Family Activity - Reminiscing

It's important for kids to have a sense of belonging, and one way to instill that in them is by sharing family stories.  A connection with their parents, aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents can be made by sharing family stories.  If you're lucky, you'll have old photos to go through with them, which trigger lots of memories.  Another good way to reminisce is by topic, such as:  games we played at recess, how we got to school, what we ate for lunch, who our best friend was, what our nickname was, what was our favorite book as a child, etcetera.  I've taken groups of seniors (80+) to meet with grade 1 classes, and it's amazing how the children are interested in finding out what was different about their childhoods, and what was the same (apparently ring and run/ding dong ditch spans the generations!)  Making links between the generations is very important.  It helps children to have deep roots.  Have fun, and reminisce with your children!

Playing in the Snow

I hope everyone in the northern hemisphere is enjoying the winter weather, and I envy everyone in the southern hemisphere who is (I am sure) basking in the sun and gardening and swimming and.......

Here's a friendly little fellow one of my boys made a few weeks ago, aptly named 'Snowy'. 

All in One Christmas Post - Recipes, Scrapbooking Ideas, Fun Links, Tips......

Well, my friends, the countdown is on and there's lots for all the Mrs. Claus' to do.  In the spirit of gettin' it done and keepin' it real, this is an all in one Christmas-palooza post.  So, here goes....

Recipe:  Raisin Clusters

1 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups raisins

Line baking sheet with buttered wax paper.  Set aside.  Melt chocolate with milk and vanilla in heavy small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat when melted.  Stir in raisins.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto baking sheet.  Refrigerate until firm.  Store in fridge in container between layers of wax paper.  Makes 30 clusters.  This is my dad's very favorite Christmas treat.

Tip of the Week:

If you're making chocolate cakes or cup cakes this season, try dusting the greased cake pans with cocoa instead of flour.  No white flour marks on the cake - yay!

Family Activity:  Christmas ABC Scrapbook

  This is one I'm going to start in the New Year, it's an old idea I've had in my Christmas File for over a decade.  Basically, all the Christmas cards that you've kept through the years can be added to an ABC scrapbook.  Get a nice big scrapbook and make sure it has at least 26 pages in it.  Label each page A-Z with the following verses:

A is for angels, with halos so bright, whose carols were heard on that first Christmas Night.
B is for baby, that Christ child so dear, We celebrate Christmas, His Birthday, each year.
C is for Candles that so brightly shine, To give a warm welcome to your friends and mine.
D is for doorway with garlands of green, To make Christmas merry for as far as they're seen.
E is for evergreen garlands galore, We hang at our window, fireplace and door.
F is for fun the whole season long, From trimming the tree, to singing a song.
G is for greetings, a merry hello- With a heart full of love for people we know.
H is for holly with berries so red, To make into wreaths to hang overhead.
I is for ice on white covered hills, Where sledding is fun along with the spills.
J is for jingle bells merrily ringing To the whole world, joy they are bringing.
K is for Kris Kringle, so merrily he stands.  He is who they call Santa, in ours and many lands.
L is for lantern, I'm sure that their light Helped Mary and Joseph, on that first Christmas night.
M is for Mary, her heart full of love For her little son Jesus who came from above.
N is for Noel the angels did sing To herald the birth of Jesus, our King.
O is for ornaments, so shiny and bright, With lights on the tree, they sparkle at night.
P is for packages, presents so gay, All around the tree for our Christmas Day.
Q is for quiet Christmas Eve night, With snow covered hills glistening so bright.
R is for red, the color so gay, That makes all things bright on that one special day!
S is for shepherds who first saw the star Over Behtlehem's manger and followed it far.
T is for trees we decorate so gay, They wait for old Santa to hurry our way.
U is for universe, the whole wide world, Where Christmas means joy to each boy and girl.
V is for Vixen, the lively reindeer.  He always helps Santa deliver toys each year.
W is for wisemen who brought gifts so rare, and fell down and worshipped the Christ child there.
X is for excitement, the best day of the year, We can all hardly wait until it is here.
Y is for young children who love Christmas so, Who teach its true meaning by the love that they show.
Z is for Zeal, real excitement and fun.  May this book help to bring a "Merry Christmas" to everyone!

This is a project to be brought out every Christmas season.  Keep the Christmas cards you receive every year alongside the scrapbook, so whenever little people get restless, you can get them to look through the cards and find new pictures to add to each scrapbook page.  Warning:  this scrapbook is not for moms to obsess over, it is a yearly activity for the kids, so please put your perfectionism aside!  (Unless you want to do one for yourself, of course.  Kind of like how dads should have their own kub kar/pinewood derby car all for themselves.)

Home and Garden:  It's Yarn Season for me.  I can't go outside and dig in the dirt, so I play with yarn and drool over seed catalogues.  Here's a link to one of my favorite crochet pattern websites, it's pretty comprehensive:  Crochet Pattern Central .  I've made two cute hats already and am working on a Mobius Granny Scarf right now.  Confession:  I drooled over yarn at Michael's yesterday, then reminded myself of the pact I have made to abstain from buying yarn until I have used up my current stock, which is shocking.  I think I have enough yarn to cover a bus.  Did you know there are yarn ninjas out there who do yarn grafitti?  Maybe Beaumont will discover a yarn activist when I run out of people to cover in granny squares........

Review:  The Graphics Fairy

This isn't so much a review as a big thank you to The Graphics Fairy.  Her site is amazing, and filled with free vintage clip art and absolutely cute craft projects.  I am in awe.....

Family Inspiration: 

This was written by Toni Young of Calgary many many years ago:

"Remember---

What children really want for Christmas is a warm and close family celebration and a few carefully chosen gifts from people who care about them.

Build up to Christmas has been lengthened, but its ending has been cut short.  When the gifts have been unwrapped, Christmas is over and children are left dazed and bewildered. 

When parents have family celebrations, kids learn there's more fun to Christmas than just unwrapping gifts.  When children have exciting family activities to look forward to, before and after the present-opening, gifts start taking their rightrful place in the festivities."

 

"Love Notes"

Christmas is all about traditions, and here's a nice simple one that our family loves.  We don't always wait for Christmas to do this activity, because it's always nice to hear kind things.

All you need is an envelope for each family member with their name written on it, and slips of paper for each member of the family (for example, there are seven of us, so each individual would need six slips of paper).  Pass the papers and a pencil or pen around, and have each member of the family write down something they love about everyone in the family.  When you're finished, put the correct slips of paper (labelled with the individual's names) in their envelope, and set it aside until Christmas Eve.  Then everyone can get their envelope and read how much they are loved!

12 Days of Christmas Ring and Run



It's that time of year again, time to plan the annual Christmas Ring and Run.  We've done this for the last two years in a row, and it's lots of fun to ding dong ditch and run like the wind!  Here's the list that our family uses, there's lots of variations out there on the wide world of web.

ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you…a partridge in a pear tree. Sorry, but we can’t find the partridge, so we are giving you some pears from the tree the partridge flew away from. (attach to a can of pears)
ON THE SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you…two turtle doves…but don’t’ have any…will candy turtles with a bar of Dove soap do? (attach note to a box or plate of caramel turtles w/ a boxed bar of Dove soap.)
ON THE THIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you…three French hens…well, we don’t have any French hens, so we’re giving you some chicken noodle soup, compliments of the three French hens. (attach to can of chicken noodle soup).
ON THE FOURTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you…four calling birds…we can’t find those calling birds though! Here are 4 messages they left for you before they flew off! (attach to 4 messages describing what a wonderful person they are)
ON THE FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you…five golden rings, but sorry, we’re too poor for golden rings, but will some golden pineapple rings do? (attach to can of pineapple rings)
ON THE SIXTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you…six geese a laying, but we know you don’t really want the mess of six geese all over your house, do you? How about some eggs that they left behind! (attach to a half dozen eggs)
ON THE SEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you…seven swans a swimming! OK, we looked for the swans, but couldn’t find them, but we did find some bubble bath they used while they were swimming! (attach to bottle of bubble bath)
ON THE EIGHTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you…eight maids a-milking. Here is some milk we got from the eight maids — we think they must have been milking some brown cows! (attach to a container of chocolate milk)
ON THE NINTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you…nine ladies dancing…Here are some canes used by the nine ladies who were out dancing all night! (attach to a nine candy canes)
ON THE TENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS: your true love gave to you…ten lords-a-leapin’ – here is some “Ben Gay”, which is highly recommended by the ten Lords we saw out jumping around. (attach to a package of Ben Gay rubbing lotion)
ON THE ELEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you…eleven pipers piping, so here is a pipe of your own, have fun with it, but don’t “blow” the whole day! (attach to a bubble pipe and bubble solution)
ON THE TWELFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, your true love gave to you…twelve drummers drumming, but we figured twelve drummers drumming would take up way too much room, so we drummed up some cookies for you…hope they keep this from being just another hum-”drum” day for you! (attach to a plate of cookies)

We have adapted this list a bit.  For example, on the first day, I always start scouting for a little inexpensive bird ornament and buy some nice real pears instead of canned ones.  On day two I send along chocolate Dove candy and chocolate Turtles.  For the five golden rings, we like to use the big candy Ring Pops.  For day ten, really, who wants to get Ben Gay?  I can't remember what I substituted last year, but I know I didn't send along any Ben Gay or Rub-A535.  Anyway, this is lots of fun, it's a challenge to not get caught twelve days in a row.  Remember to start on December 13th!

Date Night for Parents with Small Children

Many years ago when our children were very small, I remember hearing the counsel to have a weekly date with my sweetheart, and thinking, 'Right, get a babysitter once a week, that's not going to happen!'  We occasionally did get a sitter for a rare night out, but mostly Friday night was a stay at home affair, especially if it was a year when there was a new baby in the family.  Nowadays things are different, and Scott and I do go out on a date once a week, but our children are much older now and we have built in babysitters.  In fact, our youngest is not far away from being able to babysit other people's children. 

While we were not always inclined or able to get a babysitter when our children were younger, we did try and have a date together one night a week.  Because our children went to bed very early, we took advantage of that evening time and planned a little activity for ourselves.  Whether it was renting a movie and getting a treat, or having a picnic in front of the fireplace, we still tried to make time for ourselves as a couple.  I'm afraid I was usually too tired to be very creative, hopefully all the young mothers out there can be more imaginative than I was! 

After twenty years of marriage, I am very glad that we have made the time over the years to date each other.  It certainly helps in strengthening a marriage, and it's important for children to see that their parents are in love. 

The Phantom Ghost #2

Last week for family night we played the Phantom Ghost, which I posted about already.  What I forgot to do was to hang a ghost on our own window, to keep people from spooking us!  So one day I found this note and a Halloween treat on our doorstep.  It's different from the poem I use, so I thought it would be fun to share it with you all. 

Since this is the time for goblins and bats
Halloween spirits and ghosts and cats..
Weird happenings and witches brew...
These are the things I wish for you.
May the only spirit you chance to meet be the spirit of love and warm friends sweet
May the only goblin that comes your way
Be the neighborhood phantom, whom you'll want to give away
So by tomorrow, pick three friends sweet
And give them all a Halloween treat.
You only have one day so hurry!
Leave the treat on the doorstep then flee in a flurry!

(p.s., put the ghost in your window so people know you have been spooked.)

The Phantom Ghost

I wrote this post last year on our family blog:  The MacIntyre Family.  It is my most popular post by far on that blog!  So I thought I'd share it with all of you today.  This is a really fun activity for Halloween, kids love to ding dong ditch or ring and run, whatever you call it in your neck of the woods.

Saturday night we were all watching a movie when the doorbell rang. It was quite late for a visitor, and Justin ran up the stairs to see who it was. No one was there, but there was a gift bag on our doorstep full of goodies, with a poster of a ghost that said "We've Been Spooked", and a set of instructions. The Phantom Ghost had struck!! We were instructed to do the same to two other families. So this evening for family night we got two gift bags ready with treats, made our ghost posters and got ready to strike! It was hard to decide which families to target, but we managed to narrow it down. Josh and Scott hit the first victim's house. Their black sweatshirts helped them blend into the night. Sarah and Jeff were the next phantoms, and ran like the wind (or a gentle breeze...) We were playing some Halloween tunes in the van to make it seem more festive. Is Kung-Fu Fighting a Halloween song? Scott and I were debating this. He said it's not spooky, and that I just like the song. I said some people dress up like ninjas so it's appropriate. He's right, though. I do like the song. We also listened to Ghostbusters and Thriller. It was lots of fun. After a few minutes we decided to see if our packages had been picked up, and they had been! In fact, one house had their phantom already hanging in their window. Here's the poem we attached to our treat bags:

The Phantom Ghost


The Phantom Ghost has come to town,

To leave some goodies as I see you've found.

If you do not wish a curse to fall,

Continue this greeting, this phantom call.

First, place this Phantom where it can be seen,

And leave it there 'til Halloween.

This will scare other Phantoms who may try to call,

Be sure to participate - you'll have a ball!

Second, make 2 treats, 2 Phantoms, and 2 notes like this,

Deliver them to 2 neighbors who might have been missed.

Don't let them see you, be sneaky and quick,

The hardest part is deciding whose house to pick.

Third, leave at the door where there is no light,

Ring the doorbell, run, stay out of sight.

Be happy, have fun and come join the season,

The best kind of tricks are the ones that are pleasin'.

And remember this one very important fact,

YOU ONLY HAVE ONE DAY TO ACT!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

Conference Weekend Traditions

This weekend has been a wonderful General Conference for our Church.  We live in an area where the conference sessions (two sessions on Saturday and another two on Sunday) are broadcast on our local cable network, so we get to watch in the comfort of our own home!  This is a blessing, but also poses some hidden challenges, like how to establish a reverent atmosphere in our family room, which is not usually a reverent place!

The first Saturday session was at ten a.m., but Scott and I were in charge of chapel cleaning this Saturday.  We scheduled the cleaning to start early, so people could get back home in time for the first session, and we almost made it in time!  We sat around the kitchen table with the laptop, drinking hot chocolate and eating Timbits while we watched conference.  The children did a pretty good job of paying attention.  We didn't expect them to watch the second session, we don't usually require more than one session a day from the younger set.  Two hours is a long time to pay attention, and we don't want them to hate conference weekend, but look forward to it.  I did catch most of the second session, inbetween picking up and dropping off people at work and other regular Saturday stuff.  Saturday is more difficult because it is still a work day and activity day in lots of ways, so although we do our best to clear that day, stuff still happens. 

Saturday evening Scott, Jason and Justin went to the stake centre to watch the priesthood session of conference.  Afterwards, they went out for a hamburger.  This is a night Scott really looks forward to, he loves to go to conference with his boys!  Jeffrey can't wait to turn twelve so he can go too!  I made a fun dinner for the rest of us, and when the big guys came home, everyone camped out in the family room to watch a movie.  (Except me, I just can't bear Transformers!)

Sunday is the day we focus on the most, since it is the Sabbath.  I made a big breakfast to start off our conference morning.  We have the same thing every General Conference - english muffin sandwiches with cheese, fried egg, and bacon (or sausage).  Yum!  The second session Scott and I both watched, while the younger kids amused themselves quietly (I wish!)  Afterwards, we had a nice Sunday dinner of lasagna, garlic bread and hot fudge pudding cake. 

Here are some ideas for making conference more fun at home.  Some people still get dressed up for Sunday and sit on straight backed chairs, they find this helps with reverence.  We are more the grab-your-favorite-blanket-and-cuddle-up types.  Another idea is to get a previous conference issue and pull out the insert with all the general authorities pictures, and mark off the ones that speak that session.  Jeff and Josh like to play a jelly bean game, where I make a list of gospel-type words (faith, testimony, chapel, commandments, etc.,) and assign a colored jelly bean to each word.  Whenever they hear a word spoken in a talk, they put a colored jelly bean in their bowl that corresponds with the word.  Then they tally the beans at the end to see which word wins.  Older kids can learn to take notes for the different speakers, using their journal as a notebook.  I know one grandma in Calgary that invited all her children and their spouses and children over for a huge conference waffle breakfast.  It's nice to think of ways to make conference more meaningful by building special traditions that fit your family.  The goal is to get everyone to look forward to General Conference, and get something personal out of it. 

Teaching Pre-schoolers How To Pour

When I was a young(er) mother with small children, I wanted to help them be more independent.  Things like washing their hands, eating with good manners, clearing their plates from the dinner table.  Little children love to do things for themselves, also known as "Me do it!!"

A neat way to help children learn how to pour a drink for themselves is to get a tray, a small pitcher, a cup, and some rice.  Fill the pitcher with rice, place it on the tray with the cup, and let the children practice pouring the rice in the cup.  There's a little more control with the rice and the tray, nobody gets wet, and it's easy to vacuum or sweep up the rice if it spills.  Plus, they can do this activity over and over (and over) again.  This builds those important neural pathways.  Practice makes perfect!

Setting the Table for Sunday Dinner

Sometimes a family activity can be more of a weekly tradition.  Every Sunday we have a more formal dinner.  We do have family dinner every night, with very few exceptions during the year.  I tend to serve these meals fairly casually, no fancy extras.  On Sundays I used to set the table with  table cloths, a centerpiece if available, and candles.  Lately I have gotten out of the habit, as it has been summertime and we've been barbecuing a lot.  This past Sunday I decided to resurrect the candles and nice place mats.  It was very pretty, and Sarah even decided to take a picture of the table!  (Which I haven't downloaded yet.)

What are the advantages of setting a more formal table for your family?  I think it makes your family feel really special.  My little guy, Josh, loves it when the candles come out.  It's an opportunity to use the nice things you have, instead of saving them for special occasions.  Eating dinner with your family is special already!  Decorating the table also feels more festive, and helps even more to set Sunday apart as a unique day in the week.  Setting the table nicely  is an opportunity for children to practice their table manners.  Something about nice cloths, candles and flowers makes everyone sit up a little straighter and try a little harder!  If your children are old enough, they can help make the table look beautiful, and learn where the forks and knives go at the same time.  If you're lucky, like me, and have teenagers, they can take over the task all by themselves. 

Family Activity - Getting Ready for Bed

Children need to have a schedule, everyone knows that!  Having a good bedtime routine helps children relax and get ready for sleep.  There are lots of things we can do to set up a bedtime routine for our younger children.  Our kids know the start of bedtime begins with gathering the family for a famiy prayer at eight o'clock.  There are other things that happen after that, baths and pj's for the younger set, saying their own prayers, getting a drink of water and a good book to read.  One thing my youngest boy likes to do is lay out his clothes for the next morning.  He makes a clothes boy on the floor!  He flattens out his clothes on the floor, right down to his socks and hoodie.  Now that it's back to school time in the northern hemisphere, a bedtime routine sure helps with getting up the next morning.

Back to School Family Home Evening

First day of School, 2009 (Joshua, Jeffrey, Sarah)

It's that time of year again, back to school!  Some of my children are looking forward to it, some of them are not.  I'm looking forward to a more structured regime, but I'm not looking forward to packing school lunches again!

Every year the Monday before school starts, we have our traditional back to school Family Home Evening.  Scott gives all the children a Father's Blessing, which is a wonderful spiritual opportunity.  Then while we're having a yummy refreshment, I give all the children a piece of paper and a pen or pencil, and encourage them to set some goals for the upcoming school year. 

Here are some ideas for setting goals for the new school year:

keeping their agenda up to date
handing in all their homework on time
trying a new activity or subject
learning a new skill
joining in on some extracurricular activities
improving your mark in a core subject that you find difficult
being on the honor role
keeping a minimum average in each class
making a new friend

It's a great opportunity to encourage children to pick 2-3 realistic goals to work on during the school year.  If they want to share their goals with the family that's great, some may want to keep their goals private, it's a personal thing.  If they have shared their goals with you, you can take moments during the year to check in with them to see how they're doing.  Mum and Dad can set their own goals as well, the children can see that learning is a life long endeavor. 

Ice Blocking

Yes, I live in Canada.  No, this is not what our summer looks like.  This is New Year's Day, 2008.  I wanted to write a quick post on Reverse Sledding, or Ice Blocking, but I couldn't find any of my ice-blocking pictures anywhere!  How can you digitally lose something?  Anyway, back to the subject at hand.  Ice blocking is a great summertime activity for older kids.  All you need is a block of ice, a towel to sit on, and a big old hill to fly down.  We can't buy blocks of ice here, all the ice is cubed, so I make my own blocks.  I just freeze water in a dollar store basin in the deep freeze.  Big enough for your backside, thank you very much.  And no comments, please.  If you want to customize it by dying it with food coloring, or freezing in a rope handle, you can.  In the above picture, imagine it's July, not January, and that the boys are wearing shorts and t-shirts, not snowsuits.  Imagine the grass is green and the trees are green and the sky is blue.  Imagine they're sitting on ice blocks, not saucers.  It's fun to link together on your way down the hill.  The first few runs are a little slow, until you get a nice track going, and then, you FLY!  Short grass is faster than unmowed grass.

Be prepared for wipeouts.  Lots and lots of wipeouts.  Make sure the track is clear before you go down, so you don't fly into anyone.  This is seriously faster than sledding, people.

Pile up at the bottom of the hill!  Clean up on aisle three!  Look, they're laughing, no permanent damage done! 

And, just like sledding, you have to climb up to the top of the hill over and over and over again.  Except no snowdrifts, snowpants or big old snow boots.

Writing letters to Grandparents

A great family night activity that we do occasionally is write letters to our family back home.  Sometimes it's to the grandmas and grandpas, sometimes to the cousins, and sometimes the aunties and uncles!  The older children are great at writing their own letters to their elders, and drawing little pictures for their preschool cousins.  These seem to mean a great deal to the little cousins in particular, they love to get mail of their own.  Younger children can write a simple letter if they are capable, or if they are preschool age they can draw a nice picture and have dad and mum write a little note for the recipient.  If you have a baby or toddler, even a little handprint or footprint is appreciated by the grandparents.  A good idea for those with school age children is to save up the artwork that often comes home from school and send that along to a great-aunt or grandmother, they love having art for their fridge! 

Helping in the Garden

"Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."  - The Family: A Proclamation to the World

Giving our children opportunities to work is really important.  When children help out at home, it gives them ownership in the family, and a sense of pride and accomplishment.  When they have opportunities to earn their own money with a little job (my children deliver the weekly paper every Friday), they learn how to work, be responsible, to save money and to be charitable by paying tithing.  Even small children can help fold or put away laundry, clear the table, pick up their toys or do other age appropriate tasks. 

 I'm still debating the idea of paying kids to do chores (nobody pays me to make my bed!), and our current policy is to pay children for an out of ordinary task, like painting a fence, but not to pay them for helping out in ordinary, every day ways. 

 Getting involved in a family project, like working in the garden, is a great way to build unity in the family as well. 

Another way to teach children to work is by volunteering.  Helping out with the community food bank drive, helping to clean up the town in the spring, or volunteering to help children learn how to read at the library are all great ways to do unpaid, volunteer work as a child.  If children see their parents volunteering as scout leaders, or cleaning the chapel, or teaching a Sunday School class, for example, they will grow up seeing the spirit of volunteerism alive in their own family, and will be more likely to volunteer as adults. 

How are you helping your children learn how to work in your families?

The 100 Days Challenge

Our family has decided to challenge ourselves physically.  I know it's not New Year's Day, or the beginning of a month, or anything like that.  I like to jump right in wherever I am.  (It's just a coincidence it's a Monday, really!)   

Scott and I decided to encourage our family to participate in a 100 Days Challenge.  This means that for the next 100 days, we will aim to participate in at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day.  Charts will be involved, and stickers.  And a little festivity at the end of the 100 days.  Go, Team MacIntyre!

Family Birthday Traditions

Sarah's sixth birthday party.

There are certain things that help build a strong family culture.  Traditions are one of those things that help build bonds between parents and children, brothers and sisters, and extended family.  A lot of these traditions can be found in holidays and in religious observance.  Another area you can build family traditions around are in celebrating milestones.  For example, we have certain traditions built around starting the new school year (another post for later on in the season.) 

We are in the middle of a birthday heavy summer season right now, four birthdays in our immediate family for July, August and September, and numerous birthdays among aunts, uncles and cousins.  I've always loved having a summer birthday, because it means ice cream and trips to the beach, and most importantly, not having to go to school on your birthday!!  (My high school had a not so nice tradition of throwing people in the shower fully dressed on their birthday, I was always thrilled to have escaped this!)

We take birthdays pretty seriously in our house, and have built up a series of traditions that can not be skipped.  I would like to add at this point we've never been big on the "friends" birthday party, and our children have only had a few birthday parties in each of their lives where friends have been included.  We prefer family parties, big or small, depending on whether we are living close to our family or not.

So, what are our family traditions?  They may be simple, but none can be skipped!  Tradition #1, the birthday celebrant gets a special breakfast.  These can be elaborate or simple, but what the birthday person wants is the menu for the meal.  Josh likes pancakes.  Jeff likes bacon.  Justin likes english muffins with bacon, egg and cheese.  And so on and so forth.  Tradition #2, The birthday celebrant also picks the menu for the birthday dinner.  Josh's birthday is tomorrow, and he has requested honey garlic chicken wings, fried rice and ginger beef.  Dessert is also the choice of the birthday celebrant.  Josh wants a star shaped marble cake with chocolate frosting.  Jason always asks for pie.  I like strawberry shortcake.  Tradition #3, presents are opened after the cake has been served.  Tradition #4, long distance birthday calls to grandma's, grandpa's and nanny's are made.  Tradition #5, some sort of birthday activity or outing is planned.  Josh's birthday coincides with the release of a big deal movie, so we will be going to the cinema tomorrow night. 

I know this seems like a fairly simple series of traditions, but they are looked forward to with great anticipation.  Our kids are more interested in the meal preparations than the presents, sometimes!  The birthday (and menu) are written on the calendar, sometimes with drawings or little writings added as well.  I am glad we established this series of traditions in our family while our children were young, focusing on a family meal and meaningful gifts.  What kind of traditions have you built around the celebration of birthdays in your families?

Family Activity - Tongue Twisters

If you are looking for a fun activity for your family home evening, try this list of tongue twisters for children:  Tongue Twisters

This is a fun family activity, and usually has everyone in stitches!