{"id":97,"date":"2013-12-19T06:53:15","date_gmt":"2013-12-19T14:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zabedo.com\/?p=97"},"modified":"2014-05-14T22:20:00","modified_gmt":"2014-05-15T05:20:00","slug":"why-we-all-need-a-family-holiday-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/why-we-all-need-a-family-holiday-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Elizabeth Street: Why We All Need a Family Holiday Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When my oldest daughter was three, she pointed to a mini-Christmas tree decoration at our local supermarket with excitement.\u00a0 \u201cCan we get a tree?\u201d she asked.\u00a0 \u201cNo, sweetie,\u201d I explained, \u201cwe\u2019re Jewish.\u201d \u00a0After further pleading failed to sway me, she wailed, somewhere around the cereal aisle, \u201cI HAAAATE being Jewish!\u201d<\/p>\n

I was mortified.\u00a0I was upset.\u00a0But most of all, at that moment, I wanted nothing more than for her to stop screaming those words in the supermarket. So I grabbed a miniature tree and told her we were getting a Hanukkah Bush.\u00a0On the drive home, I called my husband to warn him about what I was bringing home. I obviously had not thought through how to handle this incident and, as a result, committed one of my many rookie mistakes of\u00a0parenting<\/a>: I simply reacted in the moment.<\/p>\n

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

Regardless of each family\u2019s beliefs, holidays provide a unique opportunity to teach our children about our individual and shared family values and\u00a0traditions<\/a>. (Sometimes I forget this in my self-inflicted panic over the eight nights of Hanukkah.)\u00a0By teaching children about holidays and brainstorming ideas for a plan together, the celebration evolves from accidental to intentional. It is not about making a logistical plan for who buys which presents for whom (although that can be useful, too).\u00a0 A family holiday plan is about intentionally making meaningful memories. It can be creative. It can be altruistic. It can be playful. It might include, among the endless possibilities:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Creating a family holiday\u00a0scrapbook<\/a>\u00a0or journal about the holidays with photos and stories that you add to every year.
\n\u2022 Having children record family members\u2019 stories of the holidays using a simple phone.
\n\u2022\u00a0Baking together<\/a>\u00a0and giving the treats to teachers or others.
\n\u2022 Giving out certificates for experiences as presents, e.g., going on a picnic, having a pillow fight, helping to make breakfast in bed for a family member.
\n\u2022 Collecting unused household items to donate and delivering them together.
\n\u2022 Writing special cards or creating artwork as gifts.
\n\u2022 Putting holiday questions in a bowl in the center of the table for a holiday dinner, e.g., What are you thankful for this year? (to be passed around and discussed).
\n\u2022 Going caroling or visiting others who are in need of some holiday merriment.
\n\u2022 Having a family night to\u00a0decorate for the holiday<\/a>\u00a0.
\n\u2022 Simply reading together by the fire with no electronics on hand.<\/p>\n

Whether it is through meaningful themes and clues for a Hanukkah hunt, a holiday story for Christmas, a family trip to visit others in need\u2026there is no magic to the specifics of a family holiday plan.\u00a0But you will find that making the plan is itself magical. If children take part in creating the holiday plan, the focus will shift from presents to meaningful memories, with the kids enthusiastically leading the way.<\/p>\n

Why not start the tradition of making holiday cookies together? Here are some recipes that will become family favorites – in the slideshow above.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

By Katherine Eskovitz<\/em>
\nKatherine Eskovitz is an attorney and writer, as well as founder of little\u00a0BLUEPRINT<\/a>, a series of personalized photo books to address new experiences and transitions for children. A native New Yorker, Katherine lives in Santa Monica, California with her husband and three young children.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When my oldest daughter was three, she pointed to a mini-Christmas tree decoration at our local supermarket with excitement.\u00a0 \u201cCan we get a tree?\u201d she asked.\u00a0 \u201cNo, sweetie,\u201d I explained, \u201cwe\u2019re Jewish.\u201d \u00a0After further pleading failed to sway me, she wailed, somewhere around the cereal aisle, \u201cI HAAAATE being Jewish!\u201d I was mortified.\u00a0I was upset.\u00a0But…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nElizabeth Street: Why We All Need a Family Holiday Plan - 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\/why-we-all-need-a-family-holiday-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elizabeth Street: Why We All Need a Family Holiday Plan - Little BLUEPRINT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When my oldest daughter was three, she pointed to a mini-Christmas tree decoration at our local supermarket with excitement.\u00a0 \u201cCan we get a tree?\u201d she asked.\u00a0 \u201cNo, sweetie,\u201d I explained, \u201cwe\u2019re Jewish.\u201d \u00a0After further pleading failed to sway me, she wailed, somewhere around the cereal aisle, \u201cI HAAAATE being Jewish!\u201d I was mortified.\u00a0I was upset.\u00a0But...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/why-we-all-need-a-family-holiday-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Little BLUEPRINT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-19T14:53:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-15T05:20:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/ElizabethStreet-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"833\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"586\" \/>\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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/why-we-all-need-a-family-holiday-plan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/why-we-all-need-a-family-holiday-plan\/\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Street: Why We All Need a Family Holiday Plan - Little BLUEPRINT\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-19T14:53:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-15T05:20:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d5d9fdd19a54d80c911b804c81e4da9b\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/why-we-all-need-a-family-holiday-plan\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/littleblueprint.com\/\",\"name\":\"Little BLUEPRINT\",\"description\":\"Empowering children. 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