Any traditions?
 

Do you have any special, meaningful family traditions or practices?
Especially of a spiritual nature?

Trying to think of things to start doing when baby arrives shortly because we didn't really have any in our home. But I'm drawing a blank...


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Re: Any traditions?
 

Not really "tradition" but more of a routine. Praying before dinner every evening. Bedtime story and praying together one on one before bed with each child. Having a time of family devotions. Etc.

Starting little things like this right away cements them in your child's routine. :heart

Re: Any traditions?
 

I love those. Thank you for sharing ❤️


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Re: Any traditions?
 

Wait for it....

Take lots of pictures!!

Lol

Make year in review photo book.

Re: Any traditions?
 

I do need to take lots of pictures. And get hubby to, too.

I've actually thought about buying a camera to do so...


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Re: Any traditions?
 

I LOVE having DSLR. I know cell phone cameras are awesome now though.

Re: Any traditions?
 

When they are dedicated at church, we choose a special Bible verse for them. That verse becomes one that I say to them often throughout the years, and each child has their own verse up on the wall next to their bed. I either bought it as a plaque, canvas, or laminate from Pinterest. The kids really like knowing "their verse" and I hope it encourages them through the years as they get older.

---------- Post added at 08:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:57 PM ----------

We also celebrate the Jesse Tree at Advent. Five or so years ago I bought a kit from another GCM'er who made them at her church and we still use it.

Re: Any traditions?
 

That's a fabulous idea. Ugh love it so much.


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Re: Any traditions?
 

You can take really awesome pictures on your iPhone! No need for a special camera (that is too bulky to carry around with you easily).

Another tradition is making the kids each a baby book. I do it on Shutterfly, and it is mostly cell phone photos (they are pretty good nowadays resolution wise). I make the book their first 3ish years and when I hit Shutterfly's max pages (110 iirc) then I order the book. It ends up being around $100 (that's with several discount codes including a 50% one). But my kids love to look through them and read about their early years. I update it as I go, so when they hit milestones or show what they enjoyed playing or a fun vacation I already have things to write. I actually get quite a bit of the books done during down time when I'm in my classroom (I teach part time in adult basic Ed). "Everyone says" that only the first child gets a baby book and the others are out of luck, but my mom made one for each of us growing up and we enjoyed reading them (and hers from her childhood in the 50"s). And each of my kids have one bc it was an important tradition to me.

Re: Any traditions?
 

Sometime between Thanksgiving night and Dec 1st we give a getting ready for Christmas box. It is full of winter and holiday books mostly (used are great, they are in good condition given the short season most are used for), but also crafts and PJs and maybe some other clothes (bought the year before after the holidays) and a couple of DVDs and CDs.

It's a small expense now that we have stocked up the books. I'll add some more mature ones as DD1 gets older but for now, I think we are set for a couple of years. I need to find PJs for DD2 this year since I wasn't sure what size to get. Otherwise it's already done.

I love having the box earlier than the typical Christmas Eve one since it lets us dig for fun stuff on days without much fun. This time I have a bunch of the same crafts since DD1 is loving spending time with neighbor friends.

I also have been taking DD1 to The Nutcracker every year since she was 3. I am not sure how we'll do this year with the baby though. She'll only be 6 months and I'm not sure if she can be quiet or if either of us will be comfortable being apart.

Otherwise we aren't big on traditions here. I love the idea but it feels like so much pressure to get it right that for now we mostly just roll with things. :shrug3

Re: Any traditions?
 

I've been wanting one anyway and have been wanting to learn more about photography, so this seems like my chance ;) A friend of mine is a professional photographer and offers classes for amateurs and a lot of my coworkers have taken her class and learned how to take high quality photos, thus saving them money in the end ;)

I definitely want to do something special for each any :heart Shutterfly sounds easy and awesome. That's super special. Thank you for sharing.


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Re: Any traditions?
 

We do "advent" jammies. By the time advent starts, the kids need winter jammies. I dislike having to wait for Christmas Eve. We also put the nativity scene front & center under the tree Christmas Eve and read the Christmas story in the morning.

Homemade ice cream for breakfast for birthdays. And, the kids get to pick their favorite dinner.

We do weekly dates with the kids alternating between mom & dad. Tonight, dh is out playing soccer with ds and will come home & play Risk.

Our church started doing Legacy Path at different ages. if you are interested in recreating for yourself, I can post the list.

I'm sure I have more.

Re: Any traditions?
 

Devotions every night after dinner.

In winter dinner is always by candlelight.

Strawberry picking every June, blueberry picking in July and August.

We always cut our own Christmas tree.

The day after a birthday we eat the leftover cake for breakfast.

We have pretty much the same menu every thanksgiving and Christmas.

For the 4th of July we make puppy chow (I can't stomach it more than once a year) and the kids each get a can of (non gmo) soda for the fireworks.

Re: Any traditions?
 

We use the YOU ARE SPECIAL plate for birthdays and other special events. We had one growing up too.


https://www.amazon.com/Waechtersbach...+special+plate

Re: Any traditions?
 

Whatever you start when it comes to photos, be sure you'll be able to keep it up with multiple kiddos (if you are planning on multiple kiddos). Each of my kids gets a 40 page photo book of their first three years. That means if I have more pictures, I'm more selective about what I put in the book. But none of my kids has to wonder why their book is thinner- they're all the same.

I save the same things for each of my kids- a baby outfit, their first shoes, our church's magazine from the month they were born. Each of my kids has a treasure box for that. I also make a calendar of their first year and write in stuff they did. I also have a journal for each child and write them each a letter on or around their bday in the journal. I'll give it to them when they grow up.

Each child has a color and their towel, cup, water bottle, etc, is that color.

We go to church and read scripture daily and pray daily as a family. Every Monday night we have a family night where we learn about the gospel and/or do something fun together. Dh reads scripture with each of the kids every night.

We sing church songs as lullabies- it's funny how each has their preferences. My newest dd loves Dear To the Heart of the Shepherd. We try stuff until we figure out which ones make them stop crying and we sing those ones a lot.

When they are baptized (age 8 in our church) we get a Costco cake with a rainbow on it and the words "I like to look for rainbows" which is the title of a song about baptism in our church.

We do advent but with our own spin on it since we're not catholic.

We tell the truth about Santa, the tooth fairy, etc, but we still do all that stuff- they just know where it comes from.

To encourage kids to write in their journals we do journal time. Everyone gathers at the table (sometimes their are M and Ms- a non-messy thing is important here) and there are stickers and we write in journals. The big kids do it themselves and we help the little kids by writing down what they say and letting them draw pictures.

We read the Christmas story on Christmas Eve and the Easter story on Easter.

We have a puzzle for fall and one for winter. When seasons change we do the puzzle. We also love to make our own holiday decorations. Wool felt is awesome for kids learning to sew!

We do lots of hiking. We also do lots of drawing and some sewing as well (I teach my kids to embroider starting at age 2).

We write thank you notes as a family similar to how we do journal time.

On Valentines Day we have a candlelit dinner of pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream and sparkling cider. This is a family dinner, not a couples thing.

Each of my kids has a birthday crown like these http://frontierdreams.blogspot.com/2...-tutorial.html with things going on in nature around the time of their bday.