{"id":95,"date":"2013-12-23T06:51:39","date_gmt":"2013-12-23T14:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zabedo.com\/?p=95"},"modified":"2014-05-14T22:17:07","modified_gmt":"2014-05-15T05:17:07","slug":"does-your-family-have-a-plan-this-holiday-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/does-your-family-have-a-plan-this-holiday-season\/","title":{"rendered":"DotComplicated: Does Your Family Have A Plan This Holiday Season?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When my oldest daughter was three, she pointed\u00a0to a mini-Christmas tree decoration at our local\u00a0supermarket with excitement.\u00a0 \u201cCan we get a tree?\u201d\u00a0she asked.\u00a0 \u201cNo, sweetie,\u201d I explained, \u201cwe\u2019re\u00a0Jewish.\u201d \u00a0After further pleading failed to sway me,\u00a0she wailed, somewhere around the cereal aisle, \u201cI\u00a0HAAAATE being Jewish!\u201d<\/p>\n

I was mortified.\u00a0 I was upset.\u00a0 But most of all, at that\u00a0moment, I wanted nothing more than for her to stop\u00a0screaming those words in the supermarket. So I\u00a0grabbed a miniature tree and told her we were getting\u00a0a Hanukkah Bush.\u00a0 On the drive home, I called my\u00a0husband to warn him about what I was bringing home.<\/p>\n

I obviously had not thought through how to handle this\u00a0incident and, as a result, committed one of my many\u00a0rookie mistakes of parenting: I simply reacted in the\u00a0moment.<\/p>\n

What I realized that day, years before my daughter\u00a0would ask me to re-tell the story of the supermarket\u00a0scene, is that I needed to think through this holiday\u00a0thing more intentionally.\u00a0 What did we want to teach\u00a0our children about our heritage and our beliefs,\u00a0beyond a Hanukkah bush?<\/p>\n

\"LBP6000G-23\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Regardless of each family\u2019s beliefs, holidays provide\u00a0a unique opportunity to teach our children about our\u00a0individual and shared family values and traditions.\u00a0(Sometimes I forget this in my self-inflicted panic over\u00a0the eight nights of Hanukkah.)\u00a0 By teaching children\u00a0about holidays and brainstorming ideas for a plan\u00a0together, the celebration evolves from accidental to\u00a0purposeful. It is not about making a logistical plan for\u00a0who buys which presents for whom (although that can\u00a0be useful, too). A family holiday plan is about actively\u00a0making meaningful memories. It can be creative. It\u00a0can be altruistic. It can be playful. It might include,\u00a0among the endless possibilities:<\/p>\n

\u2022 creating a family holiday scrapbook or journal\u00a0about the holidays with photos and stories that\u00a0you add to every year<\/p>\n

\u2022 having children record family members\u2019 stories\u00a0of the holidays using a simple phone<\/p>\n

\u2022 baking together and giving the treats to\u00a0teachers or others<\/p>\n

\u2022 giving out certificates of time as presents, e.g.,\u00a0going on a picnic, having a pillow fight, helping\u00a0to make breakfast in bed for a family member<\/p>\n

\u2022 collecting unused household items to donate\u00a0and delivering them together<\/p>\n

\u2022 writing special cards or creating artwork as\u00a0gifts<\/p>\n

\u2022 putting holiday questions in a bowl in the\u00a0center of the table for a holiday dinner, e.g.,\u00a0What are you thankful for this year? (to be\u00a0passed around and discussed)<\/p>\n

\u2022 going caroling or visiting others who are in\u00a0need of some holiday merriment<\/p>\n

\u2022 having a family night to decorate for the holiday<\/p>\n

\u2022 simply reading together by the fire with no\u00a0electronics on hand<\/p>\n

\"LBP6000_HOLIDAY_10-11spreads\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I used to underestimate how important family tradition\u00a0is for my children during the holidays.\u00a0 Several\u00a0years ago, I started writing poems for each night\u00a0of Hanukkah with a theme for the night.\u00a0 Clues in\u00a0the poem led to a hunt around the house to locate\u00a0a present or a \u201ccertificate\u201d for a special activity or\u00a0event.\u00a0 (Now you know why I panic about the eight\u00a0nights of Hanukkah.)\u00a0 I did not necessarily intend\u00a0for this to become an annual tradition, but I quickly\u00a0discovered that as memories of the gifts faded,\u00a0the themes and clues did not.\u00a0 Our family plan has\u00a0evolved over the years. The gifts are now smaller,\u00a0but the themes and clues are more meaningful, and\u00a0everyone partakes in the planning and the giving,\u00a0especially the children.<\/p>\n

Whether it is through themes and clues, a holiday\u00a0story, a trip to visit others in need . . . there is no\u00a0magic to the specifics of a family holiday plan.\u00a0 But\u00a0you will find that making the plan is itself magical.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t need to bribe, cajole, or trick your kids\u00a0into focusing more on the meaning of the day than\u00a0the gifts.\u00a0If children take part in creating the holiday\u00a0plan, this will happen intentionally, with the kids\u00a0enthusiastically leading the way.<\/p>\n

President Dwight D. Eisenhower once reflected\u00a0that while plans can be worthless, \u201cplanning is\u00a0everything.\u201d\u00a0 And so too, bringing children in on the\u00a0holiday planning changes everything.<\/p>\n

Posted on 12\/20\/2013<\/em><\/p>\n

\"o1K2t4D3dT-wP8uDeA6z0eL-9vlMkPpMSQhT4kmdc1s,DVxcUCZmsn8ma880uxeC9lkAeNcZ7T48c9-mW_AAsTM,_KfMh0VP3CRQS2DZQEAoIajlUi67KPmnyTgeHMJaxV0\"<\/a>Written by Katherine Eskovitz<\/em><\/p>\n

Katherine Eskovitz is an attorney and writer turned Momtrepreneur as the Founder & CEO of little BLUEPRINT. A graduate of Yale Law School and Cornell University, Katherine practiced law for seventeen years as a federal prosecutor and partner in a national law firm. She turned her courtroom skills and experience as a former speechwriter to writing for a new audience: children. Katherine\u2019s\u00a0Have a Plan Books,\u00a0<\/i>which can be purchased at\u00a0www.littleBLUEPRINT.com<\/a>, combine her passion for research, writing, and photography. A native New Yorker, Katherine lives in Santa Monica, California with her husband and three young children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When my oldest daughter was three, she pointed\u00a0to a mini-Christmas tree decoration at our local\u00a0supermarket with excitement.\u00a0 \u201cCan we get a tree?\u201d\u00a0she asked.\u00a0 \u201cNo, sweetie,\u201d I explained, \u201cwe\u2019re\u00a0Jewish.\u201d \u00a0After further pleading failed to sway me,\u00a0she wailed, somewhere around the cereal aisle, \u201cI\u00a0HAAAATE being Jewish!\u201d I was mortified.\u00a0 I was upset.\u00a0 But most of all, at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nDotComplicated: Does Your Family Have A Plan This Holiday Season? - Little BLUEPRINT<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/does-your-family-have-a-plan-this-holiday-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DotComplicated: Does Your Family Have A Plan This Holiday Season? - Little BLUEPRINT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When my oldest daughter was three, she pointed\u00a0to a mini-Christmas tree decoration at our local\u00a0supermarket with excitement.\u00a0 \u201cCan we get a tree?\u201d\u00a0she asked.\u00a0 \u201cNo, sweetie,\u201d I explained, \u201cwe\u2019re\u00a0Jewish.\u201d \u00a0After further pleading failed to sway me,\u00a0she wailed, somewhere around the cereal aisle, \u201cI\u00a0HAAAATE being Jewish!\u201d I was mortified.\u00a0 I was upset.\u00a0 But most of all, at...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/does-your-family-have-a-plan-this-holiday-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Little BLUEPRINT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-23T14:51:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-15T05:17:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/LBP6000_HOLIDAY_10-11spreads.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"643\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"simboliq\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"simboliq\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/does-your-family-have-a-plan-this-holiday-season\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/does-your-family-have-a-plan-this-holiday-season\/\",\"name\":\"DotComplicated: Does Your Family Have A Plan This Holiday Season? - Little BLUEPRINT\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-23T14:51:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-15T05:17:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d5d9fdd19a54d80c911b804c81e4da9b\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/does-your-family-have-a-plan-this-holiday-season\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/\",\"name\":\"Little BLUEPRINT\",\"description\":\"Empowering children. 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