Happy Holidays!
I previously shared some of my favorite holiday traditions and my rough plan for my family’s 2022 “12 Days of Christmas.”
Well, we definitely had a lot of fun this December, but there were also some holiday fails. I figured I would share what worked and what didn’t so you could consider future activities or traditions that might bring joy to your family next year.
Here’s the recap!
The Fun
- Holiday cookie baking was a definite success. Between old favorites and some new goodies, everyone involved happily created and devoured many, many holiday cookies. We also made my grandmother’s homemade fudge recipe this year – a recipe we haven’t tried in over a decade.
- Simple spontaneous fun. I made pancakes using cookie cutters and freeform snowmen pancakes one morning. Though not on my list, the kids definitely enjoyed eating these festive treats!
- Gingerbread smashing. Although there were some hiccups in our gingerbread house building this year (see fails below), the boys still enjoyed our annual tradition of smashing the houses to pieces later in the month.
- Rock painting. The kids and adults alike enjoyed our kindness rock painting activity. We have yet to drop the rocks in various locations while we hike, but this will be a nice continuation of our holiday fun.
- Hannukah. So, we are not Jewish, but I value the other cultural traditions and holidays that take place in the winter months. As a result, I try to incorporate at least one book and activity into our celebrations for each of these holidays so my kids learn a bit about other traditions. This year, we serendipitously were able to enjoy our latkes, smoked salmon, kugel and matzo ball soup with A’s entire family. I also found a new book to explain the history behind Hannukah that the boys really seemed to enjoy: A Great Miracle Happened There by Karla Kuskin*
- Indoor camping. This is such a simple tradition, but the boys had a wonderful time pitching a tent in our living room and sleeping by the glow of the Christmas tree. We made kielbasa “hot dogs” and s’mores in the microwave (since it was way too cold and windy where we live to build an outdoor fire). They slept in the tent two nights with their new handmade crochets afghans, and I am sure this was one of the more memorable experiences for them.
*This post is not affiliated
The Fails
- Holiday lights. I took the advice of a family member this year and we drove about an hour away to see a fancy light display. This was one of those mega light displays where the entire park is decorated and you pay to drive through. The kids were pretty overtired by the time we made it, the carousel ride and refreshments at the center of the drive-thru was overpriced, and our attempt to get hot cocoa at a nearby Dunkin Donuts afterward was disastrous too. Let’s just say that this Dunkin was understaffed and the one employee in the location was…unenthusiastic about working.
- Learning about other holiday traditions. We never ended up reading about Lucia Day or Kwanzaa this year, which was pretty disappointing to me. Everyone was otherwise involved or overtired by the time we got to this portion of the month.
- Using gingerbread kits. My mom and I had stumbled upon a couple premade gingerbread kits that we thought the kids would be super excited about. We should have saved our money, because the two older kids were pretty disappointed about not having complete freedom to build what they wanted out of graham crackers and homemade royal icing!
- Christmas night. For the last two years, we have read The Polar Express and then watched the movie after Christmas dinner. I thought the kids were sort of over watching this movie, however, and planned to shake up the tradition and watch A Muppets’ Christmas Carol (A’s favorite holiday movie) instead. Well needless to say, that did not go over very well with my middle son who was in absolute despair at the thought of changing things up.
Conclusion
I learned a lot this season that I will carry forward to next year.
I think instead of planning out the 12 Days of Christmas in calendar form, I will opt for a “holiday bucket list” format. This will make the activities seem more like options instead of “requirements.” We weren’t rigid about following the schedule or anything, but I think this will assuage any disappointment I might inadvertently feel if something isn’t completed.
I also will skip the fancy light show and go back to a less formal tour around our local neighborhoods.
Finally, I love the 12 Days of Service concept, though it didn’t work out as well in reality as I had hoped. I plan to rethink some of the aspects of the service that we do to make it more intentional and clearer to the kids what we are doing and why. For example, we created care packages for local homeless people, but my oldest son and I were really the only ones who packed the items. Next year, I will make this an activity for the whole family.
When all is said and done, we enjoyed a ton of time together just hanging out, watching holiday movies, eating delicious food, and baking. To me, that is what the season is truly about.
I also was really proud of myself for just sitting down and playing with the boys after presents were unwrapped. I built a puzzle and played in our giant tub of kinetic sand with my youngest; I helped my oldest son build his new marble maze; and together, we all worked on coloring the giant color-and-build playhouse gifted to us by my brother’s family.