by Kari Carr
This time of year is full of twinkling lights, sweet aromas, grown men in costumes, and all the stress you could ask for. The hustle and bustle seems to get more frantic each year. We spend too much money, have too many holiday events to get to and rarely have a moment to spare to enjoy what is supposed to be the happiest time of year.
Despite all of this, the holidays are such a special time. It’s true that people seem friendlier and often a tad happier than usual. What is it about this time of year that creates such a mixture of stress and joy?
I definitely feel the stress and overwork of the holiday season. Regardless, I look forward to it every year. Why? For me it has to do with all the traditions and the memories we make and remember through those traditions.
The season really begins for us the week of Thanksgiving. I spend the beginning of the week prepping as much of the Thanksgiving meal that I can pre-make. I also clean our bedrooms and begin to decorate them for Christmas. We try to get at least one of the kids’ trees decorated because the week is so busy that if we don’t start early, the kids’ trees won’t get decorated at all. (It is a very busy week, but it is steeped in many of our holiday traditions and adds a touch of magic and memories to our lives.)
On the morning of Thanksgiving, we get up and have pancakes in front of the TV as we watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and then we each write our list of things we are thankful for. This is one of my absolute favorite traditions! These lists get taped to our dining room wall (a very prominent area of our home) and serve as a reminder all year long of how blessed we truly are. Then that afternoon we host a big family meal. We end the day with dessert and the whole family watches “A Christmas Story.” (This is my least favorite Christmas movie, but – sigh – it’s tradition).
After I shop on Black Friday, we gather the kids and head to a local tree farm to cut down our tree. According to our traditions, our annual tree must be real and handpicked from a tree farm. We decorate that tree the following evening as we eat sweet treats and watch another Christmas movie.
I think it’s the traditions we uphold that actually make the holidays so special for me. And yes, I realize that I’ve covered several family traditions and not even gotten to December yet. However, I love the fact that so many of our traditions come from either my childhood or my husband’s and we are passing that down to our children. I also love how we have incorporated new traditions and seen some of my old favorites evolve into unique versions for our family.
For example, one of my favorite Christmas memories from childhood is how my family would gather every year around the piano (or my uncle’s organ) after we had eaten to sing Christmas carols and hymns. We would spend hours listening to Uncle Bob tickling the ivories and mingling in and out of song and conversation. How I loved sitting on the bench next to Uncle Bob while he played with the whole family around us! This is my “Christmas card moment,” the memory where I hear sweet music play, smell sweet and spicy aromas, and feel the warm glow of happiness. My uncle passed several years ago and we did not have this sweet tradition for many of those years. Now, my husband and myself, along with our kids, put on a Christmas concert for my dad and brother. Each of our children plays a song on the piano, my husband plays his trumpet, and we all sing. It’s not the same as the tradition from my childhood, but I hope that my kids will one day look back on this tradition with the same fondness that I feel when I remember all those Christmases around the piano.
Yes, the holidays get hectic, but I will continue to wrap Christmas Eve pajamas and buy personalized ornaments for each family member every year. I will continue to hide that crazy elf (we have a love/hate relationship) every night for a month, and I will continue all of our traditions in the hopes of making the holidays a little more magical for me and my family. After all, it is through these traditions that we slow down and connect to each other. The joy I feel as we make memories together is reflected in the faces of my family.
I wish you a holiday season filled with joy and traditions of your own.
Merry Christmas!
About the Author
Kari doesn’t claim to be a parenting expert, just a mom to her three wonderful children and wife to the love of her life, Mike. Together they move through the ups and downs of raising kids in this crazy world. She struggles through the trials and joys of raising children from the ages of 5 to 11 years old. Kari received her degree at WKU and taught public middle school music and choir for seven years before opening her own business, Sound Beginnings Musikgarten & Vocal Studio. She lives and works in Bowling Green.
