Family Friday

This Christmas start a new tradition with your kids. Make it something that only your immediate family does together. Perhaps you go to a Christmas Tree farm and cut down a tree. Or maybe just go to pick up an already cut tree. Make a day of it. Pick out the tree, bring it home, put on some Christmas music and decorate together. Maybe you have a favorite Christmas movie. Pop some popcorn, turn the lights out and snuggle together on the sofa.
Make cookies together-from a mix or from scratch. Then settle in with some hot chocolate and decorate the cookies.
There are any number of things you can do that can be your tradition. Pick one that you and your children will look forward to every year. I don't remember any traditions I had growing up-except for what days we visited family to exchange presents. I wish that there had been more. So I vow to start them with my own children. Perhaps we can change our thinking about Christmas as the time for presents and more about the time for family and experiences.

Keeping up with life

If it's not one thing it's another. I go from birthdays to football practice and to football games. Now Halloween has gone and snuck up on me. So I have to come up with four Halloween costumes in the next week, preferably without having to spend $100. Have you seen the price of costumes nowadays? I'm hoping to convince my kids they don't need brand new costumes. We have quite a few dress up things here, so I figure we'll pull something together.
My youngest daughter at 3 years, wants to be a mermaid, Ariel is her favorite. My oldest son wants to be a Power Ranger-which is what he was last year, thinking we can try for using the same costume. Not sure what to dress up my baby as. He's only going to be 8 months. Have to rack my brain. When I figure it out I'll let you know.