| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Feb 04 2006 : 2:19:06 PM
i have a most wonderful book by Sarah Ban Breathnach .. called: Mrs. Sharp's Traditions .. nostalgic suggestions for re-creating the family celebrations and seasonal pastimes of the victorian home. it overflows with wonderful pictures throughout!!
For February .. she suggests that we celebrate Presidents Washington and Lincoln with our families .. she goes on to say that in victorian times .. parents believed patriotism began in the cradle. what a lovely thought!!! she does not give recipes for these delights but says it is nice to serve a Lincoln Log dessert and a Cherry Pie to our families. The Lincoln Log is an ice-cream-roll cake with fudge sauce. OH MY! my sugars are climbing just typing that!
Another bit of advice: Children remember best what their parents teach them to cherish.
WHAT have you taught your children/family to cherish?
I was taught to love and honor family always.
I taught this value to my own children .. and also .. to value THEMSELVES!
True Friends, Frannie |
| 8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| blueroses |
Posted - Feb 06 2006 : 2:42:07 PM
The most important thing that I taught my girls was to believe in themselves, their self worth, to be kind to people and animals, to try and spread joy and to follow their dreams.
Debbie
"You cannot find peace...by avoiding life."
Virginia Woolfe |
| Luzy |
Posted - Feb 06 2006 : 08:12:50 AM
Growing up in my family, we were always taught a deep respect and love for animals. It was just our way of life. My Grandpa started it I guess and he passed it down to my Mom. His Mom, my Great grandma, was full blood Cherokee/Choctaw. I think that is where it originates. Anyway, my son now loves animals too and we do our best to honor the tradition. It's so true that children learn from their elders what is important and what to cherish. Luzy
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May I always be the kind of person my dog thinks I am. |
| Whimsy_girl |
Posted - Feb 05 2006 : 9:08:40 PM
So far I have tought my girls to cherish bugs. I know that sounds silly but we figured starting with the little alive things would teach them to respect the big ones later on too. When we see spiders or ladybugs or other little creepy things we point them out and talk about all their little parts and stuff. My 2 year old will talk to you about them but my one year old only hoots and squeals at them.. either way they seem to like them a lot. We don't squish Spiders (even though if there is one thing in this world that scares me they are it.) we capture them and set them free outside.
We also have a routine but I guess you could call it tradition where we all sit down together for dinner each night that we are all here.
you can be oh so smart, or you can be oh so positive. I wasted a lot of time being smart I prefer being positive. |
| cajungal |
Posted - Feb 05 2006 : 6:11:34 PM
I, like Pamela, try to live out my own relationship with Christ and nurture my girls in theirs. I accepted Jesus as my Saviour as a young adult....after many other journeys left me totally unfulfilled. I know from what I have been redeemed and I want my daughters to have the same fire for God...but just without all the junk I did.
Instead of big lunch on Sunday afternoons, we have big breakfast. We go all out with eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, juices, coffee for the kids. During the week we eat small breakfasts consisting of grain cereals or homemade muffins. So, to get all that on Sunday morning is a big treat and big fun because we're all in the kitchen cooking together. My hubby is not a cook so he is in charge of shredding the cheese and pouring the juice!
Friday nights for us is Mexican Night. I always prepare a huge spread of chips, homemade salsa, chile con queso, guacamole, fajita beef or chicken, taco meat, tortillas, taco shells, beans, rice, and all the other trimmings. It's an open house affair with friends knowing they can always come over on Friday night for some good TexMex. My girls' friends love being over on Friday nights...it's a totally social event usually ending up in games later.
When my girls were smaller, we did "the bird" in the car.....roll the windows down and everyone flap their arms in sync. up and down flapping like a bird pretending that it's the flapping that is powering the vehicle. Well, my oldest is a teenager and still gets a kick out of flapping when we turn down our country road.
Two of my favorite things that have become routine and tradition-like are our private tea parties and talks in bed. Us three gals set up our china from 3 generations and have tea together....acting all ladylike and such....good conversation always comes out of the time together. Often, one daughter and I will lay in my bed or her bed and just talk or sometimes just be quiet. The silence allows them to gather their thoughts and they will usually pour out their heart to me. We also have "Family Bed Time" when all of us, including Daddy, climb into bed and talk or find "pictures" in the ceiling texture.
Making memories is a huge part of my thought processes. I always have a Norman Rockwell picture in my mind of how I want life to be and what I want my family to remember. I've lost many loved ones to early death and I think about that often. I do try to treat my family as if it was the last day I'd see them. This life is about so much more than work and sleep, work and sleep. I love every moment with my family....I am at my most peace when all of us are together.
Blessings
Catherine
One of the best compliments from one of my daughters: "Moma, you smell good...like dirt." |
| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Feb 05 2006 : 2:52:57 PM
pam .. what is the book going for? several years ago this original 1990 edition was going for about $75. (a friend offered me $50. for my copy .. but i didn't want to part with it!) i found this copy last week in a 'peddlar's mall' for only THREE BUCKS .. sooooooooo .. needless to say .. i grabbed it .. gonna gift it to my daughter for valentine's day. i do believe it was re-published a few years ago though. hope you find one real reasonably!
i'm loving what you girls are posting about your family traditions and values. xo
True Friends, Frannie |
| Celticheart |
Posted - Feb 05 2006 : 12:33:38 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Photobugs
One point to make is that sometimes we do not see the things we have taught our children until they are up into their twenties. I have seen this happen over and over again in my children. So don't give up hope if you are having doubts about your children and if they will return to what you have taught them.
My kids have seen me be creative their whole lives and I hope this is a tradition (if you can call it that) they will all cling to, three of the four seem to have embraced that in one form or another.
Pamela
I've also seen these things with my three older kids now that they are in their 20's--well one is 30. They are all very conscious of continuing family traditions and of creating their own traditions.
Sometimes one of them will repeat something that I may have said to them when they were very young, maybe only in passing, and it's like they committed it to memory...lol. My children constantly amaze me.
Marcia
"I suppose the pleasure of country life lies really in the eternally renewed evidence of the determination to live." Vita Sackville-West
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| Photobugs |
Posted - Feb 04 2006 : 5:21:29 PM
The most important thing I have tried to teach my children is to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The next thing is to make each other feel important on their given birthdays. We love to celebrate all occasions, holiday's, birthdays, etc. I used to take them goodies to school on holidays, like Valentines, St. Patrick's Day and of course birthdays. And along with that if at all possible to be home for Christmas. My oldest daughter is the only one with kids at this point, but she is falling in my footsteps and has celebrations for the kids all the time. She loves to entertain.
Live everyday to it's fullest.
One point to make is that sometimes we do not see the things we have taught our children until they are up into their twenties. I have seen this happen over and over again in my children. So don't give up hope if you are having doubts about your children and if they will return to what you have taught them.
My kids have seen me be creative their whole lives and I hope this is a tradition (if you can call it that) they will all cling to, three of the four seem to have embraced that in one form or another.
Thanks for starting this post Frannie..you come up with some good ones.
I saw the book on ebay and bid on it, but keep getting outbid. So we'll see.
Pamela
"I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!" |
| Nancy Gartenman |
Posted - Feb 04 2006 : 4:54:13 PM
frannie
nice thoughts, I will look for that book, Just today in the mail I got the book you mentioned, seasons at seven gates farm. Can't wait to look at it, little kids and big were here all day, was teaching my 10 year old granddaughter to knit, and the rest of them were running amouk.
NANCY JO |
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