Here's What I've Realized....

After talking to my sister on the phone last week I got to thinking that my family and I (the four of us, not the whole clan), do not celebrate traditional holidays traditionally. Now don't get me wrong, we do celebrate Christmas (in our way - more on that later), and birthdays are big for us, but aside from that we pretty much don't.

I am continually amazed at how involved my sister is in her community and the things that go on there. She's got the girls out to every activity and event going on. So awesome and what a wonderful set of memories she is creating for her girls.

We on the other hand, are not really like that. Case in point - never been to a Santa Clause Parade, have only been to the Canada Day festivities once, have never celebrated St. Patrick's Day (aside from the obligatory pinch) and don't celebrate a traditional Thanksgiving, Easter or Christmas dinner.

Why, you may ask? Well, to be honest - those things don't matter to us. I don't know why but they really don't. You see, we have our own traditions. Ones we have introduced to our families over the years and ones that we have participated in just the four of us.

Easter - Monkey Bread for breakfast (Craig's favorite). That's about the extent of it. And the movies, of course. We always go to the movies.

Canada Day - no fireworks for us, unless you count the ones people set off in the street as fireworks are legal where we live so every schmo around lights them up. No thought about burning houses down. No sirreee.

Thanksgiving - we take our annual family photos - we don't hire a photographer, just do them ourselves. And we probably go to the movies.

Christmas Eve - FUNDUE, baby! Secret Santa and pjs from Gramma and Grampa.

Christmas Day - Monkey Bread for breakfast, gift opening and the movies. Popcorn for supper.

New Years - Nothin' honey.

So what do we celebrate, you may ask?

Measuring Day is a big one in our family. What is Measuring Day, you may ask? When we moved here I asked Craig to put up a removable growth chart in the doorway of our kitchen. One each of the boy's birthdays they both get measured. So in November and June we take the measurements to see how much they've grown in the last 7 months/5 months. It is so very cool and a favorite part of our traditions. Sterling is still about an inch taller than Kaedo but Kaedo is definitely going to surpass him.

As we have never (well, once) had a babysitter for the boys, Craig and I didn't go on a date (when the boys weren't travelling) for almost 10 years. Last year we remedied that and almost every Sunday morning we head to a local restaurant and have breakfast. That's a tradition for us.

Friday night is pizza night. As I make my own pizza from scratch (well, my breadmaker does the dough - thanks Jessica), pizza night is always big because the pizza is so damn good. That's a tradition for us. No one likes to miss it.

Valentine's day = heart shaped pizzas. My mom took us when we were kids and I have always done it with the boys. I think this year both my sis and my B-I-L's family did this too. The kids weren't thrilled with the service or food we had last time we went so this year I made the pizzas myself and we celebrated at home.

Birthdays are pretty big - For the boys they get to go out for breakfast before school, choose what they want for supper, have chocolate sour cream cake and get to choose an activity they really want to do. Along with all their gifts and phone calls, and Measuring Day, of course, it is pretty special. On their 16th birthday they get to miss school (should they choose), and go for their driver's permit. Sterling took us up on that, we'll see about Kaedo. While we don't do parties any more (ours were the best, let me tell you), they can each invite a friend to an activity, have a sleepover, or go out.

To be honest, I can't really think of anything else we might do. A lot of people are surprised when we say we don't have Easter/Thanksgiving/Christmas Dinner, and one person even commented that she thought that all the time we spent at the movies wasn't really quality time and maybe we should find other interests.

Here's what I say to that. First off, I cannot make mashed potatoes. I just can't. There is a mental block in this area that does not allow me to make them. Therefore, I don't make traditional dinners. Craig understands and waits patiently for my mom to come to make them. This Thanksgiving we will be having mashed potatoes.

As to the movies - Craig and I have always been big movie goers. Our first date was to the movies, and the kids first movie was way back when we lived in Alberta (it was a disaster, but I digress). We love the entertainment value, the losing ourselves in the story, the falling in love with and hating the characters. We love loving a movie and hating it. we love to compare notes and decide if we want it wiped from our memories forever or if we will definitely see it again. Over the years we have gone from cartoons to PG to 14A and love that we all like the same movies (action with a bit of humor please). So to those who think we see too many movies, take a look at how much time we spend together, how much talking we do, how involved we are with each other then cut us some slack on some mindless entertainment.

Lastly, here is a picture of the boys next to the measuring stick. How far they have come. Kaedo was 3'8 and Sterling was 4'1 when we started this in 2004. They are now 6' (K) and 6'1 (S).

I would love to hear about some of your traditions and the things you do with your family. Who knows, I might just steal one! And to my sister - it really is amazing to me what you do with the girls. You rock, babe!