Today I am thankful for all of the traditions I was either raised with, and passed on to my children, or that my little family and I have come up with together and do year after year. We have many favorites, but I will list the top five.
One of the first is a tradition that has been in my family for generations. In my family we have a little bit of a unique way to celebrate losing a tooth. Instead of the normal put tooth under the pillow, and wait for the tooth fairy to steal the tooth and replace it with money, we use a cup. Yep, that's right, a cup. The tooth is placed in the bottom of a cup, and then the cup is filled with water. After the child goes to bed, the tooth is taken out, and the cup is filled with coins and some food coloring to make the tooth fairy's arrival magical. I have no idea who in our family came up with this idea, but know that it has been done for at least 3 generations, possibly 4, and that our idea has been a hit with friends who have taken it to be a tradition of their own (some of whom have even written about it). Kids absolutely love it, and it makes it so much easier to "visit" a cup than a pillow!
 |
My son with his cup, and note to the tooth fairy
explaining he'd lost his tooth in the yard. |
 |
Tooth fairy's response, magical golden water, and coins ready to
be placed in the cup |
 |
| Happy child with their tooth fairy loot |
One of the next traditions that we have are eating/making Norwegian baked goods during the holidays. My Grandmother has always been the one to do the cooking, but gradually that job has been handed down to the rest of us. No holiday is complete with lefse, krumkake, or sandbakkels.
 |
| Horrible first attempt at sandbakkels |
Another tradition is making snowmen pancakes. The kids get so excited, and know that the holiday seasons are here when we make snowmen, and snow-women, pancakes with chocolate chips, whip cream, and bacon.
 |
| Snow-woman |
 |
| Snowman |
Every October, the kids and I have a tradition of watching the Wizard of Oz. I do not know what it is about that movie, but we all bond over it, recite the lines, and know that Halloween is near!
Lastly, the kids make cookies with my mom every single December. It started out as a simple pretzel with Hershey kiss and M&M - basic enough that a toddler could do it, but at least an oven was involved so said toddler felt special. Now it has grown to full blown cookies with decorations (plus the kids new/special cookie cutters) and, coming up, from scratch gingerbread houses. Every year, the kids start getting excited and talking about cookie time with Grandma!
 |
| First year making cookies, toddler Reyna! |
 |
| Loves her cooking time with Grandma |
 |
Last year's sugar cookie extravaganza
with Papa and Grandma |
No comments:
Post a Comment