Family Traditions: The Series Continues
If you were a reader of this blog prior to the past holiday season you may remember the series of guest bloggers who were kind enough to expound on their favorite family holiday traditions. The purpose of this, as you may recall, is that Andrea and I couldn’t really name too many traditions that we had ourselves and we’d been discussing things we’d like to introduce in the future. It got me to thinking that it would be great to hear what other families are doing in this respect and I invited a bunch of cool folks to participate.
So, now that we’re safely away from the holiday season, I imagine there are many non-holiday traditions that families participate in. So, I’d like to reintroduce this conversation and I’ve done so by asking more bloggers out there to contribute. You’ll be hearing from the likes of Friday Playdate, Bite My Cookie, Two Pink Lines, Deanna’s Corner, The Dog’s Breakfast, Better Butter and I’m sure I can persuade some Dads as well.
To get this started, Andrea and I have come up with a few things that would be fun for us to do as the kids get a bit older. In no particular order, here they are…
1) One-on-One Dates. Being a parent of twins (and I imagine more than one child, period) makes it hard to spend quality one-on-one time with each child. Therefore, Andrea and would like to have regularly scheduled “Dates” with our children. One month it might be TheMonk and me going to a football game and Swee’Pea and Andrea going bike riding along the beach and the next it might be Swee’Pea and Daddy going to see a concert while Mommy and TheMonk go to dinner and a movie. I am already looking forward to these moments where we can really get to know each of our children – and they can get to know us.
2) Family Awards Night. I stole this idea from the local morning Deejays that keep me company on my commute to work each day. Each year his family has an Awards Night complete with tuxedos and gowns, nominees and acceptance speeches. My favorite category was “Best House Cat.” This seems like it would be fun and is right up my alley with being silly and loving at the same time.
3) The Red Plate. When we got married almost six years ago, we were given a Red Plate with the inscription You are special today as a wedding gift. It comes with a permanent pen to write important dates and events on the back. We have yet to use it ourselves but I think it will be great to reward each other’s accomplishments with getting to use the Red Plate at dinner time.
4) Johnny Walker Celebration Night. This is where we all pass around a liter bottle of Johnny Walker, taking sips, until one of us passes out. At that point the rest of us will decorate the passed out one’s face with the permanent marker from the Red Plate.*
5) Family Nights. I mentioned in my last Family Traditions post, but I think it bears repeating. I want to make sure that our family doesn’t get so busy that we stop being a family. I want us to spend some regularly scheduled quality time together that doesn’t include fast-food meals on the way to soccer practice. So, we’re planning on designating a night a week where no one will have activities. Instead, we’ll have dinner and watch movies or play games or play the Johnny Walker game – as long as we’re doing things together.
Well, that’s what I have so far. I’m looking forward to seeing what our guest bloggers out there have to say. As always, feel free to leave your family traditions in the comment section.
*Just kidding. (I just wanted to make sure you’re paying attention)
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Having five kids makes it hard for one on one time, but we do it. Sometimes it is just a trip to the grocery store, but they enjoy the time with just the one of us. Also, for their birthday, we get someone to babysit the other 4 and have a special night out with both me and Daddy. They LOVE that. You may have to figure out your own variation to that since they both have the same special day if you want to do the same thing.
Also, we like to try and read a chapter of a book just before bedtime and discuss it. We try and get all the kids to participate, though Noelle, 2, doesn’t ever talk about the topic unless it’s about animals she heard mentioned in the book and the sounds they make.
Anyway, that’s some of what we do around here.
Comment by Julie — April 11, 2006 @ 9:17 am
Our family tradition was baseball. We spent many Easters, Mother’s Days, Fourth of July’s, Ben’s Birthday, Matt’s Birthday and my birthday at Candlestick Park with the Giants. The drive to the ‘Stick in San Franciso with Grandpa and Felicitas (his wife)was very lucrative for the boys. Matt and Ben would sit in the back seat with Felicitas and as I later found out she would dole out BIG Bucks, like ten dollars each! In the early years I’m not sure how much of the game they actually saw because they were busy buying chocolate malts, baseball cards, wrist warmers, pins and pennants.
It was hard for me to get rid of the pennants you so fervently collected. I only did so after Ben convinced me that in the condition they were in, they were not worth what you paid for them. Though, I still have the first edition of the baseball stats book I gave you for a birthday. I hope you still have the Willy Mays card.
We were there for the last game at the ‘Stick. The four of us attended by this time Ben had married Liz and it felt like we were saying good bye to a close family member. Memories came back as I recalled the first time we took Ben, he was young enough to snuggle in the seats and take a nap. Now here he was a season ticket holder with his wife! How did that happen? I lamented that Grandpa wasn’t there to say good bye with us because that is where our love of baseball comes from.
Still, before the next season began, the 3 of us met with great excitement at the NEW Park in downtown San Franciso and took the tour for season ticket holders. The tradition continues with a new generation of fans, Thomas has already attended a fair share of games.
So keep the tradition alive and take them out to the ball game, take them out to the crowd, get them some peanuts and crackerjack, they won’t care if they ever get back…
Comment by Grandmother — April 11, 2006 @ 9:59 am
PS. Please not Johnny Walker, get a bottle of Jack Daniels or my old friend Jose Cuervo and mix some Margaritas. Why is it there is no liquor named for a woman?
Comment by Grandmother — April 11, 2006 @ 10:04 am
I like the Johnny Walker idea.
Comment by Sarah — April 11, 2006 @ 10:18 am
Are you sure we aren’t related??
We do the Mommy/daughter and daddy/daughter day dates each month and find it’s helpful for our oldest to get special time with each of us. She looks forward to it as if we were going to Disneyland! Some past dates have included Daddy/daughter Valentines Day dances, mommy/daughter pedicures, special dinners, ice skating, and recently a trip for daddy/daughters to see Princesses on Ice.
We also have the You are Special Today plate. My husbands family used it when he was a kid and we received one for our family. All of us are thrilled when it shows up at our space for a celebration. We use it for small celebrations and large ones… so to celebrate an our daughter when she’s been caught in an act of kindness towards someone all the way to dance recitals and birthdays.
We try to eat dinner together at the kitchen table each night – and hope to make sure this is the case even as the kids grow and get busy.
We also have family night. Right now – most nights are family night since activities for one child are manageable and the demands of friends aren’t waging war against us… but we’re hoping to set aside at least a couple nights a month we can spend as a family making sure we stay on the same page.
Great idea!
Comment by Het — April 11, 2006 @ 10:49 am
I would like to do the family game night when these guys are older. Turn off the TV and play a good board game!
Comment by Dana — April 11, 2006 @ 11:00 am
Grandmother, I think I love you. And around here it’s Martini Night.
No, not really. Sadly.
Comment by Susan — April 11, 2006 @ 2:11 pm
Wouldn’t you have to grab the Johnny walker bottle and actually get it too your lips before you drank enough to pass out?
I think I would be tomato man as I am not piss fit at all!
(piss fit being an Aussie term for being able to drink loads of booze)
Comment by chocolate makes it better — April 11, 2006 @ 7:49 pm
I’m with Sarah. Sign me up for Johnny Walker Night.
Comment by Becky — April 13, 2006 @ 8:02 pm