My kids ask a lot of questions…Lately Thade has been asking more and more questions about my childhood. He is curious about what holidays were like since we are well into the Christmas season. This week when we were celebrating Thanksgiving he had a lot of questions about Black Friday, when did it start, what is it all about, etc. I had to google it to get all of the answers for him. I couldn’t remember exactly when it started, and I didn’t want to go into such graphic detail about competitive consumerism (which I am not a fan of). I decided to tell him that instead of celebrating that day, we’ll take a day out of my childhood and celebrate the way that we celebrated the day after Thanksgiving.

When I was little we spent a few Thanksgivings in Kansas City. My (father’s side)Grandparents lived there, we would have a big dinner, and go and see the Plaza lights. The day after Thanksgiving we would have another delicious meal with my (mother’s side) Grandparents, spend time with cousins, go to my Great-Grandmother’s house for Coconut Cream Pie, and start the Christmas decorating around our house. It was always a fun day, and I miss those stress free sweet days.

I’m bringing it back! As a parent of  three young children I want to teach them what is really important, and spending time with family is the most important gift we have. Thade asked why I wouldn’t go shopping, and I told him I just couldn’t, I just don’t feel the need too. I have this strange feeling of contentment, and Wal-Mart just doesn’t do it for me. Now, I assure you, there will be presents, but I won’t be shopping for them, it’s Dad’s job. I will be taking care of the handmade items and photo albums, and trying my best to keep the stress out of the holidays.

And you know what… I didn’t miss out on anything at all,

I had a beautiful,

stress free, relaxing day.

James put one some non-Christmas music, and I had a blast decorating the tree.

I didn’t spend a single penny, and I had a fantastic day. I actually enjoyed decorating for Christmas (which I never do), and the house looks really pretty too. I even put a tree up in all of our bedrooms.

Agnes loves the simple white tree in her room. She kept saying “how pretty”. She was the most excited to see the Christmas lights go up.

We even have a little Kansas themed tree in our room. My mom made it for me a few years ago. It is really cute, and has the prettiest lights at night.

The tree I am most proud of  is the tree in the boys room. They had such a great time decorating it all by themselves. We hung several wreaths in their room too, and added in a small Santa to finish off the decorating.

Their tree is full of handmade ornaments. They picked up everyone, and told the story of when the ornament was made, and placed it carefully on their little tree.

Those sweet little moments are what’s it all about.

What a great kick-off to a happy holiday season.