With Christmas and New Year’s behind us, I looked around my house and felt a sense of disappointment. So many decorations that never found a place. So many things I wanted to do that didn’t get done. So many memories that never got made. As I looked around, I realized I had 2 choices: be sad about where I had failed and mourn the loss of my ideal Christmas or move on.
I chose the latter. I chose to say “there will always be next year and I can’t change this year.” I chose instead to focus on getting excited about Valentine’s day. I happily put away Christmas, knowing I will see it again next year (and a little bit thankful to be able to put this year away).
I’m slowly starting to collect (cheap) Valentine’s decorations to put up in place of our Christmas ones instead of going back to our “year-round” stuff. I feel the need to still have something to look forward to and to have something to celebrate.
Valentine’s Day is not a huge holiday for my family. Hubby and I don’t go out on a “date night” (maybe we did the first year or two…). We don’t get each other, or the kids, big gifts or even cards. We don’t have any kind of family traditions, but it’s the next thing to come so it’s the best I can do.
The one tradition I have maintained, though, is that of holiday books. When Honeybun was a baby I started collecting books for each holiday and now whenever I see a holiday themed book for a great price, I snatch it up (I get a lot at Target in the Dollar Spot and also have had good luck finding cheap kids books of all kinds at bookcloseouts.com and Books-A-Million.)
I decided to put out the books for each holiday every year instead of having them all out year round. I keep each set in its own plastic bin and when one holiday is over, those books go away and we get out bin with the next holiday’s set. Honeybun has finally caught onto the trend and now asks if we can get out the next set after each holiday is finished.
We use the books as an opportunity to learn about each holiday and different ways people celebrate. It also gives us a change of books several times a year without me forgetting to change them or getting bored with what we have (rotating books and toys was something I always did as a teacher but I’ve struggled with it as a mommy!)
We have 7 different sets of holiday books we read. In the past the books were just something fun and use as part of our family celebrating but Honeybun is now asking a lot of questions about everything, so I see the becoming more educational into the future. I would like each holiday to have special meaning for our family but I’m still working out what each holiday really means to us.
The holidays we celebrate and their current family meaning are:
Valentine’s Day, celebrating our family and love for each other.
St. Patrick’s Day, remembering our former home and time spent in Ireland.
Easter, celebrating spring time and new beginnings
Memorial Day/4th of July/Labor Day, learning about America and its history and important people and current heroes.
Halloween, enjoying make-believe and dressing up and (starting) to add in elements of friendship and community.
Thanksgiving, being thankful for what we have and spending time with family and friends.
Christmas, celebrating winter and our joys in life.
