In the December inaugural edition of our newsletter, we plan to include some ideas on how our families can celebrate the upcoming holidays. It seems that many of us are away from extended family here in the DC area, so for those of you who won't be traveling, is there something you do locally to celebrate the season? Which holidays will you celebrate this year? Have you created your own traditions, or are you looking to start new traditions with your little one(s)?
And for those in the other camp, do you have any tips for traveling around the holidays with kids? Anything you wouldn't leave behind, or something you would?
Please email your input directly to Shane (boomanning@gmail.com) or post it in the comments below, and look for some of the tips to be highlighted in your upcoming December edition of the Fairlington MOMS Club "Bottom Line!"
And to get the conversation going, here's my input:
Even before Emma joined us, our little family loved to head up to the Mormon temple in Kensington, Maryland, for their "Festival of Lights" and Christmas tree display, along with an international assortment of Nativity sets. They usually have a living Nativity scene as well, and there are music concerts most evenings in their indoor theater, in addition to Christmas-themed films. The whole thing is free, though the seating for the concerts does often fill early. The display begins on December 1st and continues the whole month. You can see photos of past years here, and see a photo essay here.
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3 comments:
We have had just one Christmas where we didn't spend it with either
of our families in the almost three years that we have been married.So
we are just starting our traditions. The night before Christmas we
read the Christmas story in the Bible and then we read the Polar
Express, On Christmas morning my husband makes us line up on the
stairs according to age so its the baby first then our mini dachshund
and then me. This of course is in theory only as we cannot leave the
baby alone on the stairs or the dachshund for that matter (she is
deathly afraid of stairs and must be carried down them) These
traditions all come from my husbands family except reading the
Christmas story in the bible which my family did as well. We also go
see the lights and live Nativity at the Mormon Temple in Maryland. We
also have to watch the Christmas Story during its all day run on TBS
each year (you'll shoot your eye out) This year we will start a new
tradition of a gingerbread house contest and maybe reenacting the
Nativity instead of just reading the story from the bible.
We told our families from the beginning that we wouldn't be traveling -- both traffic and airports in November and December just aren't worth it to me. Our policy has always been that anyone else is welcome to come see us, but we're staying put!
For the baby's first Thanksgiving and Christmas we made exceptions, taking her to meet family in Florida and Arizona who are unable to travel to us. This year, though, we're back to our old standard, so we're excited to share the experiences of Christmastime in Washington with her.
I'm excited to continue my family Christmas traditions of new jammies on Christmas Eve (already ordered them from Gymboree!) and a gift of an ornament for her own collection.
Mary Van says, "My husband and I have always spent the holidays traveling up and down I-95 between our families in Richmond and NoVA. But now that James has arrived (now almost 6 mos old) we want to establish our own holiday traditions for James at home. I remember how fun and familiar it was, as a kid, to wake up at home, excited about the day...Santa's visit, Mom's cooking, a day in my pj's. I'm hoping our families will understand as we figure out the best way to make the transition. I'd love to hear about how other Moms have dealt with this!"
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