A Holiday Tradition is something you recreate year after year.
Repetition of a similar event culminates into one big happy memory for children and adults alike.
A really huge, expensive gift - say an electric Barbi car or Jeep Grand Cherokee or a $2,000 Tree House - might make one big whopper of a memory if it only happens once. It's just as easily be forgotten if year after year parents aim for the big whopper gift. You want to parse those out over time, otherwise you'll always be one-upping yourself. Going bigger and bigger every year has the effect of rendering the big whopper of a present meaningless. It simply becomes their expectation, and after a few years if say the economy is down and their expectation isn't met - children might think Christmas sucked. How is that fun for anyone?
"Every year around Thanksgiving we made a Ginger Bread House together and then for a month my mom would pretend to get mad at us every time we snitched a peppermint or sweet tart off the house. She would pretend to be the witch who would threaten to throw Hanzle and Grettle into the oven for stealing goodies off her house."
That's the kind of memory I aim for with Holiday Traditions. It's time together primarily, it has staying power for the whole Holiday Season and it's yummy. The yummy part is important because every single time they taste or smell Ginger Bread they will remember our happy tradition.
The Orbit Cookie-Ginger Bread House Kit, 4lbs
costs only $12.95. That is the kind of tradition you can keep up year after year after year without going broke.
More on this at Boycott Christmas in November.
Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip # 1
Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #2
Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip#3
Steal This Christmas Gift Please!
Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #4
Happy Thanksgiving - See you Monday.
7 comments:
I'm going to pick one up today. My babies love putting our "ginger crack house" together. That's basically what you get when small children become food architects, and it's beautiful!
Ginger Crack House - you leave me hysterical. LOL
Psst Jen - it's only $9.99 at Sams.
Well then I'm heading to Sam's too.
I'd forgotten about this tradition, but we used to make one every year with my mom too.
My daughter will love it. Especially sneaking the pieces when she thinks I'm not looking. Then I get to catch her and act like a witch? Now that's holiday fun!
PS Tracee, This is not just link love, it was 100% inspired by you.
I bake my own gingerbread house. Apparently I'm stuck doing it every year whether I want to or not now, the kids EXPECT it LOL
I'm toying with changing the pattern this year and trying for an Aussie themed gingerbread house. We'll see, it might depend on how much time I have available.
My 3yo niece and I made little houses from gingerbread graham crackers last year. It was messy and fun. I made frosting and got candy from the dollar store.
Best of all, I love that she always says "remember when we made that little house?" She never says anything about the presents I've bought her.
When I saw how cheap the package was I knew I couldn't make it cheaper from scratch. There are benefits to mass manufacturing. Plus, it was more fun just to put it together and decorate it. Good luck Mim. But, yay for the kit.
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