Making Holiday Memories
Just like last week I want to take today to in a sense elaborate on one of the points I made in last week's post. I spoke about spending time with someone you love in place of spending money on gifts. I think overall your presence at the holidays is something incredibly important. After all, are the holidays not more about the memories we make and traditions that follow from those memories? As I said last week do we not remember the fun stories of the holidays rather than each and every gift that Santa left us under the tree as children? I thought it might be fun to share some traditions and memories of my Christmas Pasts, and offer some suggestions to make your own holiday memories.
Our family has a ton of traditions around this time of year. Putting up the tree, baking cookies, taking the kids to see Santa at the mall, opening gifts Christmas morning, etc. Sure these traditions are not unique to our family but we make them ours. We've also come up we new traditions as the years pass and as our family grew. I think one of my favorites is Christmas Eve. We used to go out to lunch every Christmas Eve and my sister and I would each get to open one present. Our Christmas Eve traditions have changed since then. Every year I gift my niece and nephew a set of Christmas pajamas and a mug with some cocoa for them to enjoy before getting to bed so Santa can come. As they grew older they started mentioning it, asking if I was going to give them these gifts again this year and it truly makes me happy that this tradition is just as important to them. I hope to keep that going when I have kids of my own. Through the years our traditions have changed and morphed into brand new traditions, and to me that is what the holidays are about.
A little different from traditions is making memories. Sure traditions are based around memories, but I mean stand alone memories that may not be an every year thing. This year on the day after Thanksgiving my father was kind enough to buy tickets for everyone to go on a Christmas train ride even though he couldn't go because of work. That isn't necessarily something we will do every year but it was a fun memory to make. I have so many holiday memories to even count honestly. I know I am lucky and had lovely holidays as a child and to this day, I also know that others are not as fortunate. If this may be you then I want to encourage you to look toward the future. Maybe you have kids of your own now. Focus on making beautiful memories with them. Start new traditions and enjoy the smiles on their faces. Chances are there will be one on yours as well.
Like I mentioned last week though not all memories need to involve spending money. It can be as simple as sharing a cup of cocoa by the tree with a loved one or hand making an ornament out of cardboard every year for the tree. I can speak from experience on that one as I made an ornament as a joke for my mom one year out of an old box. It goes on the tree every single year to this day. Some so simple just may bring a smile to your face every single year when you pull it out of storage to put the decorations up. The holidays can get expensive there is absolutely no doubt about that, but they don't have to be. Memories stand out in our minds more than gifts. Decorate cookies with someone. Watch your favorite movies cozied on the couch in your pajamas. Focus on love.
Presence over presents. I know it is an incredibly common saying but I find it very important. If you cant afford extravagant gifts for your loved ones I am betting they will understand. Make holiday memories together instead of draining your bank account. There are plenty of ways you can be present during the holidays. I have named quite a few in this post, but I am sure you can think of plenty on your own. Traditions are so special because they are ours. We take special moments and make them our very own. Sure many people have the tradition of putting up a Christmas tree, but we each have our own way of doing it. We each have our very own way we put the ornaments on the tree. That is truly what makes the holidays so special; the love we put in everything we do!
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