Christmas Traditions Around the World

In a magazine we get (the Friend), the December 2009 issue had a list of Christmas traditions people do around the world. I though it was fun to read and wanted to share. I think it would be fun to implement traditions from cultures that you have family heritage from. I also think it would be a fun thing to do to help teach about different cultures.
Japan: Children love to eat Christmas cake with strawberries and whipped cream

Finland: Families visit cemeteries on Christmas Eve and lace candles on the graves of loved ones

India: People put small clay lamps on the roofs of their homes to show Jesus is the Light of the World

Ireland: Families place candles in the windows of their homes to show that they would have welcomed Mary and Joseph

Germany: Children leave their shoes or boots by the fireplace or outside their front doors. The next morning, the shoes are filled with candy

Australia: Many people go to the beach and sing Christmas carols

Argentina: Families light diamond-shaped paper balloons called globos on Christmas Eve and release them into the night sky

Venezuela: Children roller-skate in the streets early on Christmas morning

United States: People decorate evergreen trees with small lights, tinsel, and ornaments

Philippines: Families decorate with parols, which are star shapes made out of bamboo and tissue paper and lit with tiny lights

Liberia: Families eat dinner outside, sitting in a circle. A traditional Liberian Christmas dinner includes biscuits, rice, and beef


Bulgaria: Everybody at the table stands at the same time when dinner is over

Sweden: A young girl wears a white dress with a red sash and serves bread and biscuits

Holland: Families celebrate on Christmas Eve by drinking hot chocolate and eating banketletter, a cake that looks like the first letter of the family's last name

Norway: Children eat rice pudding. The child who finds the hidden nut wins a candy pig or a piece of chocolate

Mexico: Families cut designs in paper bags to make lanterns, or farolitos. Candles are placed inside the farolitos, which line the sidewalks, windows, and rooftops

Spain: Children are given toys, sweets, or small instruments as they go from house to house reciting versus or singing carols


Italy: One week before Christmas, children dress as shepherds and go from door to door singing songs and reciting poems

England: Children receive a paper-covered tube, called a Christmas cracker, at Christmas dinner. The tube cracks loudly when pulled apart. A paper hat, poem, or small toy is inside

New Zealand: Many cities have celebrations in parks. People listen to well-known singers sing Christmas carols

Tonga: Families get up early to make and deliver breakfast to their neighbors. Children are excited to deliver these breakfasts and see what the neighbors bring

Paraguay: People decorate their homes with coco flowers

Lebanon: Chickpeas, wheat, beans, and lentils are planted two weeks before Christmas. The sprouts are used to surround the nativity scene in the home

Ghana: Families stay up all evening playing games. Just before midnight, the family counts down the seconds until Christmas Day

Dates!

Dates aren't just for grown-ups...

One thing I've learned (and relearned) is never to underestimate one on one special time with your little one, especially if there is more than one! Sometimes it's the random "cure" for off behavior, a much needed break for both of you away from the day to day to-do list, and most times...it's just plain fun.

I especially need this time with my girls when the holidays start. Between shopping, parties, dressing up, family visits and visiting, pictures, and trying to do the not-so-fun year 'round stuff (cleaning, cooking, etc)...we can forget or put off time just to talk and enjoy time with our kids.

I've learned some really neat things about my girls when it's been just the two of us. It also has opened the door for some deep conversations, and given my oldest the opportunity to share her heart more freely. I've never once regretted the few hours on our "dates."

It's also really important for Dads to take part in this too. There's nothing like daddy time, and please never make the mistake of underestimating it's importance. My husband recently took our 3 year old to a local lotus park/pond for a tea party. To her delight, she was allowed to dress in her Cinderella dress, get all "fancy", and they had a sweet time, just the two of them. She served him "tea" and even cut up his muffin for him. It was a great time for both of them and she almost walked on air for the rest of the day.

So think about what you can do that your child would enjoy, away from the normal routine, just the two of you or your child and husband. What can you do to make it happen? Write in on your calendar, plan it in advance, or life will tend to get in the way.

And trust me...next month you won't remember how clean your floor was or how many loads of laundry you did that week. And neither will your family. But you'll ALL remember and be really changed when you take time to simply enjoy each other, especially around this busy time of the year.

Time Capsule

Each year on our Christmas tree we hang an ornament that serves as our Time Capsule. After reading about a similar activity in The Siblings' Busy Book, I decided to trade in our ornament for a bigger version. We are doing this on Christmas, and I'll wrap it and pack it away with the Christmas decorations. Next year I'll place it under our tree to open as a family.

Ages: Any!
Materials: shoebox, wrapping paper, ribbon and scissors, scale, construction paper, markers, index cards or paper
Directions:
1. Using the index cards or paper, label each one with a member of the family's name. On each paper, record height, weight (optional for adults...haha!), special skills, characteristics, hobbies, funny stories, physical characteristics,etc.

For example, on my toddler's paper I might write: Her hair is long and very curly. She cringes when she sees the brush! She has two small freckles on her right cheek. She is almost ____ pounds and ____ inches tall. She can count to ___ , knows all of her alphabet, but mixes up the letters P and R sometimes. Her favorite song is ______ and her favorite movie is Richard Scary's Counting Video and any Sing-a-long. She loves Frosty the Snowman, but calls him "Tashy." She loves rhyming games, especially rhyming her sister's name.

For a baby: She weighs ____ and is ____ inches long. Barely any hair yet! She has ____ teeth and just started crawling. She keeps trying to pull up to standing, but bonks her head a lot trying this. She loves it when her sister walks into the room. Her favorite person right now is her daddy. She loves saltine crackers and grabbing the dog's ears. She also buries her head in your shoulder, giggling, and pretending to be shy when someone she loves talks to her. She's ___ months old but she wears size ___ clothes.

You can include number of teeth, unique characteristics, favorite toys or foods, things they sleep with, etc.
Trace hands and feet on construction paper. You can also use ribbon to record height, head circumference,etc.
I am going to take a picture of us in front of the Christmas tree and include it in the time capsule.
I also include a paper describing our Christmas that year, like where we went, special events, funny things that happened, what they got for Christmas, etc. One of my favorite things has been hanging on to these papers and reading them year after year. This is what we used put inside an ornament year to year. I have one from when I was 9 years old that I wrote. It's one of my favorite traditions!

Making the Holidays Memorable

I love this time of year! It's a time to bless others, spend time with family, celebrate traditions and make new memories. It's also the busiest time of the year in many cases. I want to slow down and make this year especially memorable and fun for all of us.
Each day of December we are going to do one thing to help celebrate. I'd like as many of them as possible be either free or inexpensive, involve helping or blessing someone else, and/or help us slow down and enjoy family and this time of the year.
So start making your list, too! It doesn't have to be time-consuming and it should bring a smile to your face (and your cute little munchkins, too).

Here's some to get you started, in no particular order:
1. Start your Advent Calendar.
2. Decorate your tree (and your house)!
3. Have an indoor snowball fight. (Balled up scraps of paper+bundled up kiddos+couches as forts=you are the coolest mom ever).
4. Walk through the neighborhood looking at decorations.
5. Watch a Christmas movie (Charlie Brown, It's a Wonderful Life, etc).
6. Bake Christmas cookies and deliver some to neighbors, shut-ins, or a nursing home near you.
7. Check out holiday books at the library.
8. Make a birthday cake for Jesus.
9. Take your little one to pick out a toy to donate.
10. Fill a shoebox for a charity.
11. Visit family.
12. Pictures with Santa.
13. Have a cookie swap.
14. Serve at a local soup kitchen.
15. Make Christmas cards together.
16. Make peanut butter pine cone bird feeders.
17. Write letters to Santa.
18. Have a birthday party for Jesus.
19. Host a dessert party.
20. Make homemade ornaments for family members.
21. Have holiday portraits taken.
22. Start a Christmas book collection. Buy one new Christmas story each year. If possible, donate a book to the local library, toy drive, or school.
23. See a holiday play or cantata.
24. Reenact the Christmas Story as a family.
25. Sip hot chocolate and read Twas The Night Before Christmas.
26. Go Christmas caroling.
27. Go to a holiday craft show or bazaar.
28. Bake a holiday treat and take it to a local fire station, police station, or hospital.
29. Pop popcorn and play a board game as a family.
30. Make a holiday craft. You could probably do this each day!
31. Celebrate the first day of Winter.
32. If you get snow, start a tradition of First Snow of the Year (insert treat here...fudge, pie, cake, ice cream sundaes, snow cream, etc).
33. Pick a family to bless with dinner once this month. You can invite them over, bring them dinner, order them pizza, etc. Or if you go out to eat, pick a family and pay their bill. You can do this in the fast food line, too.
34. Write a letter/draw a picture for people in your family telling them how much they mean to you, why the are special, or something memorable. Put it in their stocking or mail it.
35. Put together a care package for a soldier.

Have fun!! Let me know your ideas, too! I'd love to hear about your traditions and how you are blessing others this season.

Halloween Traditions

I love traditions. Traditions can really help a child feel like they are part of something. The exact importance of traditions varies from person to person. You might think young children aren't capable of remember if anything is a tradition or not. You will be surprised at how much your child remembers from year to year. Of course, a new tradition can be started any time :) I thought it would be fun for everyone to share their favorite Halloween traditions to do with your family. Then we can get ideas! Here are our traditions:

PAPER CHAIN
We make a paper chain to count down to Halloween. Here is my post about it.

CORN MAZE/STRAW MAZE
We have a lot of corn mazes around us. Every October, we go to a corn maze. They also have a straw fort (which the kids love). This is one of their favorite activities of the year.

PUMPKIN WALK
One town in our area does what they call a pumpkin walk. Local people create elaborate scenes using painted pumpkins. The kids have a lot of fun going to this--and it is free! Look into what your area has locally that is kid friendly.

CHURCH PARTY
Our church has a party every year. We dress up, share soup, and have some games for the kids.

FAMILY PARTY
My husband's family does a party every year. We have fun games we play each year. One game is where we draw names. We then go to a pumpkin patch and pick out a pumpkin. We then paint a scene on our pumpkin to represent the name we drew. Then we all guess which pumpkin represents each person.

CARVE/PAINT PUMPKINS
Each year, we carve and paint pumpkins as a family. We involve our children from baby age. As a baby, they can play with the guts. None of my babies have had a special thrill over this. Their interest in it doesn't last long, but I love the initial look on their face.

The next year, they can paint a little pumpkin.

Then they can continue painting. If they want to carve, they can draw the face with a crayon and Daddy carves it.

This year, Brayden carved most of his pumpkin by himself (age four).

DRESS UP
Everyone in our family dresses up. So far, we have chosen a theme and each person is a character in that theme. It is a lot of fun.

SOUP
Halloween night, my parents come trick-or-treating with us. We go to a few houses in our neighborhood. Then we come home and eat soup and visit with each other.

Feel free to comment with the traditions your family enjoys!