back together again.

What traditions are you most looking forward to resuming? What will it mean to you and your family to be back with others again?

Tree Lot

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Where do you get your Christmas tree?

Our family gets our tree from our elementary school’s tree lot. We didn’t even know they had a tree lot until our kids went there. Prior years we would get a tree wherever it was easy without much thought. Going to this elementary school changed that as parents were asked by the PTA to help run the tree lot (help customers with the trees, get them to their cars, run the checkout stand) and we felt obliged to help. It was one of the few ways we thought we could actually give back to the school. When the kids were young it seemed a bit overwhelming to run the stand, as we’d need to get sitters for them or be prepared to chase them around the lot the entire evening, but as the kids grew and could truly help out at the stand it became a family tradition we look forward to.

My youngest is in 5th grade and will be moving on to middle school next year. We thought this would be our last tree lot until we learned that my older son’s scout troop also does tree lot. And because there are only a dozen or so kids in the troop, each family has to work multiple shifts. Seems like working tree lot will be in our future for many years to come!

My boys will always gripe about working the tree lot, even though we remind them working the lot means we’re helping raise money for their school and/or money for their troop. But I get it, I can’t imagine I would have been super excited to work a tree lot for hours on end when I was their age. It can be cold, wet, and sometimes miserable (weather wise), but seeing the families come in to buy their tree, young faces wide with excitement about the holiday, and people telling us they specifically came to the lot to support us (be it the school or the scouts), makes it all worthwhile. It makes us feel more connected to our neighbors, our community, and you can’t put a price on something so needed and special.

Working the tree lot has become a family tradition. I’ve a greater appreciation for where we get our tree from, and those that make the time to get their tree from us.

Where do you get your Christmas tree from?