Traditions Around the World

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The poll from my readers on Monday's giveaway post was so enlightening.  First of all, a HUGE thank you to all of you who commented.  I had people from HALF of the United States (25 states!) as well as Austria, Canada, France Germany, Greece, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Turkey, and the U.K.!  (And that was only the people who told me where they were from.)  I think it is a wonderful thing that you all, though you are so far away, can be as close as my computer!  

My husband and I have been talking about traditions lately, because we would like to start some with our children.  We follow Jesus Christ and want to give our children the understanding of why we celebrate Christmas, but aside from the spiritual, there are things that are just plain fun to do during this season!  That is why I asked you about your traditions (that and the fact that different cultures are very interesting to me!).  So here's what I found out from you, my dear readers, in those comments.

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First of all, there were several holidays mentioned, including Winter Solstice, Christmas, Diwali, Thanksgiving, Easter, Hanukkah, and Yule.  If you are looking for traditions to start with your family, maybe you could adopt one of these:

Giving and receiving presents, putting Santa's footprints in talc on Christmas morning, attending church or temple services, advent calendars, watching "It's a Wonderful Life", putting up a nativity (or seeing a live one), putting up a tree (better yet, cutting your own tree and/or greenery), decorating, hanging lights (or driving through neighborhoods to see theirs), caroling, and drinking hot chocolate.

St. Nicholas shoe

Some more traditions involve St. Nick's shoes, having family devotions, sending holiday cards, seeing "The Nutcracker" (or dancing in it!), Christmas pageant, cleaning and/or painting the house, making gifts for others, inviting others for dinner, "adopting" a military family for the season, reading special stories, such as "The Velveteen Rabbit", "Twas the Night Before Christmas", or the Christmas story from the Gospels in the Bible.

Wow.  That's a LOT of traditions right there!

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!!  I've saved some of my favorite comments for last!  

Did you know that in Austria, they do not have Santa, but they have "Christkind"?

Sunrise - Christchurch, New Zealand

Or that New Zealand sees the sunrise first in the world? (How cool would that be, to have sunrise church service on the beach overlooking the ocean?!!!)

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Or, did you know that in Germany, they do not do any washing during the "Rauhnächte" (rough nights), which go from December 24 to January 6 as it's said to bring bad luck to hang washing up to dry because who knows what strange creatures might use them to play tricks on you ...  

Here are a few unique traditions from the U.S. that you may want to adopt, like:
- Have Thanksgiving dinner, complete with spaghetti for the vegetarians (or baked tilapia (fish) for the "health-conscious") 
- Go out to a restaurant for Christmas breakfast and "leave an obscenely large tip".
- And last, but not least, is the tradition that I am going to start with my family today:

Making garlands for the Christmas tree from Fruit Loops! 

(You knew I'd be adding in some home-made creative stuff here, right?)

So from my family to yours, Merry Christmas.  May the light of God shine on you, no matter what holidays or traditions you hold to!

:) Caren

p.s. - Stay tuned to cadamsCREATIONS - the winner of the giveaway will be announced later today!

Advent & Anniversary

Today I'll be rambling on about my thoughts on advent calendars, so I'll share some pictures of the little people who got me thinking of the subject....

I want to start a tradition with my family.  I'm celebrating my 9th wedding anniversary today, so if my math is correct, this will be my 10th Christmas with my husband.  And my 5th with Spunky, my 2nd with Sunshine, and my very first with little Sprout (who is 11 months old today, by the way!)

So I picked up a couple of advent calendars for my "big kids".  You know, the pre-packaged kind with candy behind each door.  So, ignoring the fact that Spunky opened and ate three days worth even before December began, we started on Dec. 1st, right after dinner. 

So I got to thinking: we humans are a self-centered bunch. So how do we get our children to understand that it truly is better to give than receive?  Is it even possible?  I believe that it is.  And that it is my duty to see that my children have every opportunity to learn.  By example (how my husband and I live), and by doing it themselves. 

My boys! (Spunky & Sprout)

My heart was saddened by the advent calendar as-is.  Now, don't get me wrong, I am not judging those of you who do the advent calendar thing.  This is my conviction, and I believe it is for me, not necessarily for you, but I wanted to share. I'm starting a Christmas tradition in my house.  The advent calendar with a twist.   

I got my calendars from Hallmark - love the robot on day 9!

A traditional advent calendar (here in the U.S.) is a countdown to Christmas - and you open one day each day of December, and there's a little treat inside.  But I wanted to have an advent calendar that gave an opportunity to give. To love one another.  To share.  Not to feed the self-centered-ness and greed that we all have in our hearts.

So here's the beginning of our tradition.  We open the little "doors" on our calendar and then we give.  Yep, that's right.  Give that treat to someone else!  Now who likes that idea?  I'm telling you right now that our kids didn't - not one bit! Until we explained that brother shares with sister, so that means sister shares with brother.  OK, so they're both getting a treat, but they have to give "theirs" to each other.

Will it work?  Will it have a positive effect on the kids?  Will it teach them that it is better to give than receive?  I have no idea.  Parenting is not a "you have it or you don't" skill.  It's a process.  And I am being honest with you - I'm still trying to figure it out.  

So I told you all (in this post) that I made some stockings for the Stockings for Kids drive.  Yep, Lyanna was looking to get 50 stockings and she had 219 donated - yay!  At some point she had a giveaway from everyone who had donated to that point, and I won an advent calendar kit.  Fitting, right?!!  It has now been finished but not hangable yet - not sure how I'm going to do that (at the moment it's hanging by binder clips).  

I'm thinking up things for next year's advent, because I think doing the pre-packaged-share-with-your-sibling thing is the way to go this year - start small so the lesson sinks in.  So for next year, I'd like to have verses about loving one another along with a small action for each day. Something that doesn't involve too much time or effort, but trains us to give.  Even if it is a compliment.  Or an appreciation.  Or a piece of candy.  Whatever.  God gave His LIFE for us.  Is a piece of candy so much to ask?  

We love because He first loved us. (I John 4:19)

Blessings to you all this Christmas season!  

~ Caren