Claiming Thanksgiving

I've felt a little vague about the big holidays since becoming an adult; in part I've known that this was because I did not live in the States as a child, and that the way of celebrating, the very holidays themselves, are not my own. Its always felt difficult to put my own mark on holidays traditions when the holidays aren't 'mine'.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and the kiddos and I had the morning to ourselves. Baby Girl asked what our plans were, and when I told her that I had planned to go to a local park for a walk, The Little Guy piped in with 'That's what we do to celebrate'.

And I realized that he is right!

It is what we often did to mark the big holidays when I was growing up: go for a walk as a family!

And that one comment helped me realize that we DO have our own family traditions around the holidays.

We do one big feast with friends and family, simple meals and snacks for the rest of the day.

We go for a walk as a family.

We spend our time together, slooooow down and enjoy each other's company.

There is usually a board game or two involved ...

We have FUN!

But more over we keep it simple. Not much hoopla, not too much fanciness beyond getting out the nice glasses and digging through the stack of cloth napkins for the nicer ones.

I'm realizing that we do have traditions throughout the year, but they are simple ones for sure.

What do you do to celebrate the holidays? Simple or fancy?!