Thursday, August 13, 2009

Is it Taco Tuesday Yet?




Today over at Emmacallsmemama there is a “Traditions Party.” Head on over to read about bloggers' cherished family traditions.

I have a few family traditions to share with you, and I don’t mean just yelling at everyone to get ready in the morning, fighting in the car on the way to church, or eating at Taco Bell twice a week. Let’s just call those See-family HABITS, not traditions.


Birthdays:
The birthday boy or girl uses a special red plate, and has a birthday flag hanging from the flagpole in his/her honor. Yes that's a toaster strudel you see on the plate. I didn't say I cooked for them.




Christmas and Easter:
We used to do fondue before church on Christmas Eve, but Tom and I were the only ones who actually liked it. After our celebrity sighting at Chevy’s in NYC, we developed a new Christmas Eve lunch tradition—Mexican food—of course. I bet you didn’t know Mary and Joseph stopped at a Chevy’s on the way to Bethlehem. A girl’s gotta have her tableside guacamole, you know.

For present opening on Christmas morning, we do the taking turns thing, and for the final gift, Tom writes an elaborate poem that leads the kids all around the house on a treasure hunt. He knows his way around a rhyme, that guy. The final clue leads to the “big” present of the year. Warning: Don’t turn on the dryer on Christmas morning —there might be a Wii or a hamster in there.

We also make the kids locate their Easter baskets this way, or by attaching yarn to the basket and having them follow the yarn around the house.

Ice Cream for Breakfast Day:
I’ve already told you about “Ice Cream for Breakfast Day” on the first snow day of the year. Since you don’t know exactly when that will be, I suggest doing what I do—never letting your ice cream stash dip below ½ gallon. Yum.

Geocaching:
And, if you aren’t bored yet by this post, I’ll share our family’s new hobby, which is morphing into a tradition of sorts: Geocaching!

We combine our love of hiking, treasure hunts and gadgets (that would be Tom, not moi) to find little hidden “caches” in the most unlikely places. They are placed there by people all around the world. We choose a hunt on the Internet then head out with a handheld GPS. We hope to geocache in all 50 states by the time I am too decrepit to participate.
Want some outdoor, unplugged activity in which the kids don’t even realize they are exercising? Geocache. Our team is called “Team Shadow” because the dog always comes with us. If we ever make it to Hawaii, however, I think she’ll need to stay home

I guess the bottom line is that childhood is fleeting, and family traditions help make memories. They help connect us, and I want more of those connections. Traditions remind us there’s a lot more to life than homework, crow's feet, and cleaning the kitchen counter.

I’d love to hear some of your traditions, too!










18 comments:

Christy said...

I loved reading about all of your traditions and I can't wait to create some of our own in my family!

When I was a kid my parents hid the easter basket too...and we still open one present each on Christmas Eve (and go out for pizza!) and then open the rest on Christmas morning.

That geocaching sounds totally fun - I'm going to read up on that!

Lori P said...

I LOVE the ice cream breakfast on the first snow day tradition. I'm thinking it may be a keeper.
~lori

Marie said...

Hello Anna - wow what a great post! You've got some great traditions. We have similar ones for Christmas/Easter too! I'm going to look up Geocaching. I heard about that a while back and thought it was a fake thing! Now that I know it's real, my family would love it. Um, your post on Ice T cracked me up! Oh my, those things could be used as weapons! And you with your iced tea, priceless.

Thank you for joining the party!

Blessings,
Marie
http://emmacallsmemama.com

Signing Out said...

Such great traditions! BTW, I love your blog!

Jane

Jo said...

I love the Easter Basket and yarn idea! Thanks for sharing.....Jo

Kate Coveny Hood said...

I can't think of anything that doesn't involve brunch or dinner... But food (like ice cream for breakfast day - which could be the name of every day of my first maternity leave) counts!

Chris makes a quiche every Christmas morning.

We need to come up with some traditions...

Tara said...

You have a wicked sense of humor! I love it! I also love the idea of ice cream breakfast for the first snowfall, brilliant!

Kristina P. said...

We don't have kids yet, but I really want to instill traditions into our family.

We didn't really have any die hard traditions when I was growing up.

Maybe one of them will be smuggling items in our fat rolls.

Ashley @ AshleysBusy said...

Aw, I love your traditions. Who doesn't love a good taco night...or late night taco bell craving, lol.

My fave is the Christmas treasure hunt. That is an AWESOME idea!

purejoy said...

what great traditions!! i love the ice cream for breakfast!! i'm thinking of doing that for the first day of football season, first robin sighting, first acorn on the ground, first daffodil. . .
i better go. i have to go get some ice cream. . . just in case!

Martha's Favorites said...

So glad I stopped by, you are delightful and I love your traditions. I'll be back to visit alot. Martha

Marina Capano said...

I loved reading about all of your traditions!! congrats for your beautiful family!

xoxo

Gretchen said...

awesome post! I loved reading all about your family.

And, what did you decide to do about school???

Pamela said...

My sister and I (still do!) get pajamas for Christmas Eve presents. I always loved starting Christmas morning cozy and in something new. All of our Christmas photos are in matching pjs.

I bake incessantly on snow days. A nesting thing I guess.

As I child, I thought every family did this - we celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas at my father's mother's house; the Sunday after at my mother's parent's house. I never understood the hectic holiday schedule. I love spreading the celebration out over more days. And everyone could always make it to both.

I love the ones you're making for your family!

Anonymous said...

We have a lot of fun decorating Easter eggs. Every year we make a list of awards in advance... Pretty Egg, Rotten Egg, Jesus Egg, Rock n Roll Egg, American Egg, etc. The girls spend some time making 'ribbons' while I boil the eggs. Then we decorate way more eggs than we can possibly eat. Other kids... and even a few adults... have been eager to join us. We use rubber bands, art tissue, and lots of other techniques we have collected over the years. Whenever my girls have to write an essay about their favorite traditions for school this always makes the top of the list.

That and the year that we were determined to find a not-so-crowded area of the park for an Easter egg hunt. And then realized we had sent Jeff off to hide eggs on a "hazardous trail" :)

Kelee Katillac said...

Hi Anna!

These are so fun and funny. Geocaching???

I think you have stealthfully put those kids to work as bounty hunters and private eyes...

Way to monetize the FAM! :):)

love, kelee

Anny said...

That plate is adorable!

Katie Higgins said...

Anna, your blogs are cracking me up! I'm so glad to see you and the family doing well.

The geocaching things is what made me comment...I know people are into it, and it seems like a cool concept. But people who don't know about it are not amused by this. I handled a call at work one day because some people weren't sure if the box behind a business was a drug stash or a bomb. They just kept seeing people walk up to it, put something in it, and walk away, int he span of a few minutes. I laughed pretty hard when we traced the web address to a harmless geocaching site. No bomb dogs that day!!