Archive for the ‘celebrate it’ Category

When I was a little girl, we had a basket of heart ornaments that sat under the Christmas Tree.

I have spent a lot of time this month at my mom’s helping with our family’s business.  I couldn’t help but notice the little felt hearts hanging on my mother’s Christmas Tree.

Seeing those little hearts brought back memories.

My mother stitched each of the ornaments long ago.  At the beginning of the Christmas Season one year she put the basket of hearts under our newly decorated tree.  She explained that these ornaments were special.  They could only be placed on the tree when we had done something nice for someone else in the family.

That year I remember coming into my room to find that my bed had been made and my room had been cleaned by my sister.

I remember little notes and shared treats from my brothers.

I remember looking around my home for sweet things I could do for my family members.

I remember little by little our tree being filled with hearts.

Seeing those hearts hanging on the tree brought back so many warm Christmas memories.

I think next year this is a tradition I need to do with my own family.

The year my son first understood and anticipated Christmas was a year full of delight…. and a whole lot of stress.

His excitement that year was almost unbearable.  One minute he was hugging me and telling me how much he loved me…  and Santa Claus.  The next moment he was having a full meltdown.  I tried to be consistent in my parenting.  I tried to be calm, collected and firm.  But the excitement seemed to be building day after day regardless of what I did to prevent it.  I even resorted to the time honored threat that “Santa is watching.”

As it approached my husband and I were sure that we were in for a truly long night on Christmas Eve.  We were both certain that our little 4 year old wasn’t going to sleep a wink.

The day before Christmas Eve my husband said.  “We’ve pretty much finished up our Christmas shopping.  Let’s do something tomorrow that is going to wear Ben out.”

So we formulated a plan.

On Christmas Eve we didn’t run around shopping or finishing last minute anything.  The time for that was done. Instead we packed up the car and took the kids up the canyon by our home.

We were loaded down with sleds and hot chocolate and HOPE.

Hope that our children would be so worn out by the end of our outing that they would sleep like babies on Christmas Eve.

We had a wonderful time.  Time and again we flew down the hill.  Time and again we climbed to the top again.  By the end of the afternoon we drank our hot chocolate to warm up and headed home. My children’s frenetic energy of the morning was gone and my hope rose a little.

When we got home we gathered round the table and decorated cookies for Santa.

Instead of the big family Christmas party that was almost two hours round trip away, we opted to stay home that year.  We made a simple but lovely dinner  at home complete with our favorite British tradition of Christmas Crackers (OK those aren’t exactly calm!)  We kept the house quiet that evening other than soft Christmas music.  As bedtime came near, we gave the children their Christmas Eve gift- new cozy pajamas and slippers.  Then we lit candles and read the story of the 1st Christmas.

By time we were done with our day something truly magical had happened.  While our children were excited.  They were calm.  They were happy.  They fell right asleep and they even slept until 7:00 am.  The parents were up before the kids and waiting for them.

We loved that year so much, we’ve continued the tradition each Christmas Eve since.  Each year we go sledding and stay home on Christmas Eve with just our family.  I guess it goes to show sometimes the best traditions begins out of necessity.