BlogHer - family traditions - Comments

YOU MAKE ME LOL!!

Denee King — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:58:15 -0600

Fishnets!! That would be FUN!

Ok...so just make one and surprise her Christmas morning. When she realizes the random things that you can shove into panty hose she'll be begging for them next year. Hey...when you read that sentence without the context in which it was written.....it sounds hilarious and a bit kinky!! :-)

Shoot, she just yelled at me

Denise — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:37:24 -0600

She doesn't like how pantyhose look.

Fishnets maybe?

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

Awe!

Denise — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:36:15 -0600

I'm trying to decide how to convince TW that we should toss aside our stockings and do the pantyhose thing. Maybe taking it one step further... if a gift can't fit in a stocking or hang from the toe then it can't be given... that might be a way to reduce our spending and our consumption of needless products. Hmmm do you think I can convince her? Your post might be enough, but maybe I should create a pantyhose stocking just for her and show her just how much fun this could be... I'll think about it.

So far, most of the kids my kids have dated, lived with, or married have been happy enough with our traditions and haven't expected too many changes to our traditions. If they are too pushy at Christmas, Santa will bring them coal and they learn their lesson. :-)

mmm malted milk balls, I can hardly wait.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

Great post

Judith — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:53:06 -0600

Judith
http://judithsdivorceblog.blogspot.com
Really enjoyed this. We broke with tradition this year by visitng India and leaving behind all the consumerist paraphernalia of Christmas. In doing so we became steeped in a country and culture with its own deeply rooted traditions and somewhere along the way I'm still trying to get it all sorted in my mind. For the time being I've contented myself with blogging about my travels albeit themed to coincide with my divorce blog.

so true

alyssaroyse — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 23:16:09 -0600

she is wonderful, thanks. she came out that way. my husband and i joke that all we really have to do is NOT mess her up.

but i also believe that we are profoundly shaped by the energy of those in our lives. I started choosing the people in my life more carefully once i had a daughter, because i didn't want negative influences in her life. But i can't help but wonder why i didn't do it sooner, just for me.

now i do. i realize that the energy of people in my life informs my world, we all become like our environment, and are therefor responsible for creating the kind of environment we actually want to be in, be like. it's not always easy, i know that. but i want to be like my daughter, so i spend time with her..... i don't want to be negative and crabby and manipulative and materialistic, so i don't spend time with people who are like that....

man, being a mother has taught me so much. (i hope i'm doing as much for her!)

glad you like TinkerTank. We love it..... now what do with it next!

Happy New Year!
___________
Alyssa Royse
JUST CAUSE
make some good news!
www.JustCauseIt.com

Your daughter stabilized you ...

Nordette — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 12:09:17 -0600

It's always a joy to have a child who's naturally optimistic. I believe that everyone in our lives is a teacher if we let them be. Children especially seem to teach us more often than we give them credit. Your daughter sounds like a very special child.

TinkerTank is great! :-)

Nordette Adams is a Contributing Editor with BlogHer.org.

Babz, you are a marvel.

Nordette — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 12:01:50 -0600

I don't operate from a place of "we don't have" or "we have lost so much" but from a place of "we are all in this together and together we can dream our biggest dreams" This seems to work--I see it.

I agree, traditions are whatever you want them to be.

Nordette Adams is a Contributing Editor with BlogHer.org.

Traditions are whatever you want them to be

Lovebabz — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 09:08:14 -0600

We have a handful of things we do. We put up the tree the day after Thanksgiving. We collect Black Santas--so we all go out and purchase a new one every year and a few other things we do each year. And we celebrate Kwanzaa--not all the days, we pick one day during or we wait until the end and have a feast with a few friends. This seems to be easy and a lot of fun. My husband left us just before I was sentenced to federal prison. On top of that I had to go to federal prison camp to serve my time so I was away from my children. We enrolled them in a new school this past September on top of all of this. Did I mention I have 4 kids--all adopted- each with their own story of abuse and neglect. The traditions we have created, are rooted in simplicity. Small things that we all look forward to. Anything is possible. Love, a full heart and true gratitude for this life drives my ability to create for all of us a sense of family intact and optimism. Celebrating with good food, lots of music and extended family and friends--a true village.
I don't operate from a place of "we don't have" or "we have lost so much" but from a place of "we are all in this together and together we can dream our biggest dreams" This seems to work--I see it.

Love,
Babz
www.lovebabz.blogspot.com

New traditions

alyssaroyse — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:41:51 -0600

My childhood was, to say the least, very turbulent. By the time i (barely) graduated high-school, I had seen my mother through the end of her third marriage, been to 3 elementary schools, 3 junior highs, and 3 high schools. I'm not sure how many houses I had lived in, but, suffice it to say, there were virtually no traditions in my life.

Somewhere in the bedlam, I grew VERY cynical about all of the holidays. I'll spare you the various manipulations that birthed that cynicism, but by the time my daughter was old enough to notice the holidays, I had forgotten what they were.... Or blanked them out.

But, my daughter is a sun beam. She was going to deck the halls and be merry, no matter what. So she pretty much created traditions and rituals for us. We must do a Gingerbread house, make stockings for everyone who so much as enters our house during the season, listen to certain songs, wear certain clothes.... She just dove in and created traditions. She is joyous from the start of the season right through packing it up and waiting for next year. Or just the next holiday. And it's been amazing. She gave me the holidays that I always wanted, but never had as a kid. So we follow her lead and just go in.

When she stopped believing in Santa, she looked at me and said, "it's okay mommy, it's the spirit that counts."

So, in true confessions..... it was with and for her that I created TinkerTank .... She wanted to create a holiday world that kept the myth alive - for those who believe and those who don't. We wanted to create a world in which the spirit of each holiday lived in the souls of people who looked just like us. A place that parents and children could explore myths and magic, find true meaning. Create stories that work in the real world... We'll keep adding to it, for all of us that can use a good metaphor and parable to make sense of things.

My daughter gave me the kind of stability that I never had. I spent most of my life scoffing at ritual and tradition, and now I understand it. And that it's never too late. Designing that Gingerbread house each year is not only creating a memory, but literally creating the home that our souls grow in...

___________
Alyssa Royse
JUST CAUSE
make some good news!
www.JustCauseIt.com

Because the children are annoying brats

Denise — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 17:04:55 -0600

I love them, but man they drive me nuts.

The older girls and I came home from IKEA and the mouse was down in spot 23. (I think TW did it though, she had a weird look on her face when I noticed it - she's sometimes worse than the two "youngest children")

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Fast Times @ Homeschool High & Flamingo House Happenings

Ok, so what's the mouse's story??

debra roby — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 09:40:59 -0600

Why is this mouse running all over the advent calendar? Unless, ofcourse, your calendar looks like a house (they are scurrying as I type)...

I love that the whole family gets into the act!

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Deb's Daily Distractions

New Year's Bonfire and Troubles

grannysu — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:09:37 -0600

I blogged this topic on my blog. Got problems? life treating you badly? need a place to vent? Want to burn your troubles in a huge fire out in the back country of West Virginia? Read how to do it on my blog!

Granny Sue
Stories from the Mountains and Beyond
www.grannysu.blogspot.com
susannaholstein@yahoo.com

I just posted mine as

Zandria — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 10:20:15 -0600

I just posted mine as well!

http://www.zandria.us/archives/main/2007/11/15/those-crazy-family-holida...

Personal blog: Keep Up With Me
BlogHer blog: Life - Singles

Traditions

Kat Burb — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:32:23 -0600

Well, as much as I don't believe in Christmas talk BEFORE December 2nd (must be all of those years working in a church), I posted a short blog about our quirky Christmas traditions. I had to hid the post on my blog though, so as to not look too much like a hypocrite since I just took a stand about Christmas decor.

http://www.theburbblog.com/Special/tabid/68/Default.aspx

Talk to ya later!
Kat
www.theburbblog.com

Just an ordinary family

lizzen — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:29:00 -0600

What’s so unusual about my family's traditions is that they are so USUAL. They are what's to be expected of traditional families: A glowing tree, a Christmas ham, matching pajamas, and a glorious Christmas breakfast. They go off calmly, peacefully, and without a hitch. Well, for the most part. But in general there is peace, harmony, and even love, or at least reverence for the traditions. We have become the Typical American Family. We enjoy each other’s company and we look forward to the holidays and all of the togetherness they bring. How many people in this crazy culture can say that?

Just the Way It Is - A laugh, an epiphany, a like-minded soul