Coming off a whirlwind weekend of celebrations for Eva’s 3rd birthday, I was unprepared for the weatherman’s announcement this morning that there are only 12 days until Christmas! I know I am in better shape than many people. All of my girls’ gifts are already wrapped and under the tree, but there are a few stragglers that I plan to knock off tomorrow morning. It always seems to happen this way, though. You have all the time in the world, and then suddenly, you have none! So over the next few days, I am going to devote time to what matters most, from making memories (in the form of traditions, the subject of today’s blog) to turning up in style, to buying those last minute gifts.
Today I am thinking about Christmas traditions, and how I want to create special, meaningful memories for my girls each year. The hard thing is that, with our Christmas party the first weekend in December, and Eva’s birthday the second weekend in December, by the time I get going the month is halfway over. I’d love to hear what your traditions are! Are they reflective or your cultural or ethnic heritage? Are they family traditions, or brand spanking new? Here are mine:
Traditions based on Heritage: I am 100% Egyptian, and my Midwestern husband has a mixed bag of Northern European nationalities in his family tree, with an emphasis on Sweden and Ireland. So, since his mom is half Swedish, and my girls are, ahem, 1/8 Swedish, every year, on this very day, we celebrate a Swedish holiday called St. Lucia day, based on a Swedish saint who wears white and a crown of candles. My girls wear the candles at dinner and we have Swedish meatballs and ginger snaps for dinner (or, in tonight’s case, gingerbread because it was what I had!). I love to tell them the story of St. Lucia and we discuss how she was from the country that daddy’s mommy’s mommy is from. Yes, it’s a little over the top for girls who are essentially only a smidgen Swedish, but it’s one of the few links I have with heritage on Kevin’s side, so I like to play it up. To celebrate their Egyptian heritage, we make Egyptian Christmas cookies, including my favorite, a shortbread-like butter cookie called ghorayebeh, and this year I am going to break out the Sahlab, which could be likened to Egyptian eggnog. It’s a creamy milk-based drink with sweet spices, some ground nuts and coconut that is served warm and is so decadent!
Traditions based on Faith: I struggle, like many mothers do, with making sure the focus of Christmas stays on Jesus and not on Santa. One of the ways I try to do this is through our Kurt Adler Advent Calendar. Every day, we open one of the little windows and add another piece to the Nativity scene, while a recorded voice tells us the significance of that piece in the Christmas story. The girls also have nativity sets to play with. In previous years, we’ve also gone through all of their toys and donated the ones that they no longer play with, and we pick secret angels at our church and pick up gifts for kids in need. As they get a little older I will take them with me to volunteer with the Junior League and other organizations.
Fun Traditions: I mentioned my obsession with ornaments, and so one tradition I started is buying the Krinkles and Mackenzie-Childs and Swarovski ornaments every year. We also have a Wish ornament from Red Envelope that opens up so that you can slip little pieces of paper into it that you write wishes on. I also started charm bracelets for them, and I am trying to put a new little charm for the bracelet in their upstairs Christmas stockings every year, but I haven’t been all that successful at it. It’s hard to find tiny charms, but I haven’t given up! This year my uncle brought them charms from Egypt, so it made my quest a lot easier!
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