Traditions make memories. Growing up, the traditions that my family created are what made the holidays even more magical. I would look forward to the simplest things that my parents, mostly my mom, would try and create with the little money we had. Some families have the same traditions as ours, like “school shopping” all in one weekend. During the summers our tradition was to spend back-to-back days at the library and weekends in search of free museums. Our Halloween costumes were always made by my grandmother. For Thanksgiving, someone, usually myself, makes my Nana’s stuffing and no matter what the weather is like, we all wear dresses to dinner. One of my favorite Christmas traditions is to open a gift from my mom on Christmas Eve, it is always a new pair of pajamas. They aren’t just any plain ole’ solid colored cotton collared pj set either. Nope. My mommy always tries to find the cutest and most unique type of sleepwear because plain old pjs would get boring year after year. And well, she knows we all love the years when we get a new set of Hello Kitty or old school footsie ones. The list could really go on and on for Christmas traditions, but lets move on before I start writing a novel. On new years Eve we always create our own ice cream called “shlop.” This tradition started a little late, after I was in college. I lived DC for a while and one of my roomies taught me how to make this ah-maze-ing dessert. It’s a take on Cold Stone Creamery’s treats. Basically you just get your favorite ice cream flavor (ours is vanilla) and all the candy and cookies that you want to mix in with the ice cream. You crush up the cookies and candies, then mix in the vanilla ice cream. You put it back in the freezer to harden and then when it hardens a little, you take it out and devour! For the love day (Valentine’s Day) my mom is cute and tries to get us little nicknacks like hanging heart lights or something cute from the dollar tree. Oh and I can’t forget The Three King’s Day, which falls on January 6th. I’m pretty sure this is a Mexican/Latin tradition, but we put our shoes out on the 5th and the story goes that The Three Kings come by and fill them with goodies because they brought baby Jesus gifts. To this day, we still get our shoes filled.  But the one tradition that makes my heart melt like real butter on white toasted bread is when it was our birthday and my mom would deliver a McDonald’s Happy Meal with a single balloon attached for our school lunch. As kids my family didn’t have much money to spend on eating out or getting a toy just because. My parents were young and still in school, so getting McDonald’s was an extra special treat. Although we aren’t in elementary school anymore, my mom still has balloons waiting for us at home with our favorite meal, which is either made or we go out and have dinner together.

Now why I am sharing all of my family’s personal traditions? Sometimes we forget the little things that make our lives special, or the people that created unforgettable memories that we will always cherish. Yes, sadly at times I take my mom for granted (I am human) because we are so close in age that I forget she isn’t just like an older nagging sister, but actually my loving mother that has taught me these traditions that make the holidays even more special for our family. I want to keep these traditions alive for my little family too. I hope my children will do the same with the traditions my mom has created and the new one’s that I have started as well. Thank you mommy, I love you!

To my honey bunnies, these memories are for you. Our second annual trip to Riley’s Farm. The best way to kick off Fall. While I was uploading these photos I was trying to decide if the house or the bench was leaning….so I made both lean. Ha!
I adore him.The best Nina ever-no really!I hope my grandkids love me as much as he loves her.Bad light, hilarious photo.This one is my favorite!In his words, “Silly Nani!”Time to make the delish apple cider.