Sheets for the Season

The Pottery Barn Kids catalog that arrived this week has some adorable snowman sheets that are perfect for creating a winter-themed bedroom. Wouldn't it be fun tradition to change the sheets in your child's room, your own room, or maybe the guest room to match the season or the holiday? I'm not talking about going crazy with a dozen sheet sets or anything and I don't think it's necessary to cover all the holidays or seasons, but covering some of the big ones would certainly be easy and fun to do.

Tis the Season for Traditions

I received the Pottery Barn Kids catalog this week and what do you know, they're talking about holiday traditions. One of the traditions that they highlight is having kids leave a note in their Christmas stocking for Santa. Sounds like a great idea to me and a good time to take thank Santa for all the gifts he's about to deliver. This tradition and the PBK catalog reminded me that I need to find a Christmas stocking for little Miss Stella. I would like to find something special that she'll have for many years to come. I'm also trying to figure out if John and I should both get new stockings too so all three of ours will match. It's so hard to decide what I want, there are so many cute options from which to choose. The Pottery Barn catalog has some nice stockings that can be embroidered with our names, and the stores are full of lots of options too. One other thing I'm considering is finding someone to make our stockings. Etsy is full of great handmade Christmas stockings. Now I just need to make up my mind, it will be time to hang the stockings on the fireplace before I know it.

The Birthday Ring Tradition

CafeTraditions.com reader Christina submitted a new birthday tradition that I have never heard about before but that I hope to introduce into our family this summer when Stella celebrates her first birthday. The tradition is using a birthday ring. For those of you, like me, that have not heard of a birthday ring, it's typically a wooden circle with 12 or 16 holes. The holes are filled with a candle to represent each year (similar to candles on a birthday cake), the rest of the holes are filled with small wooden figures or cut-outs.

When the tradition was submitted, I quickly did a few searches to find out more about the tradition. It seems to be an old European tradition that originated in the Waldorf School. I also found a few blogs that told more details about their birthday ring traditions. Visit the following blogs for more information: Uncommon Grace and The Wonder Years.

Buy a Birthday Ring and start a new tradition in your family. Birthday rings are available online at these stores:

• The Wooden Wagon  
• Three Sisters Toys  
• Willow Tree Toys  
• Magic Cabin

Halloween Breakfast

I found a great idea on "Homemakers with Hope" that I want to try when Stella is old enough. Not only would this be a great Halloween tradition, but it would work for other holidays as well. The idea is to have a fun holiday-themed breakfast on Halloween morning. Bring out your themed dishes, decorate the table with pumpkins and Halloween placemats, serve Boo-Berry, Franken-Berry or Count Chocula cereal, then put together an actvity pack filled with coloring sheets, word finds, mazes, etc. Give the kids a new box of crayons to work on all the activity sheets. Click over to the "Homemakers with Hope" blog to read more.

See the links below for some fun Halloween-themed activity sheets:

1. ABC Teach - great projects including craft ideas, coloring sheets, mazes, word search, word scrambles and more.
   
2. Halloween scrambles, matching games and more.
3. Kaboose - a wide variety of activity sheets available.
4. PapaJan - many Halloween-themed coloring sheets.
5. Teachnology - worksheets and lessons.
6. edHelper - puzzles, games, activity sheets and much more.
   

Passing Down Tradition

This past weekend my Mom and Dad came to visit. When my Mom walked in the door I saw she was carrying my favorite Halloween decoration, a ceramic witch she hand-painted when I was very young. The witch has been displayed at my parents' house each Halloween for as long as I can remember, and she thought it was time to hand it over to me so I could display it in my own home.

My Mom painted the witch in 1975 when I was five years old. She made me a witch costume for Halloween that same year and the ceramic witch was painted to match. That Halloween I had my photo published in the local paper wearing my witch costume and bobbing for apples. Every October since when the witch is taken out of storage, I remember back to that particular Halloween. I don't remember the details of any other Halloween from my childhood as vividly as that one, but that painted witch helps me remember some of my favorite memories from my childhood and will certainly lead me to tell the story to Stella each Halloween for years to come. If I'm lucky, my Mom will make Stella her own witch costume in a few years so she can make her own Halloween memories. It seems like the ceramic witch has helped to create a few family Halloween traditions.

Halloween Countdown Calendar

I found a great Advent calendar in the last Pottery Barn catalog I received. The calendar inspired me to look for ideas to make an Advent calendar like my Mom had made when I was a child. While searching online for ideas, I came across an absolutely awesome Halloween Countdown Calendar. While there's not time enough to buy one or make one for Halloween this year, I love the concept. I had never heard of such a thing, but I think it makes for one great Halloween tradition. I'm sure kids will love counting down the days until they get to trick-or-treat. One of the calendars I liked best can be found at Everyday Celebrations. It's a great inspiration for making your own, or if you're not up to the task, she also makes and sells them on Etsy. I can't wait to try this next year.

Stella's First Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

This year we made a trip to the pumpkin patch with our own little pumpkin. (Complete with pumpkin hat and all!) Of course, I plan to make this one of our annual traditions. It's a great way to spend a beautiful fall day. I have a confession to make though about the visit this year. We left without buying a pumpkin because the line to weigh and pay was waaaaay too long and our little pumpkin was ready for a nap. I'm sure that's the last year we get away with those shenanigans... next year she'll be big enough to wonder why everyone else is taking home pumpkins and she's not.