Jingle Belles Holiday Traditions

Holiday traditions...there are just so MANY! How do you choose? Something I have found kind of fascinating over the years is how our traditions changed & evolved after having kids. There are loads of fun things that I did with my mom & sister growing up that I don't do with my boys (like opening stockings on Christmas Eve!) that I absolutely love, but just don't work with the myth of Santa Claus. And yes, both my teenagers still believe.

I'm pretty sure you all know by now, lol, but both boys have autism. Connor is 14, and Riley is 13, and although Riley seems to be a little doubtful, Connor still writes his Santa letter faithfully, and absolutely refuses to listen to any speculation that the big guy doesn't exist. We worried a lot about that as they went to middle school, and no matter what they hear, they make up their own minds. The pull of the magic is just too strong for them, and I completely support that. They have their entire lives to be adults, but precious little time left to enjoy the magic of being a child on Christmas morning.

Our Christmas day has evolved greatly from the time they were small. Decorations were a problem for a long time. Even something as simple as the library being decorated was enough to throw Connor off - instead of looking at books he'd have to pace along the shelves & touch all the books, as if to reassure himself that there was still order somewhere. We couldn't put presents under the tree before Christmas Eve until they were about 9/10 years old - they wouldn't open them, but the presence of presents was something they became so obsessed with that I would have gone absolutely bonkers. We still don't go crazy with decorating. The boys help decorate the Charlie Brown tree the first day after school's out for the holidays, and it's done however they like - I put the lights on & make sure that it won't fall over, and the rest is up to them. When they had trouble with eating a variety of foods, we'd let them have hot dogs on Christmas. In our view, Christmas magic is in the enjoyment of the day - especially in watching our kids enjoy the day - and if they love hot dogs & not turkey? That's ok. They've grown to enjoy the traditional meal, but I'm glad that we were able to let go of our ideas about what made Christmas "perfect" and focused instead on what would make Christmas perfect for THEM. These days that includes making sure that each pet has their own stocking filled with treats from Santa, a special breakfast, and relaxing. We don't rush around, we don't require a lot from them, and we sit back & watch them enjoy their new stuff.

So, my holiday tradition cards for Jingle Belles are with stockings & ornaments - two of the traditions we've always kept to!

Supplies: Stockings die cut from Kaisercraft; Peacock Feathers distress ink; sentiment from MSE!; Corner Chomper

Supplies: ornament & bow die cuts  from K & Co; sentiment from PTI; Stampendous Pirate Gold EP; Versamark; red rhinestones from Dollarama 

Thanks for reading my ramblings :)

xoxo,

Jessi