Last night we enjoyed being together as sisters talking about holiday traditions that have been meaningful to us. Sister Walker, Sister Raleigh, Sister Sylvia, and Sister Strasser were kind enough to share some of their ideas.
This quote by Sister Cheryl C. Lant in the April 2008 General Conference helps us realize how important traditions are and what kind of traditions we should focus on creating:
Each of us has traditions in our families. Some of them are material. Some of them have deep meaning. The most important traditions are connected with the way we live our lives and will last beyond us as our children’s lives are influenced and shaped. ...
What kinds of traditions do we have? Some of them may have come from our fathers, and now we are passing them along to our own children. Are they what we want them to be? Are they based on actions of righteousness and faith? Are they mostly material in nature, or are they eternal? Are we consciously creating righteous traditions, or is life just happening to us? Are our traditions being created in response to the loud voices of the world, or are they influenced by the still, small voice of the Spirit? Are the traditions that we are creating in our families going to make it easier for our children to follow the living prophets, or will they make it difficult for them?
Sister Walker:
Presidents Day
- display pictures of different United States Presidents and talk about them throughout the month
Halloween
- Witchelina is a fun way her daughter celebrates Halloween with her family. The days leading up to the holiday they read scriptures about different traits they would like to work on. On Halloween Eve they have a yummy dinner with all the FUN Halloween food you can make. Witchelina is a fun way to take the scary out of Halloween.
- Reverse Trick or Treating - take a plate of goodies to someone instead of having them give you treats
Thanksgiving
- Read books that teach the meaning of the holiday
- Invite single sisters or missionaries to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with them
- Pass a bowl of corn around, every one takes two kernels and tells two things they are thankful for
- One year they reenacted the Thanksgiving story. Someone dressed up as the king of England, they talked about why the pilgrims lefts England. An old scout canoe was filled with the kids and carried across the ocean (the road) to the Americas (Grandma Walkers). Once there they had some Indians teach the kids how to plant food and then had their big feast. That year they cooked a pit turkey.
Christmas
- 12 Days of Christmas
- Matching PJ's
- One year Grandma Walker made 12 matching polyester dresses (it was very memorable)
- Aunts made toy boxes for their oldest sons - they still sit in their family room today.
- Read Christmas books to teach the meaning of the holiday
- Make an ornament for each child, each year - when they move away from home they can take all their ornaments with them to decorate their tree.
- Burn a Christmas countdown candle - at dinner time it is fun to turn the lights off and listen to pretty Christmas music while the candle burns
- Family History Binders - each year she has her kids send her a letter summarizing their year along with some pictures of their families. She copies them, puts them into sheet protectors and and then into three ring binders. Each family gets a copy for Christmas. This has been a very special thing for their family, the kids love looking at the books and reading what their cousins have been up to the past year. It is also a great way to keep a family history.
- Acting out the Nativity - this is everyone's favorite
- one way to do this is to have EVERYONE draw a part, that way each year someone does something different.
Sister Raleigh
Sister Raleigh has had the opportunity to live in a variety of places, because she has moved often she has spent a lot of her holidays alone. Many of her holidays have been spent working so other people could have the day off with their families. She said that sweet blessings have come even though she hasn't always had family close by during the holidays and that Heavenly Father has a way of blessing us even when we can't do what we want to be doing.
Thanksgiving
- Invite people to join you for dinner
- when they lived in Arabia their table had a diverse group of people sitting around it. Many of these people were from all over the world and brought some kind of food from their country.
- She also told of a very sweet Thanksgiving she had in Hawaii with her niece and her nieces roommates.
Christmas
- Giving books as a gift (she got this idea from Grandma Dille). Each year she gives her grandchildren a book with their name and the date written inside. Some examples of books she has given are:
- church books
- primary song theme books (I Hear The Saviors Voice)
- Mrs. Piggle Wiggles Magic (a fun one she enjoyed as a child)
- picture books of visits she has had with them (made on the Shutterfly website)
- Christmas stockings - almost all of her grandchildren have received a cross-stitched Christmas stocking from her. They are beautiful and treasured by each of her children and grandchildren.
Sister Sylvia
Thanksgiving:
- Thankful tree - they pick a big wall in their house and place a big tree cut from paper on it. Each of the kids trace their hands on paper and cut those out. Then throughout the month they write things they are thankful for and put the hand prints on the wall.
- They have Thanksgiving dinner at her parents house every year. They take turns telling things they are grateful for.
Christmas:
- Christmas books they look through during the month
- scripture/thought/activity flip book
- countdowns (if you want to make your own make sure one block has these numbers: 0,1,2,6,8,7 and the other block has these numbers: 0,1,2,3,4,5)
- every year she (and her kids) make an ornament, one for each kid, each of her siblings, nieces and nephews and grandparents. When her kids move away they will each get to take their ornaments with them so they can decorate their own tree.
- Plethora tree - she hangs ALL the homemade ornaments on this tree and has a smaller tree she can decorate with a theme.
- Christmas gifts
- a stocking (from Santa) and 3 gifts - something they WANT, something they NEED and something to TREASURE
- This simplifies Christmas a lot and also makes it a little easier on the pocket book
Sister Strasser
Thanksgiving:
- They spend the family home evening before Thanksgiving talking about being grateful
Christmas
- Try to take a plate of goodies and go caroling to their each of their neighbor. This has been a good way to get to know their neighbors
- Each Christmas they try to help a family in need by dropping off Christmas presents anonymously. She said it has been good for their kids to spend some of what they would have spent on themselves on someone else.
- One set of Grandparents has tried to have an activity that is memorable before Christmas rather than give a wrapped present. This last year the rode the train to Horseshoe Bend - the kids loved it and still remember that fun event!
- Their Christmas Eve are spent at home with just their little family, they try to make the evening a spiritual one and save the presents and other things for Christmas morning.
Sister Olsen
Her daughter-in-law has a fun tradition with a little elf named Mr. Peeps, he comes to their house on Thanksgiving night and stays with them until Christmas Eve. Here is the poem that comes with Mr. Peeps:
Christmas is approaching, and this is the day
Santa has sent Mr. Peeps to your house to stay.
He sent this small elf to your house and mine.
Soon after Thanksgiving, He must be on time.
Mr. Peeps has a purpose. His purpose will be,
To whisper to Santa all the good that he sees.
Soon after he gets here, he moves only at night
To high places, low places, he stays in plain sight.
In the kitchen, for instance, he sits high on a shelf.
Mr. Peeps can sit anywhere, for he is an elf.
He holds very still when he thinks you are watching.
His magic is precious, it fades upon touching.
He sits on the tree on Christmas Eve day.
He knows that Santa is soon on his way.
He waits and he waits without making a noise.
He waits until Santa arrives with the toys.
So you better be nice and mind what you say
Because Mr. Peeps will tell Santa when he comes with his sleigh.
Once Christmas is here and Santa has come,
Mr. Peeps must leave, for his job is well done.
But, he will return next year on the very same day,
To watch your behavior as you work and play.
If you are looking for a Mr. Peeps who could spend the holidays with you Sister Westover ordered some from Oriental Trading and will have a few extra. Contact her if you are interested. Also this website is all about the little elf tradition: http://www.elfontheshelf.com/Home.aspx
Sister L. Hansen
A big part of their holiday traditions include FOOD! (I think this is a big part of every families traditions!)
Sister K. Bergquist
At their Christmas dinners they set and place for Christ - this helps them remember who this holiday is really about.
Other ideas (I can't remember who mentioned them):
- Christmas Stocking for Jesus - each year they write down on paper what they want to do better on in the next year, they place these notes in the stocking and open them each Christmas Eve to see how well they have done.
- Gift Giving Idea: 3 gifts - something to READ, something to PLAY WITH and something to WEAR
At the activity we made our own "Thankful Trees" here is the link to where we got the idea.
We also enjoyed cinnamon and orange rolls, hot chocolate and wassail. Some sisters mentioned they wanted the wassail recipe so here it is:
Hot Wassail (Sister K. Bergquist)
1 gal apple cider
2 (48 oz) pineapple juice
2 c. orange juice
1/4 c. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. whole cloves
2-3 cinnamon sticks
Mix in kettle. Boil 5 minutes. Serve hot.
All of these ideas are GREAT - PLEASE share with us some of your traditions that make the holidays meaningful for you and yours! You can comment HERE or email me (Sister A.Youngberg) and I'll get them posted!! Have a wonderful holiday season!
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