We've Never Been Much for Traditions...

Growing up, holiday celebrations for my family were sporadic to say the least. I'm fine with how we were raised so this isn't about woe is I {woe is me?} for not having those sorts of things 'figured out' for when we had kids. We didn't really have traditions of any kind in place. My husband's family however, had quite a few traditions. But they lived on four acres, were always homeschoolers, and life was different for them. 

There have been attempts at making some traditions in our family, such as making some sort of Christmas ornament every year. And decorating after December 1 for Christmas. I mean, come on, people! Christmas decorations up the day after Halloween?? Where's Thanksgiving even??

But I digress. {I'm long-winded though, so there may be more digressions to come.}

Perhaps I should start with the disclaimer that for us Christmas is probably not the same as it is for other families. We acknowledge that it is the day set by many people for the day of Jesus' birth but we also are quite realistic and know that it is indeed not the day of the Savior's birth. We also know that there are probably more families that set it as the day that Santa comes around dropping presents through the chimney for good girls and boys. We have never done the Santa bit. {And we don't even have a chimney. *wink*} 

Where does that leave us with Christmas? It is a time {"Christmas" never lasts for one day} when we get together as a family and appreciate each other. It is about enjoying the blessings we have in our family. Maybe you could say it's an extension of Thanksgiving. We exchange gifts, of course, and we eat good food. We spend a lot of time being happy with where we are and who we are with.

Jesus is the reason for every season, not just Christmas. 

We have not been good at making traditions that will pass on for generations. Is it ever too late to start a tradition? Since we have lived in Ohio we have done more in the way of holiday traditions than ever before. I think it has some to do with the fact that we used to travel to visit family in another state for Christmas. We didn't need our own tradition- we had theirs. Before living here we only had a tree in our house a small number of times. It was always at someone else's house. I have only a handful of Christmas posts here that talk about what we do/have done. And they have all been written since we have lived here. There are even less Thanksgiving posts. We have attempted to do Advent activities a few times. 

And lights! We love lights here. Not the inflatable snowmen, reindeer in the yard, or light up the sky so the International Space Station can see it. But lights are definitely a tradition here; inside and out.

My kids are -bah! one is no longer a 'kid'!- 19 and 16 years old now. Anyway, this year I'm starting a new tradition for us. I'm sure this is nothing new for many others but hey, it's new to us! When I told my kids what I was going to do they looked at me funny. I'm used to that by now. 

*Drum roll....*

Unwrapping a book to countdown to Christmas day. 

There are undoubtedly a lot of others who have done this, and do this still. I love books so I'm quite disappointed in myself for having not done this before now. But in my defense, my hubby really really thinks I have a book addiction that he is possibly devising ways to cure me of. {No chance of that! My home library is steadily growing.}

Since I decided to attempt this tradition just this month, I'm not going to make it to 25 books for the whole countdown. But that is alright. I have 6 at the moment, and perhaps a couple more can be included from my bookshelves. Here are the specific books* I have so far:

*all images courtesy of Amazon, which are linked to my affiliate code. See Disclosure/Policies.

I would love to have a few more books but we'll just have to wait to see how it goes! Just right off, The Long Winter is a book I'll probably add to the stack for the chapter titled "Merry Christmas". The books I chose were influenced greatest by lists given on the AO forum, as well as some of the pins on Pinterest. Two other books I would like to get are How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Crippled Lamb.

Now, since this post gives the allusion that I'm going to give tips on how to create traditions in a family with older kids, I'll end by pointing you to places that give better ideas than I have. 

• Parents has a list of 14 Ways to Create Fun Family Traditions.
• Cozi gives 50 Holiday Traditions ideas.
• The Art of Manliness has over 60 Family Tradition Ideas. The holiday tradition ideas are near the end.
• The Imagination Tree gives 50 Magical Family Christmas Traditions.

There is probably overlap in those lists and many will be ideas you won't want to even consider for your family. But all those great ideas! 

The best way to start a tradition is to start.