Subscribegood things – traditions
First of all, thank you for all your kind words of encouragement and wisdom on that last post. I’ve since calmed down about it all and have resolved to just be in the moment (big shocker, right?) and enjoy the Christmas holiday. The rest will sort itself out later. Letting go and giving things space for a while is always a good thing.
Onto the good things in my aforementioned back pocket…
I’ve been thinking a lot about holiday traditions — ones I looked forward to when I was a kid, and ones that I want to start now that I have my own family. This is Veda’s first Christmas, so now’s the time!
One tradition Colin and I have already established is going out each year and picking a new ornament together. Since 2001 we’ve set aside an afternoon (preferably when it’s romantically snowing and cold, but no such luck this year) to browse some shops and find one that feels perfect for that year. Then we grab a mug of hot chocolate and a piece of pie at a nearby bakery. This year for our ornament we picked out the tiny stocking in the first pic above at an antiques store, and we substituted caramel lattes and oatmeal raisin cookies for the hot chocolate and pie. I think Veda enjoyed the cookie part the most. (She loves oatmeal cookies.)
We also decorated the house and set up the tree. An obvious tradition. This year we went with a table-top tree. About 3 feet tall. I know Veda would’ve been all up in a big tree this year and rather than say “no ma’am” 17 billion times, we just avoided the problem all together. It’s very sweet in it’s smallness, sitting in a red and yellow pitcher with a few white lights and all the ornaments we’ve collected together and from ones my childhood. (Lots of hand-made ones from my mom. She’s a crafty lady.) For the house, we went simple, with a few green garlands here and there, all my old glass ornaments from my grandma in a vase on the table out of harm’s way, and substituting our white living room drapes for red velvet ones. Yum. Feels cozy.
Another big tradition that we’re starting this year is one gift we plan on giving every Christmas — a piece of art. This can be either a framed print, an original, or whatever. Just as long as it’s visual art. I love this idea and hope that Veda will one day appreciate it… (she’ll probably roll her eyes at the idea until she’s much older). But this way, years from now when she moves out on her own, she’ll have a small collection of art to take with her. This year we ordered this print (still waiting for it to arrive)… I hope it’s as pretty in person.
Other traditions I like and plan to execute are:
- opening one gift on Christmas eve… a pair of warm winter pajamas.
- stockings (more on that later).
- And as Veda gets older, either an advent calendar or a 12 days of Christmas idea. (The 12 days of Christmas is half as much work…) My dear friend Gwen has some good ideas for her advent envelopes this year. And uncommon grace (a great blog) has a whole bunch more here.
- making cookies.
- some kind of crafty Christmas project (when Veda gets older and cares). My mom did this with us when we were little and I loved it. And while I’m not a crafty person, I think something simple is possible. :)
That’s all I’ve got right now because my biggest goal is to just keep it simple. (One of my art profs used to remind us to “KISS”… “Keep it simple, stupid.” Good advice.)
What are some of your favorite holiday traditions? (I may just have to steal them!) :)
What a beautiful site you have here, Penelope!
I just LOVE that top photo of the gold and red stocking ornament. It’s really beautiful. Also, your house is so pretty!!
Well I’m starting to feel really Christmassy now! Have just started singing carols to my 9.5 month old girl, and also looking out for a small tree to put up someone out of reach :)
A tradition that my sister and I used to have was to share bowls of hot chocolate together on Christmas Eve. Also my family had a Christmas Box which contained books with a Christmas theme of some sort. I was so excited when it came out every year.
I’m so looking forward to when Gracie is old enough to understand the traditions we have.
i love your ornament tradition. too bad my husband dislikes shopping, or else i’d steal that one from you! i read your entry last night, and definitely had a dream about your table-top tree.
Ha! I love “KISS”. Need to make that my mantra too. Glad to hear your spirits have lifted :)
thanks so much for the detailed scanner advice, now I have the scanner (maybe you can get some money from them.. :) ) and the courage to use it !! I’m excited !
To weigh in on the traditions part, I think they fall into place as the kids grow. I remember lots of angst, especially since I’m married to an admitted scrooge, but as my girls have grown (they’re now 4 and 7) they become attached to certain things and the things that are too much work, or don’t feel right fall by the wayside. I think since we’re all busy, it’s important to make the most of the time we spend together and only do things we enjoy.
You almost managed to get me in the mood for christmas so thanks for that. I am not really doing christmas this year our house is upheaval but I love christmas traditions. 1 small thing all the way to christmas day is wonderful and then of course something christmas eve and I love your PJ idea. When I was little then, we would open a few on Christmas day and then one a day until ran out. Which was usually quickly because we didn’t get a lot but it was fun to spread it out a bit.
dang, girl. you are ambitious! i love christmas, but we are so used to traveling for christmas (2 weeks usually) that we’ve never spent one on our own…until this year. i’m excited but a little sad, too. we gotta think of what we’re doing really…we are so casual…
a few of our traditions are making an ornament each year, filling our stockings i made with little surprises, going on a hike on Christmas day, and making gobs and gobs of cookies and then making surprise visits at our friends’ houses. we’re planning on going to the Taos Pueblo, too, this Christmas Eve (YAY! i’ve only gone once for this)–they do a big procession to the church and dances and music and then have bonfires around the whole pueblo. it’s one day that it’s open for everyone in the community.
i also love the art and PJ idea. one thing i want to do when Tulsi gets older is some sort of service, like cooking at a shelter or a home. hmm, it’s pretty fun to start thinking of making our own traditons… xo,j
The art idea is awesome. I’m sure she’ll love it!
My guy and I make each other a handmade ornament each year. We usually do this together, watching a Christmas movie. We also play Xmas songs on the way home from Thanksgiving from Indiana to Philly, to get us in the mood :)
Speaking of stealing ideas, I’m so in love with your hurricane lamp full of vintage ornaments that I plan to do that myself (probably next year since I’m too lazy to go back up in the attic to get ornaments)…
A simple tradition for my little 2-year-old that I started last year is drawing something Christmasy (Santa, a stocking, a snowman, etc.) and letting him color it, then we display it by hanging it on the mantel. This year I also made some fold-and-cut snowflakes out of construction paper that I have let him color first. I also make a breakfast casserole (prepare it the night before to stick in the oven Christmas a.m. – warm and yummy and hearty)… but since I’ve been trying to eliminate meat from my diet recently, I may have to try it with soysage this year! And though lots of Christmas movies evoke a sentimental feeling, my all-time favorite is “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Hopefully when my little boy is older, he’ll tolerate it – or love it as much as I do! Hope you have a wonderful first Christmas with your little girl.
OH! One more tradition… Angel Trees or another type of charitable giving. Next year we plan on getting our little boy somehow involved, as I think he’ll be able to comprehend it a little better than he would this year. :-)
When my daughter was born I started buying her a christmas snowglobe every year. She is four now and loves to look at them and listen to the christmas songs that some of them play. She kind of gets lost in the the world within the snowglobe and will start telling me stories about what happens when she is there. Love her imagination!
My sister and her daughter used to sprinkle reindeer food in the front yard(chocolate covered pretzels and glittler, so they can see from the sky).The year my niece was 10 I remember my sister being bummed because she thought Asia was reaching that age where Christmas changed from magical to commercial. I came over and was getting into a bag of pretzels and she snapped that they were for the reindeer…I was shocked because Asia had told us earlier that she had discovered the real identity of Santa…none the less tradition was still tradition in her eyes!
Penelope, thought I’d mention that my sister taught my niece Katelin “One finger” whenever Katelin was approaching something that shouldn’t be touched, like Christmas decorations. I was impressed with how well it worked — she still got to touch something, but she didn’t destroy it. Thought you guys might like that approach as Veda gets more mobile and curious.
Obviously, this would not work for sharp knives or electrical outlets.
Happy holidays to all of you!
Love this post. Just put up my own list of traditions!