I can't remember if it was last Christmas or the Christmas before that I was talking about starting traditions for the holidays. This will be Nathan's first Christmas, so I'm really eager to come up with something.
My family always made a big deal over Christmas. My dad begins decorating on the morning after Thanksgiving, like clockwork, every year. My mom begins shopping in October sometimes. She just loves to give! I'm not too sure what my two oldest brothers do, but my youngest brother (Chris) and I have never really done much for Christmas as adults. Basically, I only buy gifts for my parents and The Targo. I try to get my best girls gifts every year. I usually fail. The Targo buys for his parents and we both participate in his family's gift draw. Other than that --- we're not so into the gift giving/receiving. We don't even buy for each other.
What to do this year? Our 650 square feet doesn't permit us to have a tree. And really, with a 10 month old who's trying to walk, we shouldn't have a tree. Oh, there's the matter of those really obnoxious cats too. Gah. So what to do? Stockings! Thank you, Amy!
We bought four really cute stockings this year: Snowman (The Targo), Plaid (mine), Cat (um, for the cats), and a "baby's first Christmas" stocking. (Perhaps a picture to be posted later ... I don't know though -- I'm so darned lazy.) My goal is to find stuff for The Targo that reflect my feelings for him and what the Holiday is all about. Little things, you know, from the heart. For Nathan? Well, anything that might fit in his stocking is probably a choking hazard; so it might just be for looks.
But the idea - the possible tradition - of the Christmas stockings is really what I'm liking. I want the memories of Christmas to be something that Nathan treasures. I know that he's not going to remember this Christmas, or possibly the next few, but these traditions that will be captured in photographs and carried throughout his childhood. That's priceless to me. And also, it's something to build on.
What traditions do you and your family have for the Holidays? If you're a mom, what did you do for your child's first Christmas?
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3 comments:
AJU5 was only 11 days old on her first Christmas, so we didn't do anything special per se. Our stockings have our first initial on them. Since AJU5's is the same as her dad's, we put her in the stocking a took a picture. Then we later dressed her up in her Christmas outfit she got from my sister...
This year we will be with my family, and my mom is in charge. I don't know how to make it special though...
I make sure to have holiday photos done every year and to mark the occasion with a special ornament.
We always open one gift on Christmas Eve, too.
Anything you decide with be wonderful, because they will be YOUR family's traditions.
I love stockings. We were really struggling with whether or not to get a tree because of the puppy. I was feeling kind of grinchy until we put up the stockings.
Our tradition that has stuck through childhood is to read the Night Before Christmas right before we go to bed on Christmas Eve. My friend's mom got her one ornament every year and now that she's 23 she has a box of ornaments to decorate her own tree with. I think I LOVE that idea.
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