Search Results for: blog birthday traditions from around the world

Celebrating Papa’s Birthday

Today is my dad’s birthday. His grandchild (our son) calls him Papa. My dad is the father of seven daughters and only two sons. Boys were a novelty and hard to come by in my family so when my husband and I found out that my parents first grandchild was going to be boy, we knew my dad would be pleased. The first time our son “helped” celebrate his Papa’s birthday was on my dad’s fiftieth birthday and our son’s baptism. I asked my dad if it would be okay for us to have our son baptized on his special … Continue reading →

Planning Your Baby’s First Birthday: Decorations

First birthday parties are probably more for the moms than they are for the babies, but they are a lot of fun for the whole family. A lot goes into planning the first birthday party. Over the next week, I will go over all the little details of party planning, so you will be well prepared for your child’s very first birthday party. One of the highlights for me was the decorating. I love to decorate, so I had a great time designing cupcakes, a custom birthday t-shirt, a sign, and decorating the house. I decided to go with cupcakes … Continue reading →

The Birthday Party

So it happened. Our son turned 1 year old. So crazy how fast this has gone. I’ll join the chorus of voices telling you how fast it goes (and it’s only been one year). I have a small (very very small) taste of how fast babies turn into adults. That first year of life is amazing. They learn so many new things. They learn to eat, sleep, grab, crawl, walk, talk, drink, laugh, smile, cry, play, and pout. They learn so much in such a short time that it is truly hard to comprehend. When we took our son to … Continue reading →

Birthday Traditions

Since my twins turn ten tomorrow, I thought I’d share some birthday traditions. All day today I’ve been getting in my last nine year old hugs. I do this every year, it’s a fun excuse to hug and kiss the kids. I make a big deal out of their last whatever year old bath, and breakfast, and bedtime. It is just a bit of silliness that adds to the excitement of the coming birthday. And on birthdays I am quick to get in that first birthday hug and kiss, too. We’ve been busy with cakes today, too. I’ve always let … Continue reading →

Everyday Traditions – Nava Atlas

Our lives are so busy. Everyone I know is busy, particularly those of us with children. Sometimes my own family is too busy. I know it’s the little things kids treasure and remember. Things like their mom playing cards with them, or making them cinnamon toast when they are sick, or giving their stuffed animals a kiss goodnight. Everyday Traditions: Simple Family Rituals for Connection and Comfort by Nava Atlas reinforces my belief that it’s the little things that matter. In fact she elevates those little things to be more than little things. The cinnamon toast becomes a sick day … Continue reading →

“Basketball Chicken” and other Family Traditions

Strong, functioning families have their own traditions and special identifiers. I’m not talking just about holidays and birthdays here—but those little daily things—sayings, secret nicknames and language, and activities that are unique to your family that all help to identify and bond a family together. After nearly twenty years, our little family has all sorts of things that are unique to our family. Whenever a new person gets to know us well and becomes an “insider,” they are indoctrinated into our special sayings, the history of nicknames, created recipes, and other “secret” details. Since we’ve been through a divorce and … Continue reading →

Birthday Traditions From Around the World

In honor of the multitude of parents who read our forums and enjoy our blogs and for the multicultural families who adopt their infants, toddlers and children from around the world, I wanted to do a tribute to birthday traditions from around the world. This week, my nephew will turn a year old. It is so hard to believe that he’s been with us for a year and yet at the same time, it feels like he’s always been a part of the fabric of our lives. Thailand According to old traditions in Thailand, the parents purchase as many birds … Continue reading →

Handling Holiday Visitation

The holidays can be especially hard as a single parent. We all imagine what our lives will be like when we have children. We dream of picture perfect holidays watching the happy faces of our children as they share in our traditions. Then you get divorced and suddenly everything is not at all what you imagined. No one gets married and imagines that one day they will be divorced so of course we don’t ever imagine a time when our children will not be with us for the holidays. The first holiday or birthday that you are divorced is the … Continue reading →

The Creative Card

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Birthday’s come and go annually for all of us. It is a ritual that reminds us with some frequency of the passage of time in some calculable format. Somehow putting a number to a process as seemingly ephemeral as aging both comforts and frightens those who exhale over the lit candles on a cake while others sing songs that may or may not be owned by a corporation (but certainly shouldn’t be, right?). It is customary to give and receive both gifts and cards. Most cards will come from a store. The best one’s will be personalized with notes, smiles, … Continue reading →

Happy Leap Year Baby!

I know, even before I write it, that this is going to sound dumb so bear with me here; but I never realized there were people out there with Leap Year birthdays. Yes, I get that people are born every day and it stands to reason that there are babies right now being born on this illustrious day of February 29th. What I mean is that I just had never thought about it. And apparently, some patients who can choose their due dates (via scheduled c-section), are leaping at the chance to give birth to little leapers. Why Leapers Are … Continue reading →