Fresh Start for the New Year?

I get it. 2024 was rough for many of us for different reasons and on different levels. There are many parts that I will definitely be leaving behind, but there are a few things that I will happily be bringing into 2025 such as a few cherished traditions.

• Ugly Sweater Party

  For the last 3 years, our family and two other families have been coming together for an Ugly Sweater party. It’s fun, it’s festive. It’s a way to toast the holiday season before we go off to our individual and extended family celebrations. We don’t make it crazy or overcomplicated. All of the food, treats and desserts just flow together beautifully. This year I brought sangria, sparkling cider for the underage crowd, cupcakes and last minute roasted brussel sprouts. Our friends prepared a yummy spread and we enjoyed tons of laughs and holiday cheer. Keep it simple and relaxed. No fancy food unless that’s your thing. Just a delicious spread, close friends, family and holiday cheer.

• Family Holiday Dinner Outing

  We love eating out. We love unique and fun restaurants. We have 4 children so eating out, all together is not a budget friendly endeavor. We try to take the 4Sibs out for a sit-down, nicer meal around the holidays every year. So far it has worked out really great and we all enjoy putting on some nicer clothes and going out, once we actually get out, anyway. I mentioned that we have 4 children so sometimes getting out of the house is an absolute circus. :) I spend a bit of time trying to find the right restaurant that isn’t too fancy so the Littles will actually eat the food, but a step above fast food dining. As our youngest daughter says, “a place with tablecloths and real napkins.” :) I make a reservation where possible and we are pretty relaxed on what day of the week/time that we go. It is another way to slow things down and just enjoy each other during the busy holidays.

• Newly Added in 2024-4Sibs Cookie/Holiday Exchange with Friends

  Why would anyone with more than 1 child, welcome other children, 14 additional children (to be exact) into their home over the course of 2 days? I don’t know but we did it. We let three of the 4Sibs have friends over to share their favorite cookies/desserts. We really enjoy when the 4Sibs have friends come over. It’s a great feeling that they want to have friends come to our home and that everyone feels relaxed to be here, having fun. For 2025, the 4th kid will get the same inaugural tradition with his friends.

  The idea for the Holiday gathering came from my thoughts about our youngest daughter (age 8) and her desire to want to grow some of her school friendships outside of school. She has been friends with a few girls since kindergarten, but they haven’t hung out as much outside of school with the exception of birthday celebrations.

  This is all new territory for me. Our first two daughters, had really close best friendships from preschool and it worked out that we became really close with the parents of those children. Spending a lot of time together was a natural and normal thing. Having playdates and meetups was a very regular thing that first time around as young parents of our now 16 and 13 year old. I feel like people were very different then. We were also different then. We are older now. Busier. It’s also post-covid and the parent connections for our second round of Littles is just different. Not bad, just different and with a few exceptions, not as comfortable, honestly.

  I think I expected our youngest girl to have a similar friendship experience to her sisters so some of her early friendships were a bit disappointing. Yes, they are all very different children with different personalities, but I would think she would have connected with at least one friend that had the potential to be a long term, healthy friendship.

  Why am I a putting this much into my children’s friendships? Because relationships matter. Connections matter. Not only are my husband and I best friends, but we both have very close and incredibly important outside friendships that mean the world to us and our family. We want our children to have the same. Life is seriously super short. Why not spend parts of it enjoying healthy, beautiful and genuine friendships with wonderful people????

  At an early age, both of our daughters had made some awesome best friendships that have carried through to today and that has been awesome for all of us. I haven’t seen the same happen for our youngest beauty so Mama Bear mode has been activated. Hence the Holiday Cookie Exchange. :)

  The Holiday Cookie Exchange was a wonderful time where she could bond a bit more with a few school friends. She had an awesome time as did her brother and our Bigs loved having their friends over too.

  How do you manage different age groups of your children’s friends visiting your home at the same time? Calmly!

• We had the Littles crew in a few spaces downstairs and the Bigs spent time with their friends in their rooms and the bonus room.

• My hubby got the Littles crew outside for a bit.

• The younger teens went outside for a bit and did whatever 13 & 14 year old girls do outside this day in age.

• Our oldest daughter had her friends over late evening so they took up residence in the bonus room. It all worked out and we got to enjoy some yummy desserts from it all.

Want to see photos from all of the things I blabbed about above? Check out my IG or the photos page of my blog (coming soon).

Send me a message and let me know how you encourage family holiday traditions while still relaxing and enjoying the busy, holiday seasons.