For my family, Christmas is both a time to make gingerbread houses and remember my husband’s brother Mark who passed away at this time four years ago. I strive to honor his memory by adding a little bit of zaniness to our typical celebrations because that’s what Mark did when he was here. The Hughes family has a zany Thanksgiving tradition they started after losing one of their family members. I look forward to doing our own version of it at Christmas.

This is for any of you who will be attending large family gatherings at which large quantities of food will be prepared and consumed. If you have kids of any age who will be trying to entertain themselves while the Christmas turkey or ham is cooking, why not keep them busy with dying eggs? In reds and greens? The Hughes kids dye about 50 of them, and a few plastic eggs with cash inside are added. Someone hides the eggs and then it’s a mad dash to see who can recover the most eggs!

The best part is it’s not just for the kids. After the kids hunt, they hide eggs for the adults and then the adults make the mad dash. The plastic eggs in this hunt hold slightly larger denominations, and the frenzy is that much more intense!

What are your untraditional holiday traditions? What makes them special for you and your family?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Disclosure: This website is a part of an incentivized online influencer network for Fresh Takes on Family Time Powered by Subway.

Mom’s love to run the show. We make sure the tree is up, the lights are out of the attic, and the moving reindeer are in the yard. Doing the same thing every year provides comfort to many of us. But this year, why not try something different?

Go ahead, (if you dare) and ask your kids to create a new Christmas tradition. Find something that is unique to your own family. One mom I know grew up in a household with a fake tree. She kept this tradition and each year dragged out the artificial tree, marveling at the cleanliness of her living room. She never considered changing the tradition until her children begged to visit the tree farm!

I love the Thanksgiving tradition of a sit down meal. This year I decided to do something different and take the kids to feed the homeless. It wasn’t easy to give up the family meal and cozy table, because the tradition was one of the calming memories I recall from my childhood.

For the last eight years, I have cooked Thanksgiving dinner. This year I took the kids to serve the homeless instead. We sat around a dinner table with homeless men and women and prayed, ate a fabulous turkey, and talked just like a normal family would. It was a moment the kids will always remember. I let go of an old tradition and I believe we have started an entirely new one.

This year, I am letting the kids join in every aspect of the holidays. They are baking, (the kitchen turns into a disaster when a six year-old makes the pies), making christmas gifts, and decorating the house. My eight year-old put toy cars on the tree this year. My six year-old made cherry, pumpkin, and blueberry pies because he wanted to bake them.

When it came time to decorate the tree this year, I stepped away from tradition of orchestrating a moment with the family that resembled the movie It’s A Wonderful Life. My kids used their creativity because I encouraged them to discover it. The tree doesn’t look perfect, but it’s ours.

You don’t have to give up all your holiday traditions. I still haven’t caved in my “tradition” of all white lights for the multi-colored ones the kids wanted, but who knows. Maybe next year I will change my mind.

What new traditions can you create this year with your family this holiday season? Please feel free to share some of your ideas!

Photo courtesy of  Flickr.

Tammy Kling is a life coach, advocate for the homeless, and international author of 29 books including The Compass. Tammy is also the founder of Write it Out, an organization that helps gang members, the homeless, and those living on the street write out their hopes & dreams via writers workshops, free journals and various other resources.

In addition to writing and coaching, Tammy is a mom of two boys, an avid trail and mountain runner, blogger, and adventure travel writer.

Forming memories is one of the building blocks of successful relationships. And since you never know when you’ll bond over a specific event, activity, or topic, the key is to spend quality time with the people you love so you have ample opportunities to build memories. For example, like when my mom, sisters, and I went to Disneyland, wore matching shirts, and snapped this pic in the hotel bathroom mirror while we were getting ready (see above).

When I think of fun memories, two words come to mind: Muppets and mini horses. Let me explain.

Family Bonding Over the Muppets

After Thanksgiving dinner last week, my sisters and I piled into the car with our families and headed out for our annual tradition of going to the movies on Thanksgiving day. We had been waiting for months to see The Muppets. Who am I kidding? We couldn’t wait at all! We were dying in anticipation of reliving childhood memories of Miss Piggy and Kermie. And we weren’t disappointed.

As children, we watched The Muppet Show each week. We also saw Kermie on Sesame Street. We watched the release of the first The Muppet Movie on the big screen and the others on DVD. We wore out our tape of The Muppet Movie soundtrack and knew the words to every song. We’ve even been known to dance around the house, falling over laughing, as we listened to them in our older years. Image six adults dancing to the Muppet Movie soundtrack. Kind of embarrassing, right? But that’s what memories do. They bring out the kid in you and make you giddy at the thought.

The new movie The Muppets did not disappoint. It had lots of flashbacks to the 80s, including awesome music and a reference to my then favorite actress, Molly Ringwald.

My sisters and I laughed out loud throughout the movie. But, no part struck us as funny as when Walter did his whistling act. Our mom is a non-stop whistler. And, when Walter started whistling, we all erupted in laughter. It was too perfect! (Laughing now as I write this!)

Reliving memories was the perfect ending to a perfect Thanksgiving, reminding me of how grateful I am to have such an awesome family.

How Friendship Formed Over Mini Horses

What I love about memories is that they can help form new relationships.

This past summer, my family took a family vacay to Branson, Missouri. We went to Dolly Parton’s The Dixie Stampede and saw some mini horses race. It was all of our first time seeing a mini horse. My 8 year-old son thought they were hilarious and couldn’t stop laughing for an hour after seeing them.

For whatever reason, I brought up the experience on a drive into the city with Cynthia from Nap Warden—who we had just met—and Jen and Jill from the Mom It Forward team. Cynthia quickly informed us that her mom raises and shows mini horses. She went on to explain that some are used as seeing eye ponies. I immediately texted Troy. His response? He texted image after image of seeing eye ponies wearing sneakers no less so they wouldn’t slip. By that point, we were crying we were laughing so hard.

I’m still trying to figure out how Jen, Jill, and I can get ourselves back to Chicago to road trip to Cynthia’s mom’s house to meet her mini horses.

It sounds ridiculous—similar to why Walter whistling would make us double over in laughter—but that’s how memories are. Sometimes they only make sense to the people who share them.

What memories are you making with the people you love the most? What can you do to create memories to strengthen your closest family and friend relationships?

I couldn’t wait to tell my kids when they got home from school that we had received 25 loads of precious dirt. I decided to text a few of them instead. “Guess what surprise came to our house today?” Now you might be asking, why is this family so happy about something as simple as dirt? What you need to know about us is that we love dirt biking. Our kids have built a mini race track in our back yard and spend hours building ramps, turns, and jumps. They are on the quest to build the perfect track. The day our dirt came the kids played for hours in the mounds of rich, dark soil. Who knew that free dirt could bring so much happiness?

I have thought a lot about this day, especially with the holidays right around the corner. I am already starting to wonder what I should buy the kids this year. Then I stop and ask myself if they really need anything? In an effort to scale back on Christmas, a few years ago we started a new tradition. Each child could have four presents.

• Something You Want
• Something You Need
• Something You Wear
• Something You Read

What are some of your favorites gifts that don’t cost money? What does your family do to focus on giving instead of receiving?

I recognize that this is a little weird, and also that it is my fault. Holidays are a really big deal in our house and I’ll admit that it’s an effect that trickles down from at least my half of the top. I’ve always loved the baking, decorating, and celebrating frenzy of the fall and winter, and the memories made over that thermos of apple cider on a trick or treating voyage or that paper carton of Christmas Eve Chinese food are some of my favorites. A number of my own favorite childhood memories are holiday related, including the year I wrote and performed a musical for my family when we were snowed in on Christmas Eve. I believe I was around six, and I’m terribly grateful it all took place before cell phones and widespread video taping.

Embarrassing original songs about reindeer aside, the impending arrival of the holidays has me reflecting on what meant the most to me as a kid. Instead of costumes and trees, time and time again I come back to bedtime.

Each and every night without fail, my mother would sit on the edge of my bed and tuck me into the covers. While she rubbed my back we’d talk about the day and days to come. Any lingering mother-daughter bickering would diffuse. This moment was a chance to laugh, to say thank you, to say I love you. As much as I remember my eagerness to escape to college, I remember being surprised at how deeply I missed those bedtime chats. Tucking each of my children in at night has always been a priority, and I’m sure my reasons are similar to those of my mother. We have the best talks when they’re drifting off, and for me it’s the nicest, most peaceful time of the day to remind them that I’m really glad they’re here.

With another holiday season around the corner, I know I will have at least one night when the kitchen table is covered with gifts to be packaged for the post office, there are cupcakes to bake for the class party, and mounds of laundry are competing for the time between tree lightings and office soirees. Before those nights take over, I like to remind myself how much this daily tradition means to us.

An extra tuck and a kiss on the cheek don’t seem like much, but even when they’re up against the world’s scariest, most elaborate spider costume, they’re the little the things that mean the very most.

What is bedtime like in your household? How can/will you make this moment special for you and your kids?

Second photo courtesy of Flickr.

Julie is a freelance writer and mother of two working full time in media and communications.  Most of her free time is spent in yoga class or running shoes, mostly to support her chocolate habit.  She blogs about her lively boys  and life in the suburbs at Freckles & Fickle.

I recently reviewed a new book called OMG Pancakes. The book was written by Jim Belosic and is filled with fun and creative ways to make pancakes. I was immediately drawn to the giraffe on the front of the book and thought, “There is no way that is a pancake.”

The characters that Jim creates with his pancakes are unbelieveable and will forever etch in your mind that breakfast can be fun and exciting. Sheep, spiderwebs, flamingos, dinosaurs, bluebirds, and monkeys are just a few of the 70 different creations you can make. OMG Pancakes is a page turner and you will marvel at the things you can make with pancake batter.

Jim shares how making pancakes with his daughter is a way they can spend time together. He gives his recipes, tricks, and tools of the trade to make breakfast more creative. I followed his easy instructions on to how to create pancakes with different colors, shapes, and designs. Our family tried a few of the recipes and found that it sparked a few new ideas of our own. Who knew that making breakfast together could be so much fun?

OMG pancakes is filled with new and exciting ways to make pancakes. It has me rethinking breakfast, and for my kids it has them wanting to spend time together making crazy looking pancakes. Take time to think about the traditions that are important to you and start to create them today.

What is your favorite family tradition? What are you doing to create memories with your kids?

On FreshTakes.msn.com, a site built around the sharing of videos about family traditions, the Mansbach’s talk about the evolution of their family film making endeavors. It didn’t start out as the epic adventure it is now, with everyone being a bit camera-shy and time being scarce. But with the discovery of unique special effects like these and of the latent creative juices flowing in the minds of their young ones came the desire to take advantage of that for fun. The father Johnny, mother Jenny, son Jeremy and daughter Jenna have made short films about a boy exploding into dirt, hide-and-seek gone wrong, and attack of the “glass ninjas.” They share their homemade movies with the world via YouTube. They even have their own premiere parties with friends to debut their creations.

Do you have a video camera? If so, how often do you use it to record family moments? What is your favorite way to capture memories?

Disclosure: This blog is a part of an incentivized online influencer network for Fresh Takes on Family Time Powered by Subway.

Making traditions, as opposed to any regular family activity, means identifying elements from one’s heritage that one wants to carry on, acknowledging the personalities of the family members involved, and planning together a commemorative activity. It doesn’t have to mean that you always bake sugar cookie pine trees at Christmas; in fact, it’s the uniqueness of it that makes it yours. On freshtakes.msn.com, I found some examples of various families’ “fresh takes” on age-old customs.

The Gilmore family, for instance, takes scavenger hunting to a whole new level. They invite another family to be involved, as a group to compete against. They dress up as pirates; make a list of random things, clues to solve, or people to find (e.g. someone whose willing to give them a business card), find an impartial judge to tally points, and designate a reward like a car wash by the losing team.

I am inspired, by my past, my town, and this site to create a few funny family traditions of our own.

What are some of your favorite family traditions? How do traditions bring your family closer together?

Disclosure: This blog is a part of an incentivized online influencer network for Fresh Takes on Family Time Powered by Subway.

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

We hired a driver to take us from our hotel to one of the Seven Wonders of the World and were on our way, thrilled to see the beautiful Indian countryside on our short road trip.

But don’t let distance fool you. In Utah, I’m use to equating miles to minutes. 30 miles takes about 30 minutes or less to get somewhere, unless you hit massive traffic, and then you could find yourself a little delayed. But in India, two-lane highways, cows, and unruly drivers make for a very lengthy process in getting from point A to point B. So, what should have taken an hour and a half dragged out to 4 hours—one way! And, getting off and going right before 1 p.m. got us to the Taj Mahal at right before 5 p.m.

No one told us it closed at 5 p.m., so imagine our surprise when we approached the ticket counter to learn it had closed 2 minutes prior. And these people are serious when they say closed. We popped out a $20. I know! We shamelessly bribed them. They didn’t remotely bite. We stood there in utter disbelief that we had just driven four hours in horrible traffic and on the only day we’d have to see the Taj Mahal only to be turned away. Didn’t they realize how far we’d come? Didn’t they know how excited we were to see it?

Three Indian dudes, noticing our plight, came to the rescue, alerting us to the fact that there was another gate and said we needed to run. Oh! This was going to be pretty!

We ran down the street, up some very steep stairs. Stop! *Insert me catching my breath!* We ran through a village made up of small alleys. Somewhere in the back of my mind I thought they may be leading us somewhere dangerous, but I was on a grand adventure. Who cares about danger when you’re having a grand adventure, right? Goats lined the streets, people didn’t bat an eyelash to see us in their tight quarters. And we kept advancing onward with hopes of getting to the gate on time.

One of the three men ran ahead and when we saw him return, head down, we knew our plight and stopped. No visit to the Taj Mahal. Are you kidding me? He replied: “I can take you across the street to see it from a hotel rooftop.” No! I bought a picture on iStockphoto.com yesterday that’s just as good as that, I thought.

Then a sweet guy appears and says: “Would you like to come into my home? We have a great view of the Taj Mahal from our roof.” I look at Evan, my partner in crime, we ask how much it’s going to cost to which the man laughs. It’s free! It’s hospitality. I relax and feel more at home in that moment since the moment I arrived and know this is the path I was supposed to take.

We enter his family’s home—a multi-generational house, built by one of the people who helped build the Taj Mahal. The handiwork down to the floor tiles was amazing. It was modest, but beautiful. I wanted to photograph every inch of it, but held back. We still needed to see the Taj Mahal.

We again climbed steep steps and went up about two flights of pure concrete until we found ourselves on the roof, overlooking the entire village where mothers and children were looking at us through their windowless windows, above all the tiny alleys we had run through, with a panorama view of the top of the Taj Mahal. It was one of the most glorious moments of my life.

Even though you wouldn’t know it by the picture above, I am not so much a tourist. I love to see the sites and all, but the real reason I travel is for the people, the culture, and the traditions. I feel so connected to people everywhere. I won’t lie to you! I’m a tad bit religious and truly feel that we all knew each other before this life and that, when it is all said and done, we’ll be chatting about our experiences here on Earth. I can imagine saying to this guy: “Remember when you helped me have the most memorable Taj Mahal experience evs… even with my face flush red from running like a maniac? That rocked!”

The sun was going down. A solemn, moving song resounded through the village, beckoning people to the mosque. Muslims everywhere progressed toward it. And, I stood, reflecting for a moment on my experience of standing on that rooftop and later standing in their kitchen and after that, visiting their family shop where they make marble handiwork, and how those experiences combined were more worthwhile to me than an entrance to the Taj Mahal.

I haven’t had good luck getting the people here to smile in pictures. Of course, he may have been a little scared at my tight hug of gratitude! If you’re interested in seeing more pictures from my Indian adventures, click here.

Join in on the conversation on Wednesday, June 30 (note the change in day) from 9-11 ET (8CT, 7MT, 6PT) to talk about summer food, fun, and family. We’ll discuss recipes, traditions, as well as must have treats for the season! See the details below about this week’s giveaway.

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• What: Girls’ Night Out (#gno) Twitter party (Click here to learn about #gno!)
• When: Wednesday, June 30, 9-11 p.m. EST (8CT, 7 MT, & 6 PT)
• Where: Party with us on our very own Custom Tweetgrid! (Use hashtags #gno and #bushbeans.)
• Topic: 4th of July and Summer Food
• Who: Brand Panelists: @janmomof2 @oak322 @tokissthecook Community Panelists: @aggiegoodman @dineanddish @lynnskitchenadv @mommyskitchen @myfirstkitchen @realmomkitchen @sandycoughlinRE @wearsmanyhats Moderators: @jylmomIF @Dadventurous @troypattee and @momitforward
• Party Favors: Enter for a chance to win a Bush’s® Beans gift pack, including a Mino FLIP 120 Minute HD Camera. (Deadline: Thursday, July 1 at midnight PT)
• RSVP: Use Mr. Linky below (enter the twitter URL and your twitter ID (e.g., http://twitter.com/jylmomIF).

Note: Mom It Forward accepts paid sponsorships for most #gno Twitter parties. During the parties, brand sponsors provide tips, techniques, expert advice, and information on party topics. Mom It Forward is grateful for the giveaway prizes, coupons, and discounts that sponsors also provide to the Mom It Forward community in conjunction with #gno Twitter parties.