Thoughts on the Holidays I've been thinking about the holidays. All of them. And how they should be enjoyed in our family. So below I'm going to lay out some thoughts about how to make the holidays meaningful for us. One thing I love about the holidays, all of them, are the decorations and the crafts. We just got some catalogs in the mail, and there are some really great Valentine's Day crafts in them. I wish I could spend a few days just sitting around making shit for my kiddos to enjoy, dolling up the house to amaze them and get them all excited. But I don't want to be lulled into just buying a bunch of stuff, thinking that's all it takes. Carefully selecting a few quality items to make or use, and adding them to what we already have, is only one part of the holiday. The food is another part. Mostly I haven't done much as far as food is concerned, because I don't think that the kids care so much what we eat, as long as it's good. However, a nicely set table with holiday relevant colors is important to give the day a special feel. The main part of the holidays that I would like to spend some time thinking about is the meaning that the holiday as for us as a family. Oh, one thing before I get into all of that, is that commercialism is not really an issue for us. We don't watch TV, and rarely go shopping, so other than the decor at the grocery store there isn't much exposure to the holidays, other than what we bring into the house on our own. This really makes the holidays so much more positive to me. They are what we make of them. The commercial, buy stuff attitude doesn't exist. That said, I love Valentine's Day. What does Valentine's Day mean to me? It's the day to celebrate love and to make sure that the people you love know about it. So to that end, I would love to make little valentines for my kids and other family members, giving thought about what each one of them would like, and maybe telling them some of the reasons why I love them so much. And we could make heart cookies. I'm all about cookies. I love cookies! It's really too bad Azaya has a gluten allergy, but maybe I could experiment with different gluten free mixes for her, or with different candies that are gluten and dairy free. Yum, cookies. Let's say it again, cookies!! So that is Valentine's Day. Next is Easter. I am not a Christian, so that is not part of Easter for me. For me it is more related to the change of the season and how that reflects on us internally. Winter is cold and internal, a time of inward appraisal, growth, and realization. Spring is blossoming forth of all that. You see it in nature, it is in yourself. Don't you feel different inside during the different seasons? I do. So, I like to focus on chickies, flowers, bunnies, and eggs. Making easter baskets is something fun that we've done in the past. Painting easter eggs and then finding them after the bunny hides them is very fun. It's hilarious to watch the kids walk by the egg lying in the middle of the floor three times, without seeing it! Well, that doesn't happen so much with Azaya anymore; she's gotten much better. Anyway, how to give this holiday some meaning for us? One thing could be to decide what things we want to do over the warm months. Plan our camping trips, vacations, etc, along with the other things we might want to do with the extra energy that comes from the warm times. Or maybe we could talk about what we've worked on in ourselves over the winter, and how to implement those things. That could mean that at Christmas we could talk about what things we would like to work on in ourselves. Then over the intervening months we could just spend time thinking about things. At Easter would come the time for action! But I don't know, it all seems a bit contrived. And sometimes our internal workings don't lend themselves to timing anyway. I'll have to talk to Mike about any ideas he might have, because I'm not coming up with much, am I? Okay, I'm bored now and ready to work on something else. I didn't necessarily want to work it all out tonight anyway, as there are several holidays. Halloween though is going to be a fun one! Sometimes after sitting on the couch with my lappy for an extended period of time, my butt starts to hurt, and I imagine it spreading out in all of its lazy glory. |