This is something I have been trying to build into our family over the last couple of years.
In Spring we get the yard ready. We go to our places and have a celebratory picnic. We take a lot of nature walks, reveling in the new warmth (even if it's still chilly), looking for signs of green at every turn and when it truly arrives, we revel in the green and flowers.
Summer means popcicles, fireworks and lightening bugs on the 4th of July, playing in the sprinkler together, picnics by the creek, the Summer Reading Program, playing outside all morning and resting in the heat of the afternoon. Grilling and pickles and garden veggies. Summer Ends with The Fair...
Autumn means Leaf Walks to collect colorful leaves and crunch all that will be crunched! Making our Seasonal Window Hanging- we make at least 4 a year out of wax paper and leaves, glitter, or paint.
Autumn Means hours at the park playing under the trees, reading books, early evenings, and the tinge of sadness that another year is winding down.
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| Can you see Clemmie and Calvin nestled down on the window sill? |
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| Decorating the Tree |
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| Playing with their friends next door after a blizzard. |
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| sewing with a sleeping Ziggy on my back. |
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| School, newborn Ziggy, reading our Language Arts out loud while Ziggy nursed. |
So when it comes to the year, yes I feel like we have an ebb and flow and definitely anchors. Some thing I want to write here while my kids are still young so I remember. I think the one thing I have done pretty well is to set my bar pretty low. The things I do with the kids aren't things that are hard for me to do, or take a ton of work. I enjoy them, they add a sense of stability and rightness to my life.
I have been fairly intentional not to build things around things that feel like work. They are important to my kids but I want to continue doing them for me. Even when my kids are too old or uninterested I want to take time to make a new window hanging for that year in each season, or at least have a specific window hanging we've made back up. I want to take time to revel in leaves that crunch, I want to enjoy the ritual of decorating the tree and sitting in it's light with a warm beverage. I want to take the winter days to read and sew and enjoy quiet days at home. I don't mean any judgement to my Mom, she did what she needed to do, and she did a million things I am so grateful for, but as one of "the babies" I felt a huge sense of loss when she started to drop traditions because she was so busy with the older siblings who were teenagers.
I know down the line my kids are not going to want to join me, but I know that we lose so much when we stop honoring the seasons in small simple ways. And I hope to always offer that haven and safe feeling to my children. I don't cook fantastic meals or make Holidays all about the foods, that stresses me out. But I try to find ways to honor the seasons in simple ways and I hope I always will.
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| Tree night, store bought cookies and cider by the tree |
