christmas past

I did a terrible job doing anything with Christmas pictures and posts, so here is a quick attempt to make up for it. We had a terrific photo shoot with a home-for-the-holidays best friend, and her camera magic was as-always a sure hit. We sent off a lighted {biodegradable} lantern, and it was a hit with our 15 month old. and me. {just being honest!}

We also took some pretty, informal pictures of Rae, but just trying to get her to stay where I put her is a tremendous challenge. In short, these are the best of the bunch.

Thanks JSS!! You're the best. 

Merry post-Christmas and happy new year!

Traditions

My friend Katie has two gorgeous little kids. She is getting ready to celebrate the birth of her first, a little spitfire girl whom I adore. She told me today that she’s carrying on a tradition her mom started with her and her siblings. They would wake up on their birthday morn to a bouquet of balloons tied to the bed! I think that’s a great, fun way to start a celebration day especially for the five year old I know is getting them tomorrow.
Happy Birthday, Aviel!

Anyway, I was inspired to start a list of some of my favorite traditions that I have from my own childhood (and adulthood…)

My mom is super awesome, there’s just no getting around that. Everyone who knows her will agree. She’s super creative, bursting with energy, hilarious, and just so much fun!

Here’s a few of my favorites:
We used to have a “you are special today” plate that we ate our birthday meal on.

We got special Valentine’s Day gifts on a red-themed breakfast table in February.

She made us treasure hunts on Easter to find our bursting-at-the-seams Easter baskets.

We went to the beach every year since we can remember, and she invented “grab bags” that we were able to pull one treat out of every hour, on the hour to make the trip go faster.

At Thanksgiving, we had to share the things we were most thankful for around the table. She usually dragged us for a hike sometime during the day, too :)

Christmas Eve: we were “put to bed” with a candle and a prayer with both mom and dad. Even now that I’m married, they still light our candle and pray with us before we walk (ourselves) to bed. *chuckle*

Christmas was the best: we made a plethora of cookies, and the house was decorated differently in every room, every year. We have huge stockings that she always filled too full so they couldn’t even hang up when we saw them Christmas morning. We listened to Daddy read the Christmas story before any of the festivities. Christmas breakfast was the most delicious one of the year and to this day we always have ham and egg casserole. It smells like Christmas to me :)

I know I’ve forgotten really good ones, but in a nutshell, these are truly some of the most important things I will pass along to my own children. It’s awesome to have a family, even more divine to have one that’s as great as mine.

(OH! And one of the best ones, hardly a tradition, but a signature move of my mom’s was the hold-each-other-until-you-smile ploy she would use when we were sibling-fighting. I can firmly attest that this trick will be used in my house :) It’s hilarious.

What are your favorite traditions?