What are your plans for Memorial Day. Holidays are a perfect time to create family traditions. Traditions are the "glue" that holds families together. They help children feel safe because traditions create feelings of belonging.
We have lots of holiday traditions. Memorial Day is held to remember those who have gone before. Perhaps you could take time to teach the children about how our freedoms were won and the sacrifices made to keep us free. You can also tell stories about family members no longer with us. Talk about how strong and good they were. Children take this personally. If there was a good person in their heritage, then they have some good in themselves too.
We make donuts and have root beer on Independence Day and watch fireworks together or go to a local parade.
We always celebrate birthdays with favorite foods and activities.
Christmas is a really big deal at our house.
There aren’t a lot of expensive gifts but there are family activities that no one would think of missing.
We make Danish cookies the week before Christmas.
We always try to take Christmas Eve off from work and go as a family to see the Christmas lights and decorations downtown. Afterwards we come home and warm up with chili and hot chocolate.
Christmas Day everyone can expect to have a slice of his or her favorite pie. We’re a pie kind of family, and with so many children, I often make eight or ten pies to satisfy all their desires. Their smiling faces make the extra work worth it.
Christmas morning we wait for everyone to arrive before opening presents and then take turns so we can see the faces of the receivers as they open their gifts. We take great delight in surprising them with things they’ve always wanted but never expected.
None of our activities or gifts cost a lot of money. They are just things we do together that the children have done for years and look forward to as family traditions. These are the ties that bind us together; that help us feel we belong and are loved.
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