How?

Lostreality

How did you go from celebrating no holidays, to celebrating them? What changes did you make in your household to accomodate this change?

Preston

The first major adjustment I've made from not celebrating the holidays to celebratng them is by not going out in field service on those days...CHEERS!

The second adjustment lostreality is that I still...dont really...celbrate them. I think the holidays are a pain in the ass (honestly). My husband and I celebrate a few birthdays out of the year and thats it .... oh yeah, and I attend a witch's circle on "Halloween".

dorothy

I had forgotten how much fun it could be to look forward to Christmas... to buy gifts for someone you love, wrap them up, send out Christmas cards. Same goes for birthdays. It's FUN dammit!

vitty

Personally I feel so guilty about stopping my children from celebrating, that at the moment I cant.

They missed out on so much, this saddens me more than anything, I dont feel I missed out on much, but my children who are now grown up have. As my adult daughter is still IN!! there is a good chance my grandchildren wont be celebrating the hoildays either.

As I was the one who brought my whole family in, theres no way I could enjoy it, knowing what ive done.

pettygrudger

This would depend on your situation Lost....first you must decide which ones you want to celebrate. In my case, I started celebrating holidays after my first son was born - and I went ALL out! I had to do it all, experience it all, and I still do. Christmas is a HUGE one for me - I'm gonna start crying thinking how beautiful my xmas' have been, and how I've been able to relive all the wonderful feelings & emotions a child can have for those holidays watching my children every year. Although I missed it all during my own childhood, I have been truly blessed in being able to relive it all through my children. I realize what that holiday is TRULY about, friends & family, "Poems, Prayers & Promises" (to quote the song from John Denver - OMG).

And Birthdays - that's the other one I'm big on! I love going all out for the kids on theirs as well. Again, partially reliving a non-existant childhood for myself, and to give them a childhood that will be full of happy moments & a good grasp of "home" & "family tradition" - which is something that we as witnesses never experienced. We were too busy being part of a collective, part of Jehovah's organization, for the most part to realize that strength comes in the nucleous family.

Decide which ones you wish to try - and just go for it!! Buy a xmas tree & some lights, shop during the time, bake & cook. Have friends or loved ones to share that with - that's what it's all about. The rest you'll figure out as you go along!

dorothy

I'm with you pettygrudger! I'm the same way, go all out for these things. I also love Valentine's Day with my boyfrined and my daughter loves Eatser. Apoatate my ass.

Mulan

We got into it very gradually. We started with birthdays, and as the number of birthdays increased, we started getting more selective. Adult birthdays are observed, but only have parties for major ones, like when Dave turned 60 last year, and our oldest son turned 40 the same month...................my daughter in law and I threw a big 100 year party for the two of them, rented a banquet room and invited all our family and closest friends. It was great. For the children, there is a party for each one, and their parents make them really special occasions. I just cannot see why that is a problem, making a child feel so special for that day, once a year. Seeing all the cousins and their friends, having so much fun is very heartwarming.

Christmas was one we didn't intend to start doing, but all our kids (almost all, at the time) were doing it, and we didn't want to miss out. Now everyone celebrates it. We were included in their festivities so we broke down and got involved too at our house. Now, we love it and Dave especially really looks forward to the tree. Last year was our first year with a big tree and it was so pretty. I started a family tradition of making gingerbread people with two of my grandkids that live close by, and we all look forward to it every year. Decorating them together and hanging them on the trees is a nice custom for our family.

Halloween was the last to be included in our holiday repertoire, and we don't do much for it except hand out candy, and try to see our grandchildren in their costumes before they head out trick or treating. Last year we went to a weekend Halloween party at Joy and Steve's house in Florida with about 60 others from this board, including International board members. THAT was really fun!! We had costumes and it was great fun.

No one in the family does anything for Easter, but I may color eggs this year. I have memories of that from childhood.................vague ones, but I remember it was fun having an Easter egg hunt at my grandparent's house with all my cousins, when I was 3 or 4, before everyone became JW's. I was thinking I would like to do that with my grandchildren.

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