I’ve gotten some flack for putting up a tree so early in the season. However, it has become more and more important for me to slow down, taking in all the seasons and the holidays have to offer. Christmas always seems so rushed and quick. Put up the tree, wrap the presents, rushing around to family after family all before or by December 25th. It really takes the joy and meaning out of Christmas and Thanksgiving for that matter. When we grow up, get married, and start families of our own we tend to think we have to stay in the box of traditions we lived in as a child. We are pressured to cram traditions from both sides into our lives, forgetting that this actually is the time to create something new as a new family.
For years my husband worked in public safety full time, this took him away from us many holidays. This typically meant we celebrated holidays differently than most, which was okay. It allowed us to avoid some of the rushing around and feeling pretty worn around the holidays. Over the past few years, we have begun to put up our tree early. This typically happens when my husband goes up north camping and hunting. It’s actually a little joke he and I have, he always says when he leaves “So I am going to come home to something new, right?” This year the tree was up in late September, per our kid’s request.
Now, our kids are beginning to take part in creating this tradition. They are shaping and developing it and I couldn’t be more happy. There are no rules set in stone for this, I’ve only wanted to do this out of joy and love. We did our “Halloween” tree filled with coffee filter ghosts and large fake spiders. Somehow our daughter outfitted it with a big red hat on the top–must be a costume. We use orange and white lights for the perfect fall glow.
Now it is November and our daughter had a very good idea for the tree this month. She wanted to do a thankful tree, her idea was to have leaf cutouts and to write something you are thankful for and hang it back onto the tree. I loved the idea and took it a little bit further, I used my Cricut Maker to create several different cutout shapes and woodland animals. Instead of punching a hole in the cutout to hang them, I attached raffia using my hot glue gun. I think each day we will take a moment to write something we are thankful for and put it back on the tree. I am writing the year on each one because my plan is to keep these in a scrapbook or for next year’s use.
Is this a tradition our kids will do with their family, I do not know but it’s okay if they don’t. These are moments and memories I want with them. They are free to create their own memories and traditions of their own when they have a family.
The Life We Build 