Filling the Holidays with Family Values and Traditions

I love teaching my family with fun and engaging traditions. In a recent post I mentioned performing traditions tied into the holidays. I thought I'd share here a few more traditions of of ours. 

Beginning with Halloween, we have one evening before Oct 31 where we dress up as our favorite religious hero and play, "Guess who I am." The Monday just before Oct 31 we carve our pumpkins, turn off the lights, and while looking at the glow of the candle inside recite the scripture from the bible about being the light of the world. And after trick-or-treating, the kids leave a sacrifice of a portion of their candy for the Great Pumpkin who brings gifts in exchange. 

They haven't, but maybe the Pilgrims will one day bring gifts for Thanksgiving.... But for Thanksgiving we perform an original family play (I think I value dressing up and performing!) complete with a script, sets, and lots of bows at the end. And we try to spend the month of Nov in service to the community.

For Christmas, my husband and I wanted to de-emphasize Santa, so the "haul" is modest (our  gift receiving is spread out over the year, as you will see). Santa brings a gift. But the wise men do too, each bringing one a gift for vocation/education, family, and religious.

New Years Eve we stay up late reading our family journal from the year just passing and laugh about the crazy things we did and marvel at the time flying by. Then we have a sleep-over under the Christmas tree. (Could the Chinese Zodiac animal bring another gift on Chinese New Year?...)

For Valentines, I organize a family dance. I miss the idea that dances aren't just for adolescents. So my kids know The Electric Slide, the Chicken Dance, the Bunny Hop, the Limbo, and Cotton-Eyed Joe. Oh, and Cupid brings a gift.

So do the Leprechauns  And we have a treasure hunt because who doesn't love a good treasure hunt? The kids prepare their own impromptu Irish themed skit while I set it up. And we eat Irish food, though I don't know that we have any Irish in us....

We have an Easter Bunny that hides eggs Saturday morning. So on Easter Sunday I can give the kids gifts of a religious nature, and we do a religious egg hunt. This year, I had each of the kids chose 3 eggs to fill with something that could symbolize Jesus. After we found the eggs and opened them, the kids explained why they had chosen that symbol. It was fascinating to see the depth and variety of their understanding.

We're in search of good Solstice traditions because I think the symbolism of the sun in relation to the earth, and the cycle of seasons has great lessons for my kids. We've tried things with the fire pit, and disco dancing with glow-in-the-dark gear. Fun.... Still thinking. (If you have any ideas, leave a comment below.)

Earth Day, like all other holidays, has it's own agenda, value system, and aim. I'm less interested in that as I am in what I'd like to use Earth Day to teach my kids. (When we want to learn about the rest of that, we'll participate in what is already offered in the community.) This past year, I wanted my kids to learn about the people of Earth on Earth Day. Where do they live? How common is our way of life on Earth now? We study different cultures and history all year. I wanted Earth Day to be the big picture right now. (To that end, I organized - with a lot of help - an Earth Day Block Party. I hope it was fun and memorable to everyone who came - yes, fun is one of our family's main values.)

Anyway, I hope your family finds many reasons to celebrate! I love homeschooling because doing the things that strengthen families - having meaningful traditions and having fun together - seem such a part of life!