Both of our families have fairly extensive holiday traditions- meaning we both really enjoy spending the holidays with our respective families.
Up until the kiddos joined the party, that’s exactly what we did. TT Dad would spend the holidays with his family, and I would stay here to celebrate with mine. This was due, partially, to the fact that I was working a job that had a ‘black out’ period, from December through February, where we weren’t allowed to take any vacation time.
Once our family doubled in size, it no longer seemed like such a great idea. In 2014, the duo was 2 months old at Christmas, so we basically moved the party to our house. TT Dad’s family came up earlier in December, and we did Christmas with them, then my family moved their Christmas Eve and Christmas Day gatherings to our house, in order to make it a little easier for us to participate.
2015 brought us brand new one year olds, so we drove them down to NC for a (disastrous) visit- remember this post? We settled into an alternating schedule, and spent 2016 here with my family. At some point, however, we realized it was important to us to raise our kids to enjoy the same traditions we grew up with- but also to make some of our own.
We’ve been having this conversation since the kids were born- but we still haven’t determined how that should actually look for us. We’ve added some, adjusted some, and decided not to continue others. I imagine it will always be a work in progress.
I’m particularly happy with some of the additions this year. At 3, I wanted to include the kids in the gift giving… so we took a trip to the dollar store. I had a list of family members for them to select gifts for, and they chose a gift for each of them. I asked why, and they had a very logical reason for selecting each and every one. Tip for next year? Write down the reasons! Of course, I thought I’d remember, and of course- I didn’t.
We made one other stop that day. I asked the kids to pick out an ornament at the Hallmark store for each other. I also used my stealth mode to purchase another for each of them, to be from Santa.
As much as they loved picking out presents at the dollar store- I have to say, choosing an ornament for each other brought such a smile to their faces. We will continue both of these shopping sprees until the kids are a little older, and can use their allowance to purchase gifts!
This outing really helped to get the kids into the holiday spirit. They were so excited to give out the gifts they had picked out for everyone.
Of course, they were also excited to receive gifts, as well. This was the first year they understood what was happening, to the point of being excited about it before hand. Growing up, my family had an advent calendar that we used every year. It was a felt tree, with felt pockets labeled with numbers 1-25. Every morning, we would pull the felt ornament out of the appropriate pocket and place it on the tree.
I was thrilled to stumble on this Melissa & Doug Advent calendar– I think it really helped the kids to get excited about Christmas. It should last for a long time, too!
While we certainly missed all of our family on Christmas, this year- the holiday vacation idea worked out pretty well. I can’t say that we’d want to do it every year, but it was a nice change, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up doing it again some day!