Holidays in Our Home

This is a very weird post for September. Just go with it.

Okay, so I have holidays on the brain. I made Patrick and Andrew pose for our Christmas Card pic yesterday. Hello, I'm Courtney, and I'm extremely ever so slightly off kilter. Truth be told I was having a good skin and hair day so I decided we were taking the picture. I'm extremely selfless that way.  So in honor of the fact that I'm crazy (and apparently very shallow), I decided to do a "holiday" post, and discuss not only how but if we celebrate certain holidays. Before I talk about any of these days and the traditions that surround them, I want you to know that I am in no way judging the choices and decisions that you make within your own family. How you celebrate is your decision.

Ladies and gentleman, fasten your seatbelts it's about to get exciting. Okay, not really, but if you'll please humor me.

Halloween . . . I have mixed feelings on this one. Neither Patrick nor myself were raised in families that celebrated Halloween. Overall, I think it is an innocent and fun holiday for parents to torture their children by dressing them in ridiculously hot costumes kids to dress up, and parents to take too many pictures. Still, we've decided that for the most part our family won't be celebrating Halloween. However, we will let Andrew dress up in his Batman costume (that he doesn't know he's getting for his birthday) and wear it to school that day (we're not the meanest parents ever). We (meaning Patrick) may even take him to the Fall Festival at the local church. (I hate those things . . . not because of it being Halloween . . . more because it's germ central. Germ-X anyone?)

Thanksgiving . . . No controversy here. I. Love. Thanksgiving. I think it's just about the perfect holiday. There's not a lot of hype. There's not a lot of me, me, me (because I'm really not as shallow as I seem). It's a time to bake, eat, and be thankful for all God has given us. I usually spend the day before Thanksgiving baking, and then we spend the actual day with our families. We eat, we laugh, we relax, and of course, in true Texas fashion, we end the day watching the UT vs. A&M football game. Actually, I just found the controversy . . .

Christmas . . . Oh Christmas. My favorite holiday. I love the decorations, the music, the food (oh my, how I love the food), I love the traditions, and of course, I love the meaning behind Christmas. So where's the controversy? Santa Claus. I know, how could the jolly old man be controversial? I grew up believing in Santa. Patrick didn't. Somehow, we managed to overlook this important difference until after our marriage (I'm not implying it was a make or break it point for us . . . I'm just pointing out that it was overlooked). When I found out that Patrick didn't believe in Santa, I was mortified. What would this mean for our future children? When he found out that I did believe in Santa, he was horrified. Obviously, I was brought up wrong. Don't worry, we worked it out. I think, once Patrick realized that Old St. Nick was just one small part of my whole Christmas experience and in no way took away from the real meaning of Christmas, he was okay with it. And just so you know, I wasn't devastated when I realized the truth. Because our Christmas experience didn't revolve around Santa, but around Jesus, it was just a natural progression as we got older. We outgrew it. So in short, yes Andrew believes in Santa. We visit him. We leave out milk and cookies. And he leaves a few treats in our stockings and some gifts on Christmas morning.

More than anything, however, we focus on Jesus and His birth, during the Christmas season (and throughout the year). We read stories about the birth of Jesus, and we Sing Away in a Manger (670 million times). We also pack boxes for Operation Christmas Child so that Andrew can understand the concept of giving to others. The whole giving to others thing is a work in progress. Who knew four year olds were so egocentric? I'm pretty sure I learned that in my first Child Phsych class . . . if only I had paid better attention.

As we get closer to Christmas, I'll share more of our traditions, but basically, that's Christmas in a nutshell.

Easter . . . I would consider this the last of the major holidays. To me it is so important to take time out each year to really focus on the sacrifice that God gave us in His son, Jesus. Not that we don't remember throughout the year, but Easter is definitely a special time of remembrance and reflection. The hardest thing this past year, was explaining to Andrew about Jesus's death on the cross. The concept of death is still very vague to him, but we have done our best to explain to him Jesus's death and Resurrection in an age appropriate way.

We also hunt eggs. Please don't tell me it's a pagan tradition. We haven't dyed any yet. I'm not sure I'm that brave. We don't do the Easter Bunny. I know it makes no sense, we do Santa, but not the Easter Bunny. And really I don't have a problem with the Easter Bunny, but we try to keep the gifts at Easter on the low key side. I think sometimes we get too focused on the gift giving and forget about the real meaning. So yeah, the only Easter Bunny at our house is made of chocolate.

Of course, there are other holidays throughout the year . . . Mother's Day, Father's Day, The 4th of July, my birthday . . . Haha! But I think I gave you a pretty good idea of how we celebrate (or don't celebrate) some of the biggest holidays. Because I know you've been dying to know. :)