Part 4 of 5—Creating a Meaningful Holiday Season

Build Connection and Fun with Holiday Traditions

“When Amber thinks of her favorite memories of the holidays, it isn’t the presents. It is having Grandma and Grandpa there and going sledding on the day after Christmas, complete with hot cocoa.”

Discussion:
When you think of your holidays growing up it is not the stuff you got that you remember, it is the rituals … cookie making, the trip in the snow to get the best tree, the caroling.

Take some time to think of just one thing you would most want to change about the way you celebrate, one activity you would really enjoy doing that you never find time for, or some other activity you find meaningful. Sit down with the kids and brainstorm what each of them likes to do: putting a candle in the window each night, looking at Christmas lights, seeing Tuba Christmas or some other annual performance, volunteering together in a soup kitchen, reading in front of the fire, going caroling, hosting game night, pondering over a puzzle, remembering special foods.

Now calendar the list of favorites and establish family traditions by repeating the activities you love, letting go of ones that are no longer fun, and experimenting with new ones, such as:

Connecting with your favorite families by hosting a potluck dinner and craft making evening.

Getting the kids involved in the baking and food preparation. What is the food each member of the family most loves?

Collecting your gift monies over the year in one pot and taking an awesome family trip over the holiday season.

Making homemade decorations for your tree: string popcorn and cranberries, make paper cut-outs, decorate tangerines with cloves, bake cut-out cookies for hanging.

Making holiday decorations, bread dough ornaments, gingerbread houses, holiday vests for stuffed animals, advent calendars out of match-boxes filled with little holiday collages.

Check out www.newdream.org/holiday/index.php for more ideas.

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If I knew then what I know now,
I would have let go of what stressed me out and gotten in tune with what I truly enjoyed in the holiday season.
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With admiration for all you do,

Dr. Kathy

Kathy Masarie, MD
Pediatrician, Parent, and Life Coach
Author of Raising Our Daughters and Raising Our Sons

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