Any traditions?

[Virginia]

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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[2sunshines]

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.

[Virginia]

Originally Posted by 2sunshines

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.

I love those. Thank you for sharing ❤️


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[ECingMama]

Wait for it....

Take lots of pictures!!

Lol

Make year in review photo book.

[Virginia]

Originally Posted by ECingMama

Wait for it....



Take lots of pictures!!



Lol



Make year in review photo book.

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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[ECingMama]

Originally Posted by Virginia

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

[Katigre]

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.

[Virginia]

Originally Posted by Katigre

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.

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


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[MegMarch]

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.

[Ms_Dahl]

A couple of our spiritual traditions:

I give my son a nightly blessing and a morning blessing upon waking as well. It is short and simple (I do the sign of the cross over him and ask for Jesus Christ to be with him as he sleeps). He cannot sleep without me giving him his blessing.

Every Christmas, I read the book The Tale of the Three Trees to him.

Praying over our meals.

There are a host of spiritual traditions that are part of our Orthodox faith as well that we treasure each year.

---------- Post added at 11:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:00 PM ----------

As for traditions that are not specifically religious in nature, these have changed over the years. I always tried to establish a rhythm in our home resembling inhalation and exhalation activities. Example, after we spend time cuddling and reading on the couch, we would get up and take a walk around the neighborhood to get our blood moving. The activities we participated in changed over the years, but the inhale/exhale process stayed the same.

[Katigre]

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.

[Virginia]

Originally Posted by Katigre

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.

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 Shutterfly sounds easy and awesome. That's super special. Thank you for sharing.


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[The Tickle Momster]

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.

[Soliloquy]

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.

[Virginia]

So many fabulous ideas here. Thank you! I'm stealing them all!


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