On my dad's side, one of my aunts was born on Halloween, and so they always had a big celebration for it. Ghost stories and scary movies became favorite pastimes. My dad always had a lot of decorations, and many of them moved, roared, or danced. He also had a lot of bobble headed monsters from old monster movies.
So, it's safe to say that we grew up loving Halloween.
We lived in a pretty small town. Trick-or-treating was safe. We knew all of our neighbors, and they knew us. They didn't have trunk-or-treats until I was out of high school.
Grig, on the other hand, only went trick-or-treating when he was very young. His younger siblings have never gone, and his mom was telling Kevin to always let his parents check his candy before he eats it.
We never did that. We knew everyone we trick-or-treated too, so there was no need to worry about it. Our parents only told us not to eat too much at one time.
It is interesting how different family traditions and circumstances can affect our perception of holidays.
We bought a house in a small town, and once again, I know most of our neighbors. I'm so excited to take Kevin trick-or-treating! I love Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas and I'm really stoked that he's old enough to really understand what's going on this year. We've been watching all sorts of Halloween cartoons in preparation for Saturday.
People have been asking what Kevin is going to be for Halloween. A lot of them have assumed that Kevin is going to be Superman, but I told them that there was no way. Kevin is Superman every day. So, he has to be something different for Halloween. Next year, he'll pick his own costume, but this year, we helped him pick it.
Here it is:
He dressed up tonight to go to a Halloween party. He had a great time with his cousins.
This will be his third Halloween. Here are the previous years' costumes:
It's hard to believe how much he's grown!
As Grig and I learn from each other, we have to decide which traditions we want to keep from our parents, and which ones we want to form. It's a fun journey, and we're so grateful to be making it together!
As a fairly new married couple (only three years so far), we are still establishing family traditions.
One of the things that we really wanted to do was to make Easter less about bunnies and more about Christ. We wanted to focus the whole week on the Savior and what he did for us. So, after a discussion last Monday, we came up with the following plan for every day of this week:
Palm Sunday:
This is the day Christ rode into Jerusalem.
Put this scripture in an Easter egg and hide it for Adam to
find.
Mark 11: 1-11
We then
go outside and find the best plant that we would give to the Savior. We can
press our flower or leaf in the pages of a book to flatten it.
Cleansing Monday:
This is the day Christ cleansed the temple.
Hide this scripture in an Easter egg and hide it for Adam to
find.
Mark 11:12-19
After reading the scripture, we “cleanse” the house.
Everyone helps to make the house as temple clean as possible. Once everyone has
helped, we dye Easter eggs for FHE.
Teaching Tuesday:
This is the day that Christ delivered his last sermon about
the last days and contended with the Pharisees.
Hide this scripture in an Easter egg and hide it for Adam to
find.
Mark 11: 20-Mark 13:37
As a family, go on a hike up a mountain and read these
scriptures.
Bring figs (or fig newtons) and talk about the fig tree.
Service Wednesday
This is the day that the woman anointed Christ with perfume
and Judas Iscariot contrived to betray the Savior.
Place this scripture in an Easter egg and hide it for Adam
to find.
Mark 14:1-11
Do an act of service for someone as the woman did for the
Savior. List reasons why we love each family member and we’re glad they’re part
of our family. Play family game such as hide and seek or capture the flag.
Passover Thursday
This is the day of the last supper and the Passover.
Place this scripture in an Easter egg and hide it for Adam
to find.
Watch video To This End Was I Born. Can also watch church bible videos.
Do Easter egg hunt! Explain how eggs
symbolize Christ’s rebirth (resurrection) that will be celebrated on Sunday.
Holy Saturday
Mark 15:46-47; 1 Peter 4:6;
D&C 138
This is when Christ was in the tomb. He
was also preaching to the dead. For this day, we’ll spend some time working on
family history and watching family videos.
Easter Sunday
This is
the resurrection of the Savior. Have Easter treats Sunday morning when the
children wake up.
Have the following scripture in one of the eggs.
Mark 16: 1-20
Read
scripture as a family and watch videos about the Savior. Sing hymns. Eat candy.
So, that's our plan. So far it's going pretty well. We have been cleaning all morning, and we're taking our first break. Feel free to steal any of our ideas. Our hope is that as we focus on the Savior this week, that Easter will have more significance and will be more about Jesus Christ.
As you probably are all aware, this week is Christmas!
I love Christmas. I still get super excited about it, even though I'm grown up and not supposed to be a kid anymore.
Part of what makes Christmas so fun for me, is giving presents and preparing surprises for those that I love. Last year, my siblings all pitched in to surprise my father with a treadmill. He was definitely surprised, even though we managed to get him to drive it back to Idaho. That was a lot of fun.
Kevin and I have been watching some different Christmas movies together. Some of the movies we've watched are Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer (a couple of times), Frosty the Snowman, and Elf.
One thing that's been kind of bothering me as I've watched these movies, came to a head when I was watching Elf. I love that movie, and it cracks me up. Honestly, it's probably the only Will Ferrell movie that I like.
However, at one point in the movie, Santa Claus states that the Christmas spirit is believing in Santa Claus.
Now don't get me wrong, I think Santa is a wonderful tradition. However, he is not supposed to be what Christmas is about. In fact, he himself is symbolic of Christ.
Here's a video explaining some of the similarities and symbolism, if you're interested.
They showed this at our Ward Christmas party. I thought it was cute.
According to the dictionary, Christmas is defined as
the annual Christian festival celebrating Christ's birth, held on December 25 in the Western Church.
By definition, Christmas is a Christian festival. Yet, so many "Christmas" movies avoid any mention the Savior. It is easier to pretend that Christmas is about Santa, then to possibly offend someone who doesn't believe in Christ.
However, if you're celebrating Christmas, shouldn't you believe in Christ?
The spirit of Christmas is about becoming more like Christ. We give gifts because Christ gave us the greatest gift of all: the opportunity to return to our Heavenly Father. His gift didn't cost a lot of money, but it was expensive nonetheless. His gift took a lifetime to prepare, it cost Him His life, and it is applicable to all of us. Any one can partake of Christ's gift if they choose to.
I am so grateful for the gift of the Savior. I've been trying really hard this year to maintain my focus on him and his life throughout this Christmas season. To that end, we are trying to establish a family tradition. We taped a box shut, and cut an opening in the top. Then we wrapped the box up, except for the opening. This became our gift for the Savior. Throughout the month of December, we've been trying to do service, and when we do, we've been trying to remember to write down what we've done on a slip of paper, and place it into the present for Christ. Some days, we've forgotten all about our box and even when we've done service, we haven't remembered to put it in.
Though we haven't been perfect everyday about following through, I like the idea, and it has been fun to see that present sitting there. (Kevin wants to unwrap it though, and it makes him sad when we don't let him.)
On Christmas, we're planning on opening the present and reading some of the service that we have done. As our children grow older, we are also planning on drawing names daily for someone to do a service for the person that they've picked, and then writing what they did on a slip of paper and placing it in the box.
We hope to make this an annual Christmas tradition.
The hope and peace that the Savior brings into my life is incomparable. I wish that everyone could feel the same comfort and love that I do. It is to this intent that we try to share the gift of the Savior. We don't want to push our beliefs on others, but we do want to give everyone the opportunity to accept them if they are interested. If we don't do our best to share the wonderful gift we have received from the Savior, then aren't we being selfish?
I believe in Christ and I know He wants all of His brothers and sisters to return to live with Heavenly Father. I want to be able to live with everyone too. Heaven wouldn't be heaven without my friends and family there.
I know that Christ was born in a stable and that He lives today. He did die, and He was resurrected. His birth was only important because of the choices that He made during his life. I want to live my life in a way that will bring my Savior joy.
I know these things are true, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
I'm writing this post with the knowledge that this is every individual's choice to make, and it's none of my business what you decided to do with your Christmas holiday.
Having said that, I love the tradition of Santa Claus. More and more of my peers nowadays are deciding not to have Santa Claus as a tradition in their homes. One particular person I know has decided not to because they don't want to lie to their kids, so they have told them from the get go that Santa Claus doesn't come visit them on Christmas Eve.
Personally, I can understand, but I don't fully agree. Again, it is every parent's choice, but I loved Santa Claus when I was a kid! I loved the excitement and magic Christmas morning when presents appeared and it was fun to pretend that a big man in a red suit had brought them to our house.
I believed in Santa until I was eleven. I'm sure there were kids at school who told me he wasn't real, but I didn't care. I didn't really believe he came down the chimney, but I had a personal theory that he was like a catalog. The parents ordered what they wanted from him, and Christmas Eve he drove around and brought the presents to all the houses, delivering them via the front door. My Santa was unconventional and somewhat practical, but I still loved him.
When I was eleven, my parents pulled me into their room and told me that he didn't exist.
I cried. I really did.
And then I got over it. I enjoyed helping my parents stuff stockings for the younger kids after that and helping to make it magical for them. The excitement of BEING Santa replaced the excitement of BELIEVING in Santa. That kept him alive for me.
I love pretending, and in that sense, Santa is real. Santa is the joy of surprising your children and increasing anticipation. It is the fun of imagination and trying to figure out a holiday tradition. Santa was a real person. He once existed and the tradition of giving makes him very much alive in our homes today. Santa definitely shouldn't replace Christ, but as a fun Christmas tradition, I don't have a problem with him.
Finding out that Santa didn't really come to our house on Christmas didn't cause me to question everything else my parents had ever taught me. Instead, it simply turned into a fun Christmas tradition for me. It reemphasized the point that Christmas was about the REAL Savior, not a man from the North Pole.
For me personally, it was just a lot of fun.
However, I understand that for others, the realization that Santa wasn't real had a different impact on them, and I understand that. Due to that, many parents have decided that they're not going to lie and pretend to their children. They are going to be honest with them and tell them straight.
However, before you tell your children that Santa isn't real, remember one thing. There are a lot of other children that your child is going to make cry. They may not do it on purpose, but a lot of other children out there are going to be believing in Santa, and your child is going to tell them that he is not real. They will probably argue about it and it will probably cause a lot of hurt feelings. Your child may also be hurt because their peers don't believe what they know to be true. Other children will be hurt because it is fun to believe in Santa, and your child is removing some of the magic from their childhood.
I don't know what the right answer is. Again, it's a very personal decision. All I know is that what you decide does affect other children besides your own. Personally, I want my kids to enjoy Santa, at least for as long as they can. That's part of what made Christmas magical for me when I was a kid, and I want my kids to enjoy that too. Maybe I'm wrong, but isn't it up to me and Grig to decide what we want for our children? Just like it's up to you?
Do what you think is right for your family.
Merry Christmas to all those who decide to be Santa and for those who decide not to be. Either way, it doesn't change the magic of the season. As we celebrate and remember the Christ child, there is a magic to that to, and it is a magic that never goes away.
