Random Thoughts Thursday Part 22

Festive Lights

The lights are going up all over the city to lighten the mood of long cold months of winter. I am thankful that people take the time to make the city look festive. It brings back many childhood memories of decorating my mother's home and even more memories of taking my children on car rides to got to neighborhoods with light displays. Pictured above are some of the ornaments I made a a teen that still get placed on my tree every year. There are many more, but they decorate my mother's tree on the other side of the world. When I was growing up my mother was big on traditions. One of her favorites was buying a new, fancy ornament for out tree every year. One of my favorites (as well as my 2 brothers') was the gift at the bottom of our beds Christmas morning. It was actually a genius move on my parents' part. They would give us each one gift that would be interactive like a new game or a puzzle. This would keep us busy for a few hours so that our parents could get a decent amount of sleep on Christmas Day!

Ornaments and Books

When I started a family of my own, I wanted my kids to be connected with traditions too. I liked to make ornaments with my kids when I could, but I have 2 sons and "crafts" has never really been their thing. We lived in California, so we were really spoiled that the weather was always good even when it was "bad" and so we could go for walks in the evenings and look at all the lights. My mother wanted to start a tradition for our boys, so she would send a Christmas book each year to be enjoyed. I developed the tradition of reading each one of those books during the month of December every year. I still have all the books and as a teacher, I read a lot of them to my students at school.... even the older kids because children's books with their rhythm and cadence are very relaxing to listen to.

3 Gifts

One of my favorite traditions for my sons was the "3 gifts" tradition. I remember a certain story about three gifts long ago... of gold, frankincense and myrrh. My kids got a "gold gift" which was the thing that they really wanted, a "frankincense gift" which was something practical like clothes or shoes and a "myrrh gift" which was a share gift like a movie or a board game. At the end of the day, they had 2 gifts for themselves and 4 share gifts. I am thankful that my family enjoyed this tradition. It kept our focus on more important things such as spending time as a family and serving in our community and it kept us from getting sucked into the trap of consumerism that was so prevalent around up.

To be continued...

Sorry to be brief this blog post...
I am sure I will have more Christmas thoughts as December gets rolling, bur for now, I am busy creating special memories for the students and families at my school. It is one of my favorite seasons to do special things for others.

How about you? What do you like to do in December?

Wishing you peace and joy!
Cheers!