Create cherished memories and strengthen your family relationships with the help of annual holiday traditions.
Some of my favorite childhood memories revolve around family traditions. I love to reminisce through rich, vivid images that take me back, bring me joy and make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Now, as a parent, I’m committed to filling my children’s lives with precious moments, silly rituals and time-honored traditions, in the hopes that they, too, are blessed by their collection of memories, and the strong family ties that have grown over the years.
While it sounds like a lot of planning and hard work, it doesn’t have to be. Here are suggestions for easy, fun and frugal traditions you can initiate with your little ones right now:
1. Baking Holiday Cookies (hello, Pillsbury!)
2. Read one holiday story each day, starting December 1st. (hello, community library!) For those of you with a collection of holiday books that rivals a library, let your little ones mark the passage of time as the tall stack of books dwindles day by day. Can’t get to the library? Click here for online stories.
3. Snap a picture of the kids in front of the tree (or the snowman, fireplace, etc.) every year. It’s fun to see how they change over time.
4. Enjoy the holiday lights from the warmth of your car, as you tour surrounding neighborhoods or community holiday lights displays. Be sure to bring some candy canes and hot cocoa in sippy cups.
5. “Celebrate” with sparkling cider or grape juice in special glasses. Plastic champagne glasses make this especially fun; just remember they spill easily — maybe use white grape juice.
6. And those homely, er, hand-crafted, decorations your kids create? Display them every year…it’s nostalgia at its very best, plus it’s humbling for kids when they grow into aloof teenagers.
7. Donate food, clothes or toys. Have your children pick items from your cupboard (or the store) and deliver the goods to a local shelter or food bank. Bonus point: Ask if your children can place your donations on the shelf.
