Meaningful Holidays

We are so tickled to have Sarah Nielsen as our guest here at Bloom for the next few days. She has all kinds of clever ideas about how to fill the upcoming holiday-filled months with meaningful service, creative correspondence and memorable traditions. You can find more of Sarah on her delightful blog or at Book Bound Bindery, her lovely little corner of the Etsy marketplace.

First of all, thanks to Anne and Em for inviting me to Bloom. What a great little spot of blogdom they have created.

With holiday season right around the corner, I decided to share a few tricks I use to make our holidays more meaningful.

The most important thing is to reserve family time! You could go to a dozen parties each weekend between now and Valentine’s Day (or so it seems, right?!). But don’t. Spend time with your family—especially just your own little family.

Here is my recipe for meaningful holidays:

1. Write letters to your family.
We write letters to our grandparents and cousins and aunties and uncles. I let my kiddos be in charge of this one. Sometimes we paint, or scribble, or glitter, or glue, or whatever until they are satisfied. Then we seal it up and send it off.

The next part that is equally important (and most often forgotten) is to write to each other. Write your spouse a note. Leave notes on the kiddo’s pillows. Help the kids write nice notes to each other.

2. Do something nice for your neighbors.Deliver flowers, rake leaves, shovel snow, make visits, pick up trash, or anything else you can think of. Be creative.

One of our favorites is to deliver treats. Bake your favorite chocolate chip cookies or get fancy with some themed treat (like these or these or these). That part isn’t what’s important. Delivering them is important. Actually take them to the door and give your friend a big hug. Look him/her in the eye and say, “I like you! Happy (fill in Holiday here)”. We all need more face to face interaction.

3. Repeat.
Chances are you and your families are not going to remember everything about every holiday. But you will remember the way these activities make you and your families feel. Those memories come with time so stick with it.

So there you have it. Tomorrow I’ll share some of my letter writing tips (I happen to LOVE writing letters) with some specific Halloween ideas. Friday, I’ll give you some tips for including service in your holidays.