Six on Sunday - traditions

This weeks "Six on Sunday" is all about family traditions. As little J grows up and becomes more aware of the world around him, its got me asking myself what values do I want to teach him and what do I want for him to look back and remember as the core values of our family. So this week I've been gaining inspiration from other families and introducing some new traditions of our own.

1. One thing I'd really like to cultivate in our family is an attitude of thankfulness and an awareness of God's intervention in our lives. What better way than Family Day once a year?! A Christian charity I used to work for have a celebration day like this each year. Everyone from around the UK would get together at HQ for a massive BBQ, fun inflatables, silly games and most important of all to sit and hear stories of all God had done in the past and how we had got to where we were.

2. I'm all for healthy eating and try to feed my boys plenty of home cooked goodness - no microwave dinners in our house. However, I don't wanna be one of those parents who never lets their kid have sugar and then the kid secretly gorges themselves on "forbidden" food when they're out of the house. It's all about teaching moderation and allowing treats sometimes. So on Saturday mornings we put the Weetabix and porridge to one side and make way for "Pancake Saturday".

It's taken me several weeks to find a recipe I like but I've finally mastered the art of making American style blueberry pancakes. I've got a stash of frozen fruit in the freezer ready to serve up with fresh pancakes and sliced bananas (and lashings of syrup for mummy cos mummy's need treats too).

Check out this breakfast jam playlist I found to create a little atmosphere on a Saturday morning. Little J is a complete music addict and loves to shake his booty so I'm looking forward to seeing what he thinks of it.

3. One thing I remember most about my family growing up is that we always ate together around the table. To me it was the norm and I never knew any different until I grew up. Usually in our household, little J eats dinner on his own around 5:30pm and hubby and I have ours after he's settled in bed around 7pm. However, on Sunday nights, hubby heads out to church just before 6:30pm to help with the student group so on Sunday's we've begun all having dinner together just before 6pm.

Tonight we even ate by candlelight for extra fun. Little J loved the pretty lights and enjoyed blowing them out at the end and I enjoyed having quality time chatting to hubby before he went out for the night. Also, I stumbled across this book about making family dinner time fun and it's got me excited to come up with some of my own fun ideas when little J is a bit older.

4. I know it's a little early to be thinking about Christmas yet, but I found this great list of ideas for Christmas traditions to introduce. (Take them swimming to wear them out so they're too tired to wait up for Santa?! Pure genius!) One tradition I'd really like to introduce is to replace the usual chocolate filled Advent calendar with a countdown of festive things to do throughout December.

5. Central to our parenting of our kids is our desire for them to grow to know and trust Jesus. At this young age it's hard to know where to start so we've just started small with a quick bit of Bible reading over breakfast. Already little J is getting quite into this tradition and has begun asking for Bible readings at other meal times. For ideas for family worship time check out my board on Pinterest.

As a slight aside, if you are looking for some help revitalising/refocusing your own personal Bible/study time how about giving this idea a go?

6. And finally, for a list of suggestions collated from other families click here.

I would love to hear about some of the traditions you have in your family too. Please share your stories in the comments section.

Love Stacey x

'Tis the season to be grumpy!

What is worse than going shopping in December? Going shopping in December with a pushchair!!!

It's hard enough to manouvre around shops without hundreds of Christmas shoppers in the way. And everyone seems to be in their own little world completely oblivious to the fact they're about to walk into my child. You know what really irritates me? That people have the cheek to scowl at me as if it's my fault when they walk into us. Oh I'm sorry, is my walking in a straight line interfering with your zig zaggy wandering around looking at the floor and/or texting - how thoughtless of me!?! Grrrrrr.

And what's with the loud music blaring from shops? Do they not understand I have a sleeping child with me and the success of my shopping trip is reliant on him staying that way.

And New Look - really? A DJ in the corner?! Is that really necessary? I don't come to your store to party, I come to shop. Or maybe that's just me and I'm no longer young and trendy enough to shop in your store.

Ok rant over.

Hubby is away for the weekend at an interview so it's just me and the boy. Figured since it's the first day of December we should probably start introducing Josiah to the whole idea of Christmas. In town his eyes lit up when he saw the Christmas lights and watching people ice skating had him transfixed. As well as attempting Christmas shopping, we spent the morning making these....

 

They are officially yummy and there is a strong chance there won't be any left by the time Josh gets home tomorrow!

If you would like to make your own yummy Christmas biscuits then here's what you need to do:

1) Cream together 100g of butter and 100g caster sugar

2) Add an egg yolk and a teaspoon of vanilla essence

3) Stir in 200g plain flour and kneed into a dough

4) Roll the dough out to 5mm thick. Using an 8cm star cutter cut out 24 stars. Then using a 2cm cutter cut the middle out of 12 of them. Put them all in the freezer for 10 mins.

5) Remove from the freezer. Spread jam on the whole stars and sandwich the ones with the middle missing on top.

6) Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 10-15 mins until golden.

7) Sprinkle with icing sugar to make them look a bit more fancy if you like.