Creating holiday memories when you’re far, far away…

Today on Mommy Reporter I am delighted to have a guest post by a fellow mommy blogger.  Micki Sellers is a mother to four girls and two boys (one who has Asperger’s syndrome).  She currently writes a blog titled Confessions of an ADD Housewife about her life as a mother with ADD and the things that drive her to distraction.  In this article, she shares with us how to create memorable family holidays when relatives are either non-existent, or too far away to visit.

I used to love singing “Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go” at the holidays. Christmas morning was a full day. We’d start at our house and open presents. Then, we’d pile in the car and drive to Grandma’s where more presents were waiting. If we were lucky, there’d be snow on the ground. After we moved back to Washington, we became conditioned to expecting a nice green Christmas. And, we got to visit a completely different Grandma!

After having kids of my own, my husband and I traded back and forth on whose parents’ we’d visit for the holidays. We’d swap between Seattle and Portland. Three hours to my parents and well, a walk across the lawn to visit his. It was perfect. But that all changed when my husband took a job 2500 miles away…

No longer were we dressed in our rain gear and going over the Skookumchuk River and through the Nisqually Forest to get to Grandma’s House. We were now eating Thanksgiving outside and putting up our Christmas lights wearing shorts. And a trip to Grandma’s house would involve a cross country plane ride with six children…or a six week long road trip in a minivan with six children (BTDT this past summer).

I love my parents and my inlaws dearly but there’s no way I’m getting on a plane for them. That left us with a problem: How were we going to be able to create memorable holidays with just us? For us, it came down to creating our own traditions and carrying over what we could from before. In Oregon, we’d visit the holiday Zoo Lights. Our zoo here also has a light display. It isn’t nearly as extravagant, but I think only the grown ups notice. We see the lights then head home for hot cocoa. We can at least pretend it’s chilly and some years it actually is!

My favorite carry over is the early morning wake up call. With the time difference, by the time the kids are done opening presents and eating breakfast, they still get to call Grandma at the crack of dawn and wake her up! It annoys my mom since it’s one of the few days she plans to sleep in, but I love doing it, just don’t tell her! While my mom isn’t tech savvy, my husband’s family is. His brothers have set up Skype. This year we’ll be able to participate in opening presents with cousins via the webcam! Each Christmas Eve, we also carry on with a tradition from my husband’s childhood: new Christmas PJs. This ensures that the kids are dressed nicely for their Christmas morning photos. They may have bedhead, but at least they match.

Our newest traditions involve doing things for others. We have opened our home to other families who may not have a place to go. We’ve asked the children to find ways to do secret acts of kindness for each other. This turns out to be one of their favorite gifts to give during the holidays. And we can’t forget the food! Thanksgiving isn’t complete without me ruining all of the pies, even if I’m just asked to defrost them. Christmas morning means my chocolate cinnamon rolls and Belgian waffles. Baking cookies to give to friends and making gifts for teachers are other ways the kids really get involved.

Being away from family doesn’t mean you’re cut off from the season. It doesn’t have to be lonely or without traditions. Kids are adaptable and they will enjoy finding ways to share the holiday season with Grandparents who are far way. Today’s digital world has made it so that trip “over the river and through the woods” happen in an instant. And, visiting via a webcam may be a lot less stressful than enduring hours in a car with a zillion and four potty stops.

Be sure to visit Micki’s blog, Confessions of an ADD Housewife.

Tags: Confessions of an ADD Housewife, Guest post, Micki Sellers

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.