Holiday traditions

[tvillemom]

I'm looking for some holiday activities that DON'T include our traditional cookie baking..with colored icing, candy decorating. My kids love doing this....we've built gingerbread houses in the past, etc. Now, being, or trying to stay 100% (or at least OFF the sugar), what activities can I do with my kids. They are ages 11, 9 and 6. I want to build birdfeeders, etc....string popcorn for outside trees, etc. but what about....I guess, I'M THE ONE who will miss the SMELL and hominess of baked goods during the holidays!! HELP!
Wendi

[ShelShel]

Oops, just asked a stupid question, you listed their ages! LOL Let me think.

[ShelShel]

Ok, first get some great smelling candles and fill your house with fragrance if that is one of the things you are missing. :rolleyes: Then there is always nature walks...finding bits of nature to bring home and scrap book. I love my digital camera. If you have one...take it along. Who says pumpkin carving has to be a Halloween treat. Carve some for Thanksgiving and decorate the house for the family who might be coming to visit. Then use the seeds and inside for a raw treat on Thanksgiving. (The seeds can be used in Alissa's Mock Turkey recipe and the soft pumpkin can be used in Alissa's Pumpkin Pie recipe.) On your nature walk you can find greens to bring home and make a homemade wreath for the front door. Also brings that special smell with it! Get creative and have fun. Not thinking about what you used to do, but what new stuff you are going to find to do. Hope some of this helps. I know holidays are different when you are raw, but they don't have to be bad.

Also, there are some great raw cookie recipes floating around the recipe threads...so, take a peek. Maybe the old standards of making cookies can come alive raw too! :)

[tvillemom]

Thanks Shelshel! These are some great ideas...and someone actually posted some great looking cookie ideas for us to try out! I have always liked the idea of bringing the outdoors inside! I like the idea of finding greens....even if we have to beg for scraps at a tree lot, we can come home and make wreaths out of it :D Thanks for getting me thinking in the right direction!
Wendi

[BGVDiva]

Great suggestions ShelShel! I'm going to incorporate many of them into my holiday celebration.

This will be my first raw Thanksgiving. We will be serving the traditional SAD meal, however, I will be making an array of raw entrees and desserts so that the family can sample them and I can have a platform to explain the benefits of eating raw foods. Hopefully, I will make some converts.

Sadly, every single family member coming to my home this Thanksgiving suffers from obesity and/or diabetes. They will enter the door with their arms full of flesh, fat, sugar, and processed foods and spend the day questioning why they are overweight and suffering from disease. They will tease me about eating "rabbit food" and try to educate me on the dangers of not getting proper nutrition without eating meat and dairy products. One has type 1 diabetes, one has type 2 diabetes, one is just obese and one is obese and on Adkins (yikes!). They all consume a bevy of medications daily to control their out-of-control bodies (diabetes, blood pressure, cholestrol, etc.). I've been raw (80/20) for 50 days...I've lost 12 lbs., am medication free and feel fantastic!

With love, I hope to convince at least one to give raw a try. We'll see...

[Sharon in Colorado]

Maybe buy a big bulk of bay leaves and make some wreathes out of them.

[JEN]

You can make holiday decorations from beads and such, homeade Christmas cards, candles, soaps, crochet hats and mittens, raw goodies, hmmm what else. Let me think a bit and I will return later.

[tvillemom]

JEN...I just have to laugh....the thought of trying to teach my two oldest boys how to crochet.....they would probably surprise me and love it!! :D Thanks for the ideas!
Wendi

[juliebove]

This isn't actually a tradition since my family is rather non-traditional and each year varies, but one year I made a giant surprise ball. If you've never seen these before they are usually about the size of a baseball and made of tightly wound strips of crepe or paper. The recipient unwinds the ball and small trinkets or in some cases, candies appear until they reach the center. Often in the center will be some confetti and a fortune, riddle or joke.

The one I made as as big as a basketball so it allowed me to use larger items to wrap inside. And the year I made it, we had no young children in the family so I put things older people might want or be able to use. Like little kitchen gadgets such as strawberry hullers and measuring spoons. But really you could put anything you wanted inside, including coins. To make a large one, use several rolls of crepe paper. You can use different colors or the same. I just used some that I had left over.

You can make this yourself or you could have everyone come up with a certain number of items they want to use as surprises. Decide what will go in the middle then start there. Start winding the paper around and every so often, tuck in a surprise. If more than one person is doing this, pass it around and take turns wrapping and tucking in the surprises. When you get to the end, secure it with a sticker or a piece of tape and a colorful tag so you'll know where to begin.

Then when you're read to "do" it, decide who will go first, then take turns, passing the ball around. Each person gets to unwrap until they get a prize. Then they pass it on to the next person.

The small balls that you buy are usually intended for one person, but with the bigger ball it is a lot of fun to pass it around and share.

[Vandy]

1) Old Christmas movies
2) Caroling
3) Decorating the Christmas Tree
4) Diffusing essential oils in the house insead of candles
5) Quality time: sitting and talking
6) Board games/ night time stories
7) Treasure hunts
8) I am sure there are a tons more!

But just wanted to mention something not surrounded around food ...

I love Christmas :)

[tvillemom]

All of you have such great ideas! I love the "ball" idea, juliebove, and the treasure hunt, vandy....my kids and I have 1 night where we play games already, and I wanted something different. These are great ideas...thanks so much! I can't wait to buy little trinkets for the "ball" game!
Wendi

[tvillemom]

Oh yeah....I love the idea of infusing essential oils...but since I've never done this....I've never even purchased them....I've seen small bottles of es. oils in the "pharmacy" area of my HFS...is this where I buy them? thanks again for all your help!
Wendi

[RowanC]

You can make pine cone turkeys :)

You can make really nice Yule ornaments from a dough with cinnamon oil. I can dig up the recipe if you want. They're pretty, and brown, and you use cookie cutters on the dough.

You can boil spices in a pan to scent your house: cinnamon, cloves, allspice, cardamom.. put them in water and simmer on the stove. Be sure to check water occasionally.

You can buy organic essential oil candles, or put a touch of essential oil on your lightbulbs.

You can make really nice pomander balls by covering an orange with cloves. Stick them in. Then wrap a ribbon around it and hang to dry. These make nice gifts.

I made really cute Yule cards with my kids one year by using construction paper and putting their thumbprints (using an inkpad) on the paper. Then we drew faces and tails on the prints to make "mice" ... then wrote our yule greetings.

Ummm... I have a lot of other ideas, but this is a start? :D

:D

[tvillemom]

OH...I like the orange/clove ball idea...sounds like great ornaments to hang around or put in a centerpiece! Thanks for the ideas.
Wendi

[kaybee]

i guess this is more of a question/experimental suggestion than a solution, but I wonder if you could find a really smooth raw-cookie recipe and then find a way to make "frosting" with soaked nuts, agave, and some sort of natural food coloring and/or flavoring (like pomegranite or grape juice or berry juices for different colors), put it in those "frosting bags" for cookie decorating and then still use cookie cutters and decorate cookies for christmas.....just a thought....
i wonder if anyone is up to the challenge of coming up with a raw "sugar-cookie-type" recipe....? ;)

[tvillemom]

Oh yeah....kaybee...I'm trying that!! Thanks for the idea. I know one time I used the birthday cake and icee recipe here on the board, and thought the icing was ALOT like sad icing! That would be perfect on great on some cookies that I "cut n paste" the recipe from here! Thanks for the idea.
Wendi

[tracyinfo]

Depending on the age of the children, I have my kids write poetry about the season, write a short paper on the season, or play seasonal music. We usually sit around one or two nights and listen to each others music and writings.

If the child is too young to write, they can verbally tell a story about what they feel the season represents. They can say anything! It is just a participatory event.

Have some special little treats (nothing too extravagant). Perhaps some sliced bananas or apples spread with almond butter, or some raw fudge or just a simple fruit smoothie.

During the presentations, make sure to have some candles lit, soft music (where appropriate), and your tray of tidbits.

[Conscious Midwife]

Celebrate Christmas around the World

Research and Celebrate Kwanza or Hannakah

Volunteer

Do a Service Project

Make you own scents of the season potpourri

Have a Marathon Monopoly day/week

Do a 1000 or 5000 piece puzzle

Establish pen pals, over seas

Start a family blog

Redesign/ Redecorate a room in your home as a family project for under $200

Volunteer at Habit for Humanity help builld a home

Get out all your old photos and momentos and have a week long scrap booking party