The Homefire Family Traditions Kit

Description

Pick the traditions worth keeping, in one 15-minute sit-down.

For the mom who tries to do all of December, and would rather do three things her kids will remember.

Every December it’s tempting to try to do all of it. The light drive and the cookie swap and the matching pajamas and the advent calendar with a craft behind every door. And by the fifteenth, you’re running on fumes and nobody remembers which parts were supposed to be special.

Here’s what I’ve learned as a mom of four and a grandma of seven: kids don’t remember the big stuff. They remember the small things you did again. Every year. It’s not the size of the thing. It’s that you did it again.

So this kit isn’t forty-eight more things to do. It’s a menu. You sit down for fifteen minutes, pick three, put them on the calendar, and let the rest go without one ounce of guilt.

What’s inside

• The Tradition Menu — 48 ideas in six groups (at the table, cozy at home, out the door, giving and kindness, Advent and Christmas Eve, memory-making), each tagged with cost, time and ages. 29 of the 48 cost nothing at all.
• Our Three This Year — pick three, give each a date and a person in charge, and you’re done planning
• The Family Bucket List — a some-of-these list, not a to-do list
• The 25-Day Countdown — one tiny tradition a day, December 1–25, five minutes or less and free, plus a blank one to make your own
• The Holiday Memory Interview — the same questions every year, for littles through older teens, so you build a record of who your kids were each Christmas
• Tradition Recipe Cards, the Traditions Record and Keep · Change · Drop — so the traditions that work get passed down, and the ones that don’t get let go

Comes as a printable PDF, a fillable PDF you can type into, and a companion app — one price, all three. The app saves your stars and your three, ticks off the countdown, and keeps each child’s interview answers year by year, so next December last year’s answer shows up right under each question. itsasouthernlifeyall.com/app/family-traditions (your Start Here download carries the link too).

What changes

Before: December is a list of things you saw other families do, and you’re behind on all of them.

After: three traditions are on the calendar with a name beside each one, the kids picked some of them, and the Memory Interview pages are tucked in a folder you’ll be glad you kept.

If your family keeps Advent

One group on the menu is for families who keep Advent or Christmas Eve service — the Advent candle, Luke 2 read aloud, the nativity set out one piece at a time. Every other page works for any family. Cross out anything that doesn’t fit your house and write in your own. That’s the whole point.

Who built it

Hi, I’m Robin. I raised four kids, I’m a grandmother of seven, and I’ve spent about three decades as a CFO, a lot of it from my own kitchen table. This kit is one small piece of The Homefire Holiday Season Planner, pulled out for the mom who only wants this part.

Get the Family Traditions Kit — $7

Instant download: the 18-page printable, the fillable PDF and your app link. Fifteen minutes tonight and your three are on the calendar. Having trouble downloading? Reach me through the contact page and I will get you sorted.

You don’t have to be perfect — tend the home fire, in the minutes you have.