Traditions of Love Lit-Tea-really!

Tradition! Tradition! Tradition! [Click here for a video of this famous song of the same name from "Fiddler on the Roof."]

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love traditions. It's no surprise that I suggested and am working on a story for the Mature Living section of the local newspaper about how important traditions are and how to make them.

But as much as I love them, I know firsthand how incredibly hard they can be to keep going, especially with family dynamics constantly changing and growing.

Therefore, today's "Throwback Thursday" is brought to you by a wonderful tradition we've managed to keep, and Albright College, Ernest Hemingway, Starbucks, and Little Debbie's pumpkin cookies.

It's a little bit of an upgrade since kindergarten...with stories by the Brothers Grimm, milk tea, and pumpkin cookies.

But time shared together -- with books and "tea" -- always makes memories and traditions that are just as sweet!

Boxing Day Observed

Since my hubby is British, I often think that he must get homesick for some of the traditions and goodies he enjoyed around the holidays when he lived in England. I asked him one year what fun things he wanted to incorporate into our family traditions so that it might lessen those feelings, and he said he missed Boxing Day the most.

Boxing Day, for many Brits, is like Christmas Day Part 2. All the same foods and fun but repeated at a relative's -- grandparents' or aunt/uncle's -- house. It was the day that Stuart said they got their prezzies from their grandparents. An extension of the fun, so to speak.

When we lived in Britain, we were always invited over to a friends' home to join in the fun. A beautiful and tasty roasted meal with Christmas pudding, mince pies, Christmas crackers, and a small present afterwards.

So now we try to recreate this goodness in our house each year.

Only this year, our turkey decided NOT to thaw in time. I took it out of the freezer at the suggested moment, but it must have been in a deep freeze when I bought it because that bird was still a bit frozen even a week after I started thawing it. We delayed our meal for a few days, and it was still as lovely and fun as always.

Great food. Great company.

We ended with a demonstration of bunny hopping and a meeting of the piggies.

Camp Woohoohaha! 2014

Each summer, since the year before Ethan was born, we've done a little one-day family camp that we named "Camp Woohoohaha!" It's a day that is full of crafts, outside games, and campy sorts of things, like s'mores, hotdogs, nature hikes, and sing-songs around a campfire.

We start the day with a loud rendition of "Reveille" to rouse the troops and get us all ready for a day of family fun. I usually plan the crafts and food, while Stuart usually plans the outdoor activities. Some years we've had to modify outdoor activities due to rain.

We were a little bit late doing our camp this year. Pre-school activities -- like high school soccer practice, school newspaper meetings, college visits -- overtook us, and we found ourselves in a flurry to grab a date before school begins.

So today, we did our annual tradition, waking the kids with an even louder version of our bugle call (since I now have a little Canz speaker). We had two activities to work around, but we used that time for some downtime and filled in with a DVD of Looney Tunes/Tom and Jerry cartoons.

Here are some highlights from our day: Boiled eggs and baked oatmeal for breakfast; a little canvas bag to color and keep our crafts in; an awesome obstacle course; painted garden markers; Cracker Jacks; a walk in the park; Poohsticks; an impromptu visit to the museum, where the kids built structures and saw the mummy; Looney Tunes cartoons; coloring puzzles; decorated notebooks and photo frames; hotdogs and chips and s'mores; a firepit; lanterns; and songs/jokes.

A great way to finish out summer vacation.

We have a few activities to do on another day that we couldn't do today, due to a couple of outside obligations, but that's not a problem. It gives us more time to enjoy as a family.

We seem to spend a lot of time together, but sometimes we realize that we just exist together, passing in our hallways, caught up in our own busyness. Having our little camp helps us to make the time to be together and have fun. Totally worth all the planning!

"This is the day that The Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!" Psalm 118:24

Here's an album of the photos I took during the day. Enjoy!

Do you have fun family traditions that you enjoy? Share them below!