[capital]

Now that my children are getting older, I want to start some family traditions. I have some already, mostly centered around holidays, such as always going out for a real x-mas tree, open one gift x-mas eve, doing gingerbread houses, etc. I think once the youngest is a bit older we will do a 1/week movie night at home, what are some of your family traditions? I'd love to get some more ideas. One really great idea I heard once was to take a picture of your child on their birthday holding a picture of themselves the year before (a large picture), so you will eventually have a picture of your child holding a picute of him holding a picture, so on and so on? It is kind of hard to explain. I wish I heard of that when they were younger as it would be neat to start that at age one.

[joannek]

i don't know how old your children are, but i also heard one about letting the child wear a piece of your adult clothing on every birthday. & take a picture then you see how much he/she has grown through the years.

[rani]

Originally Posted by joannek

i don't know how old your children are, but i also heard one about letting the child wear a piece of your adult clothing on every birthday. & take a picture then you see how much he/she has grown through the years.

Wasn't that on Oprah? We did it on D's 2nd birthday. He wore one of his father's shirts. I'll try and take one this year.

[loupou]

Family traditions...

On birthdays, the birthday child wears a gold paper crown.

Christmas traditions:
*We bring down the tree from our roof-top.

*We usually decorate on the second Sunday of Advent.

* Some years, if I really have it together we light an Advent candle every Sunday as well.

* We bake cookies during Advent

* We get out the X-mas videos that we only watch during Advent and Christmas

*We got to Church as usual all during Advent and on X-mas Eve. Am considering that the kids are now old enough that we may try morning service on Christmas day.

*Christmas dinner - invite friends and family for Turkey w/ trimmings

* All decorations down and things restored to normal by Epiphany (January 6th). I used to have dreams of making a 12th Night Cake and so forth, bt by then I've usually had enough of feasting and Chinese New year sometimes comes so close that I feel like we need a break.

Chinese New Year traditions
* We set up the 8-yummy-things box

* We bathe in water that has water boiled "heung yip" leaves added to it.

* We clean the house and try to have things extra nice for Chinese New Year (The Big Sweep Out).

* I often help my sisters-in-law and or my mother-in-law make huge batches of Loh Bah Goh (yummy!)

* We put on the red couch cover & special lucky red cushions and put up the lucky sayings.

I am thinking that now the kids are old enough, we may make jiaozi on Chinese New Year's Eve. Maybe a Neen Goh (Year cake) too?

* On Chinese New Year day we eat lots of Loh Bah Goh & often go over to our relatives for big meal and hang-out & mahjong.

*In the morning we sometimes do a kow-tow to m-i-l for lai-see and then the kids do kow-tow to me and DH

* We put out extra cake and oranges and incense to the pictures of my late f-i-l and my late step-dad and others

Lent
- try to fast in some way and think about self-improvement

Holy Week & Easter
- go to Maundy Thursday dinner
- go to Good Friday morning Service
- Dye easter eggs & w/ some of the blown eggs, tie onto a tree (this is a tradition I learned from a German friend).

Ching Ming & Cheung Yeung
- Go to the colombaria at Chai Wan & tidy & make offerings