Traditions – Page 3 – CatChick6 Creations

Christmas Countdown….Day 15…Yule Lads

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is the Yule Lads. Christopher and I went to Iceland seven years ago. There we learned about the Yule lads and we have been participating in the tradition ever since! The Yule lads come down from the mountains during the last 13 nights before Christmas. Children leave a shoe in their window each night. The Yule lads sneak into each house and play a prank on the inhabitants before leaving a little treat for the children. Children who are not good, receive rotten potatoes in their shoes.

Each Yule lad is unique and carries its own traditions. Such as Stúfur, or Stubby, who is very short, therefore it is important to put a stool by your window so he can reach your shoe. A favorite in our house is Hurðaskellir, or Door Slammer, who is very noisy and slams all the doors in the house before he goes on his way!

Eventually, all the Yule Lads arrive and then make their way back to the mountains. On Christmas eve, children who do not receive new clothing, are in danger of being eaten by the Yule Cat! This tradition originated from the fact that Icelandic children were responsible for helping out with the preparation and production of new garments each winter. To make sure the children worked hard and concentrated while working, the adults would scare them with horrific tales of the Yule Cat!

You can read more about the traditions of Iceland and the Yule lads at this Iceland website.

Waiting for Santa…..

We heard the firetruck and went running outside…..then we waited. And waited. And waited some more. And it was cold. We would hear the firetruck and police cars, but then the noise would fade. We were hopeful, but then sad and impatient. We grew colder and colder, but we kept waiting. And finally, they came, they really came…Santa on the firetruck!

Christmas Countdown….Day 7

One of my favorite things to get out is our mangers. We have a lot of mangers. A lot. And each one is completely different. I love them all. They are all special and they all have memories and meanings. We have to get creative about where to put our mangers because we have cats. If we aren’t careful the cats will get to the mangers and this is not good. So, furniture is rearranged and knick knacks are put aside to make room for the mangers.

This year I have inherited some of my mom’s mangers. Her favorite and most treasured Christmas item was her Hummel manger set that her mother and father and sister gave to her in 1960. Every year, when I was little, she would get this manger out and talk about it and how much it meant to her. We were never allowed to touch it because it was so breakable and special. When I had children, I would help my mother get out her manger set and my mom would tell them about how special it was and how much meaning it had to her. I would tell my children to never touch it because it was so special. Well, this year we went and picked it up from my mother’s house and set it up in our house. It seems strange..to have it sitting in my house….not at my mom’s house. It feels wrong, but right at the same time. She talked about how she wanted me to have it when she died. As I set it up….I told my children they couldn’t touch it because it was so special…even more special now…..now that my mom is gone….

Christmas Countdown….Day 4

So yesterday we got some more Christmas things out..surprise surprise. We got all the fun dishes, cups, plates, utensils and placemats out. Tuesday and Quinn aren’t so thrilled with them anymore..but River had a blast.

We also got out some of our more “obnoxious” decorations….obnoxious in a good way! One of the favorites is a wreath that has a train around the outside. It is motion activated. It lights up and plays Jingle Bells while the train goes around the track. The problem is that it seems to be motion activated by EVERYTHING! Especially about 2 pm in the afternoon, when the afternoon light shines on it…..And it happens to be in the same room where I sew…….

Do you have any of those obnoxious Christmas decorations that you just love anyway???????

Christmas Countdown….Day 3

We have a lot of Christmas/Holiday traditions in our family. I love them all. The first thing we get out is the Christmas music. My in-laws used to live in Maryland and when we drove down for Thanksgiving, we would bring all the Christmas music for the ride.

The next thing we get out are all the Christmas stuffed animals. I don’t love these as much as the kids love them. We have lots of musical ones that are loud and get quite tiring after the first day….the kids love to play them over and over and over!

The next thing we get out are the Christmas books! These I love and so does everyone else! We have A LOT of Christmas books. Every year it is fun to get them out and reread them all. Some are more loved than others. Six of my favorite all-time favorite Christmas books are:

1. The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson. When I was a little girl I would read this story over and over again..I always hoped that the little girl would find a home and not freeze to death..but the story never changed. I actually have found some newer versions where the little girl doesn’t die at the end..but that just isn’t the story….When I read it still..I think it is so beautiful and sad….it always brings a tear to my eye.

2. Santa’s Favorite Story by Hisako Aoki and Ivan Gantschev. Even though I am not religious, I love this book and the story it tells. It is simple, yet complex. And the illustrations are gorgeous! It is a story about a sleeping Santa and how the animals are very concerned if Christmas will go on with a tired Santa. It talks about the true meaning of Christmas.

3. A Dozen Silk Diapers by Melissa Kajpust and Illustrated by Veselina Tomova. This might be my all time favorite of the favorites! The story is so incredibly..cloth diapering mothers will love it! It is such a creative story…and the illustrations are vivid and so unusual and beautiful. It is about a family of spiders who wonder what they can give as a gift to the new baby Jesus.

4. The Night After Christmas. This story reminds me of the Little Match Girl. I received this book as a gift a long time ago and took it to heart. I am an animal lover and the little dog in the book is so loving and kind. It is about some homeless toys and how a little homeless dog helps them all. In the end, he doesn’t find a home, though he helps everyone else find one……such a sad ending!

5. The Snow Child which is a folk tale retold by Freya Littledale and illustrated by Barbara Lavallee. This story is about an older couple who always wanted children and never had any…so finally a little snow child comes to them and becomes their child..but she must go away every summer. Again, it is a sad story, yet beautiful.

6. The Night Tree by Eve Bunting. This is a very nice story about traditions and nature. A family that goes into the woods every year and decorates a tree for the animals. So simple, yet important.

Post Thanksgiving….

I started out with great intentions…of taking a million photos of Thanksgiving and filling my blog with them…but then life took over and I forget to take any pictures. But I did take one picture first thing in the morning, when I started cooking. Since we are vegetarian, we have vegetable pot pie on Thanksgiving..in our house…that is our tradition. We did have a great long weekend and enjoyed hikes and the wonderful weather, family and friends!

Toilet training is going great! River is earning many stickers and fun prizes! Before long…she may be a big kid

soon..though she keeps saying she isn’t sure if she wants to be a big kid.

Another Halloween…

Well, another Halloween has come and gone..and it was a lot of fun..maybe one of the funnest Halloweens ever! It rained, but that was alright…the kids all had a great time. River was so excited to get into her costume. Every piece of candy she received was more exciting than the last! She just couldn’t believe that people kept giving her candy! After about an hour, she got incredibly tired, since we had skipped her nap. She decided she wanted to head home, but then we would pass another house and she would announce that she wanted to trick or treat again.

Fall Weekend…..

The weekend was so beautiful! Okay, well, Sunday was so beautiful. Saturday rained and rained and rained. But that is alright…I love the rain. I love this time of year when it starts to get dark early and gets cold and snuggly. I love having the lights on when we eat dinner and when the house seems warms and cozy. We had such a fun time pumpkin picking. Now we just have to do the carving. I should enjoy the carving, but I just don’t…all the mess and the mess and the mess……but it’s tradition and you certainly can’t mess with tradition!

Things…..

How do we take our lives and put it in a box? After the loss of my mother, I find myself doing just that over and over again. It is a difficult thing. To take an entire life and put the things about that life into boxes. Boxes that are going to be given away to charity, boxes that will be sent to other loved ones, boxes that are going to be stored in new dark places, boxes that will be treasured for more generations……it is a difficult thing. One of the boxes I have created is filled with some of my mother’s favorite jewelery. My mother was not one for fancy items. She loved simple things and handmade things. These were some of her favorite things that she treasured. Things that I can remember as a child touching and looking at with awe. Things that she thought were special and now I think are special. Things that my children can touch and look at and think of her and know how special she was….

Special things…..

As I put away our Christmas decorations..and we have many…I am reminded how special some things are. For example I have three wise men that are approximately 12 inches tall. They were my grandmother’s. I have no idea where they were made, what they are made from or really, anything about them. All I know is that they were hers and she loved them dearly. When she died, I wanted them because I too had learned to love them.

Another item that we have is a set of manger people/characters that my mother made for my daughter, Tuesday. They were hand made by her and I love them dearly. They will be a treasured item for my daughter to pass onto her children. Each one has so much detail…I love them more every year when we take them out.