Building Traditions and Gingerbread Houses

Tosh had sent me some pictures from his phone and they perfectly illustrate THE hair I was talking about in the previous post.  Here are some pictures of us as we put up the tree.  Don't mind my hair, or face. 

 The back of Finn' hair just really liked to party!  

   Here are a few shots of him putting up the tree at his Nana and Grandad's.  He is in pajamas.  Yes my child is always in pajamas.

He enjoys doing their tree and I think it will be the beginning of a tradition...

And now for our elf.  Our elf was named Langey.  That is the name Finn decided.  After about a week, he decided the elf's name was Dodge. So Dodge it is.  Dodge doesn't do much other than move around from shelf to shelf.  Finn isn't buying the whole "magical powers" thing so it is just a fun hide and seek game.

 This year I realized that as for Finn, Tosh,and I, we don't have our own family traditions.  We have traditions that have spilled over from our families, and that we have pieced together with our extended families, but we didn't have anything new to the three of us.  It dawned on me that when I was a child, what my family did for the holidays had to be built.  Our traditions had to be formed.  My parents did it seamlessly because I never even thought before that they had to create our traditions. They had to merge families and pull out things to do with all of us and then create special memories for them, my sister, and I.  I kind of felt like it always was just how it was. I never saw the effort that they put in to building our Christmas traditions and Christmas memories until now.
 This year it has been my goal to start things that will be our traditions. I would like Finn to grow up and know that mom and dad always put up the tree the day after Thanksgiving and made him pancakes.  I want him to look back with joy and remember how every year he and mom would make a gingerbread house or that he and dad went shopping together.

Or that every year a special elf named Dodge would go from shelf to shelf over the month of December.

 I want him to see all those little things we do together as special memories that lead up to the BIG event of Christmas.

 And I hope the foundation of tradition he has as a child, just like Tosh and I had as children, will be special to him and he can build tradition for his family.

For now we will focus on the time we have to build traditions with him, the time to spend with family, the time to create special memories.  

  

and we will enjoy watching his excitement in the magic of Christmas.