The Mom I Want to Be

Remember family traditions during the holiday season.

• Christmas in the Country, by Cynthia Rylant and Diane Goode
• paper
• crayons and/or markers

This book tells the story of how a family gets ready for and celebrates Christmas. Although timeless in many ways, the story is set in a rural community many years ago. As you read the story with your child, ask her to identify things that are similar to how your family celebrates the holidays. What things are different? Can your child find ways she is similar and different to the girl in the story?

 

1. Interview older family members or family friends about the ways they celebrated the holidays when they were young.

2. How are these celebrations the same and different from the way your family now celebrates the holidays? Did they have any family traditions that continue to the present day? Did they do anything special that your child might want to revive as a new/old family tradition?

3. Based on these conversations, encourage your child to draw a picture showing some of these traditions. This picture could make a special gift for an older relative.

• develops concepts of similar and different
• inspires discussions of family traditions