It’s Christmas
Eve. For my family this means lots of traditions. Pizza. Movies.
Hanging out as a family.
A few months ago I posted about my tradition of getting key-chains for each of my kids when I’m on business travel. My oldest daughter went on her first airplane trip (without any other family members) and brought back – you guessed it – key-chains.
(It’s great to see her do this for her siblings).We did also check out her route with Google Earth.
Another tradition we have is setting aside one Saturday night in August to camp in the back yard. It started when our youngest was born as a way to let the
GeekMom have a little time to herself one night during the summer.
Six years later, even GeekMom joins us in the tent. We roast marshmallows over a small fire and pile into our tent sitting 50 feet from modern facilities (along with a solid roof if it rains).
Nothing extravagant and nothing fancy (does it even qualify as something geeky?….maybe old-school?) – yet the kids start asking about our camp out as soon as they are done with school for the summer.
Our Christmas Eve tradition is to do a home-made pizza night and hunker down under blankets to watch the old-school Christmas specials. You know, things like Rudolph, or The
Little Drummer Boy or Nestor,
The Long-Eared Donkey. This year, however, we’re breaking tradition and watching The
Nativity Story. While we certainly appreciate the classics, my wife and I are hoping to introduce a “new classic” to our family.
These are a few examples of the power of tradition in the lives of our kids and our family. What traditions do you and your kids look forward to this time of year?
[Image courtesy of pdphoto.org]
