Jessica Smartt - Memory-Making Mom: Building Traditions That Breathe Life Into Your Home

CONTENTS

TO MY HEAVENLY FATHER, EVERYTHING I HAVE COMES from You. May You use this work for Your kingdom.

Todd, this book would not be without you. Youve given me space to create and picked me up when I doubted myself.

Sam, Ty, and Ellie, I love being your mommy. Youre my favorite people to make memories with.

Mom and Dad, you gave us the best family. We were loved well, and now we can love well. Mom, this book is laced with your wisdom. If Im half the mom you are, mission accomplished. Dad, you believed in me way before I believed in myself. No one has ever been a bigger cheerleader for his children than you are for us.

Julie, you arent just a best friend; youre a trusted adviser. All my harebrained ideas are better after you are finished with them.

Jenny, my most faithful reader and best friend, my children and yours are blessed by your sacrificial love.

John, there never was a more generous or fiercely loyal little brother. Im so proud of the man youve become.

Morgan, Helen, and Julianne, my bonus sisters, each of you is so dear to me. I hope I can be half the friend to you that each of you has been to me.

Carole and Doug, youve loved me as your own daughter. Thanks for making memories with my kids.

Ashley, Catherine, and Emily, youve been cheerleaders and prayer warriors when I needed it most.

Bill Jensen, the best agent, thank you for entrusting me with this idea. I hope Ive made you proud. I am thankful for your fatherly wisdom and unmatched publishing intuition.

Debbie Wickwire, thank you for remaining gracious while fielding my 957 questions (a day), for getting all my jokes, and for being smart as a whip. You are a joy to work with.

Daisy Hutton, you championed this idea from the beginning and remained a gem throughout.

Thanks to Paula Major, Kate Etue, Denise George, Ashley Reed, Kristi Smith, Becky Melvin, and the entire W Publishing Group team for your wholehearted partnership and incredible ideas! This project is infinitely better because of your fantastic insights and hard work.

Erin Odom, your generous heart and connecting skills made my dream possible, and Im grateful to you.

My Christian Author Mastermind sisters, Grace-Filled Bloggers, and Hope*Writers: I guess its possible to write a book without friends like you, but Im just not sure how.

And thank you, finally, to all the friends who generously offered their insights, traditions, and visions for this project: Sheila Carlberg, Morgan Hawk, Rebecca Wetzel, Brittany Price Brooker, Katie Clark, Amy Frank, Jamie Martin, Carole Smartt, John Haggan, Dan Chittock, Jenny Haggan, Julie Chittock, Cyndee Hawk, Jamee Wetzel, Molly, Kelly Tarasovitch, Jeff and Lauren Pyles, and Jenn Fromke.

BEAUTY TRADITIONS

1. Serve a beautiful family dinner with flowers and linens for special occasions and even have the kids dress in clean clothes.

2. The week of Christmas have a candlelit Christmas dinner with fine linens and fancier foods.

3. Invest in a few beautiful seasonal decorations, buying them off-season for a deal.

4. Gift your kids with a beautiful journal or Bible for their quiet times.

5. Allow each child a small plot in the garden or a special pot where he or she can plant and care for something of his or her own choice.

6. Save rocks from family hikes or trips to parks and write the name and date on them.

7. Purchase sketchbooks for your kids; take nature walks and sketch something you see.

8. Appreciate good music together. Consider introducing your kids to some amazing classical pieces, such as Simple Gifts from Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland, The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel.

FALL TRADITIONS

1. Have a family pumpkin carving contest.

2. Go apple or pumpkin picking.

3. Drive through the mountains to look at the leaves.

4. Make a fall bucket list that includes the things you love, such as a mountain hike, apple and pumpkin picking, hayride, corn maze, and river fishing.

5. Host a fall-themed neighborhood block party, like a chili cook-off.

6. Make your own apple cider or apple pie.

7. Read poems about fall.

8. Make your own leaf rubbings.

WINTER TRADITIONS

1. Make chicken soup, shepherds pie, or hot cocoa on the first snowfall.

2. Make or fill a bird feeder for your outdoor friends.

3. Have a cozy movie night on a freezing evening.

4. Read a book aloud by the fire.

5. Work at a soup kitchen together.

6. Have an indoor campout.

SPRING TRADITIONS

1. Grow a family garden.

2. Provide each child with a personal flowerpot where he or she can grow his or her own fruit or flower.

3. If you have little kids, do Easter egg hunts over and over in the house and yard. They love it even if theres nothing in the eggs!

4. Pull chairs up to a window and watch a thunderstorm together.

SUMMER TRADITIONS

1. Celebrate National Donut Day on the first Friday in June.

2. Visit a hot air balloon festival.

3. Go tech-free for one week. (You may be surprised how much you all enjoy this one.)

4. Celebrate National Ice Cream Day on the third Sunday in July with homemade ice cream or a trip to a local shop.

5. Have a low-country boil and eat outdoors. (This summer one-pot meal of shrimp, sausage, corn, and potatoes is famous in the low country of Georgia and South Carolina.)

FOOD TRADITIONS

1. Have a Saturday special breakfast, whether its donuts from a local shop or homemade pancakes.

2. Serve pancakes in the shape of whatever holiday it is.

3. Have a family Valentines fancy dinner the week of Valentines Day.

4. If you have a husband or loved one who travels a lot, make dinner the theme of wherever they are traveling.

5. If youre studying a certain area in school, eat the foods of that culture.

6. Make sugar cookies for each holiday.

7. Have a kids-takeover night where the kids plan and cook the food and clean up.

8. Let your little ones cook with you, giving them random things to mix up. (As long as you know they wont eat it!)

9. Let the birthday child pick the meal.

10. Make cinnamon bread for special holidays, in a special shape (bunny, wreath, heart, and so on), and for birthdays in the shape of the number for the age your child is becoming.

11. Make a big deal out of certain meals that one person makes really well. Dads famous chicken or Moms spaghetti.

12. Sunday snack dinner! Make it easy on Mom. Serve snack foods, such as cheese, bread, fruit, nuts, and vegetables.

13. Have one easy night each week for the kids (pizza or chicken nuggets, for example); then the parents can have a special dinner later.

14. Celebrate Pi Day (3.14) with homemade pie.

15. Create a traditional Christmas and Easter breakfast.

16. At least once in the summer, celebrate with an ice cream party after bedtime.

17. Play restaurant when you need to use up leftover food.

18. Choose one day a week to make a special treat or dessert, like homemade cookies, bread, or a favorite dessert with dinner.

19. Have a special Christmas tea party.

20. Make bread in a bag. Lots of recipes for this are available online. Its a simple way for kids to prepare their own individual loaves of bread.

21. Make coffee mug brownies. This is a cute and very adaptable recipe for an individual dessert.

22. Have a pizza night and let each person make their own individual pizza.

23. Have fondue night. Prep the materials together and enjoy dipping and tasting.